Worshipers carry the palanquin containing a statue of the sea goddess Matsu at the start of the Baishatun Matsu Pilgrimage in Miaoli County early yesterday. Photo: CNA

Staff writer, with CNA

The annual Baishatun Matsu Pilgrimage began early yesterday in Miaoli County, with more than 110,000 worshipers expected to attend the nine-day event, one of Taiwan's largest religious processes.

A record 113,000 people have signed up to participate in this year's process, organizers said.

As in previous years, the statue of the sea goddess Matsu (Mazu) from Gongtian Temple (Gongtiangong) at Baishatun (白沙tun) in Miaoli County's Tongsiao Township (通小) is to be placed in a palanquin and carried on a procession to another Matsu temple — Chaotian Temple (朝天宫) in Yunlin County's Beigang Township (北港).

The procession is to traverse about 400km during the nine-day, eight-night journey from Baishatun to Beigang.

President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President William Lai attended pre-procession rituals on Saturday to pray for good fortune for Taiwan, including an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taiwan People's Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (Ke Wenzhe) registered to join the pilgrimage for the first time.

Fireworks and firecrackers were set off after the departure of the Matsu statue in a palanquin at 1:25am yesterday, with worshipers following the deity and chanting: “I love you Matsu.”

The pilgrimage, held annually for more than 200 years, is one of the two most important Matsu pilgrimages in Taiwan. The other is the Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage, which travels from Jenn Lann Temple (Zhenlan Palace) in Taichung's Dajia District (大嘉) to Fengtian Temple (Fengtian Palace) in Chiayi's Singang Township (Xingang).

This year, the Baishatun Matsu is scheduled to arrive at the Chaotian Temple on Friday, where a fire would be lit for worshipers to take back to the Miaoli temple.

The Baishatun Matsu procession would begin the return journey on the same day to make it back to Miaoli on Monday next week.

The Baishatun Matsu pilgrimage was designated as a national intangible cultural asset in 2010, and chosen by the Ministry of the Interior in 2013 as one of the top 100 religious events in Taiwan.

News source: TAIPEI TIMES