The government’s efforts to contain COVID-19 have seen schools opening late amid public warnings against visiting crowded places, and some people have called for major events to be postponed or canceled to prevent infection.
The annual Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage (大甲媽祖遶境) has become a topic of debate, as the nine-day procession attracts more than 1 million people.
People who participate in the pilgrimage usually travel together in close proximity and interact with businesses and other establishments along the way.
It often attracts older people, who are more susceptible to the virus.
Scheduled to begin on March 19, it is the largest religious event in Taiwan and the cost of postponing it would be drastic on many fronts.
Unlike pushing back a trade show, religious events lose much of their significance if they are held on an arbitrary date.
However, nothing can be worse than causing a new wave of infection, which has been reasonably contained in Taiwan.
Event organizers and the government can make all the restrictions and take all the precautions they want, but it would be almost impossible to have such a large number of people follow the rules, especially in the moment of religious fervor as they scramble to get under the palanquin.
Officials are even struggling to get people who are under self-quarantine to follow the rules. Unfortunately, that is just human nature. It is much safer not to take the risk at all.
The controversy over the pilgrimage erupted after Yen Ching-piao (顏清標), chairman of Jenn Lann Temple (鎮瀾宮), which organizes the pilgrimage, vowed not to cancel the procession and said: “Matsu will protect us.”
However, while the spotlight has been on the pilgrimage, it is only one of numerous Matsu processions in the nation. Many temples have canceled or downsized their processions, but others said they would press on.
For example, the Taoyuan Longde Temple launched an eight-day procession on Saturday and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) was criticized for attending the packed opening ceremony — without a mask — and promoting the event on social media.
Cheng yesterday said that he would not attend a ceremony to be held by the procession today and called for Taoyuan’s major temples to postpone processions, and for any large events to follow the Centers for Disease Control’s advisory measures.
This should have been done last week and the pilgrimage probably should have been postponed.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said that “Matsu would prioritize the health of our people,” adding that he had told Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) to ask the organizers to postpone the event.
Hsu called for large-scale events to draw up plans for deferrals, while Yen and his associates visited other participating temples to discuss whether to continue with the procession.
Hopefully they will make the right call.
However, the spotlight should not be only on Dajia. Other events, while much smaller in scale, can be just as dangerous, and attendees and organizers should exercise common sense.
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