On the road again

Mrs Wang relaxes into the seat of the packed southbound train out of Taipei Railway Station. Like many on the train, she is heading to Tachia (大甲), Taichung County, for the Tachia Matsu Pilgrimage. “I booked the ticket on the spur of the moment,” she says happily, “and I was lucky to get a seat. Such dispositions are made by Matsu. I knew I should go on the pilgrimage this year, and everything fell into place.”

A petite figure in her 50s, Wang is dressed for a hike, an embroidered prayer flag sticking out from her daypack. As soon as she gets off at Tachia, she will embark on an eight-day walk over 330km through Changhua County and Yunlin County before arriving in Hsinkang (新港), Chiayi County. Then it’s back again to Tachia. She will be joined by as many as 600,000 people, according to estimates made by the Apple Daily.

The annual pilgrimage started on Saturday and is one of Taiwan’s biggest religious events. In the last couple of years it has grown significantly through promotion and merchandising that appeal to young people. According to Huang Chih-chung (黃智琮), head of The Youth Organization of Da Jia Jenn Lann Temple (大甲鎮瀾宮e世代青年會), most of his group’s members joined the pilgrimage for the excitement and to be part of a major festival. Cheng Ming-kun (鄭銘坤), the temple’s deputy director, credited the merchandising, cell phone charms to NT$299,800 commemorative watches for helping popularize the act of devotion.

The train reaches Tachia at 6:30pm, five hours before the statue of Matsu from Jenn Lann Temple is to depart; the streets are already awash with a sea of people. Many have come for the temple fair, to eat from the innumerable roadside stalls, shoot balloons with air guns, and enjoy the performances and fireworks.

Serious pilgrims like Wang have no time for this. As soon as the train arrives, she will head south along the No. 1 National Highway toward Changhua.

“We don’t have time to hang around,” says Wang, a veteran of five pilgrimages, as she prepares to get some rest before the train arrives. “We have got to get ahead of the main procession; otherwise you simply get left behind. The main procession keeps moving day and night.”

“Sometimes we wait until Matsu arrives (at the temple where we rest), but at other times, we have to leave early to keep ahead,” she adds.

She and her friends have chartered a bus to carry bulkier belongings such as bedding and pick up stragglers, but she aims to walk the whole distance. “It can be really tough for people doing it for the first time,” she says. “But everyone helps each other out along the way.”

The serious pilgrims are easy to spot: wide-brimmed hats, fanny packs, hiking pants with bulging pockets, often a walking stick, and always the heavily embroidered prayer flag that is carried from temple to temple and waved reverently over the smoky braziers before the main alter to garner the deity’s blessings.

“We plan to walk through the night,” says one pilgrim who is resting outside a convenience store. “You don’t want to be walking when the sun is high. It’ll kill you.”

Not everyone, however, will walk. There are groups on bicycles and scooters. Others follow in tour coaches.

As the pilgrims stream out of town, the main procession begins to form along Tachia’s main drag. It is a massive logistical exercise. Elements of the procession wend their way through packed side streets to take their places in the main line. More than 600 police are backed by hoards of volunteer marshals who direct traffic and, new this year, man recycling stations along the road.