The annual Baishatun Matsu pilgrimage, widely recognized as Taiwan's longest religious procession on foot, began in Miaoli County early today, drawing a record-breaking 329,118 registered participants.
The pilgrimage honors the sea goddess Matsu, who is enshrined at Gongtian Temple in Baishatun, a coastal township in Miaoli.
The 10-day journey to Chaotian Temple in Beigang, Yunlin County, spans more than 300km and is notable for its unpredictable route and timing.
Photo: Taipei Times
The two temples are about 120km apart.
The goddess was placed in her palanquin, nicknamed the "pink sports car," at 11:25pm before the procession began at 12:03am today.
President William Lai (賴清德) visited Gongtian Temple yesterday evening to participate in the ceremonial removal of the Matsu statue.
Miaoli County Commissioner Chung Tung-chin (鍾東錦), Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), Changhua County Commissioner Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) and Yunlin County Commissioner Chang Li-shan (張麗善) were also in attendance.
"Shanbian Matsu," a counterpart deity from Houlong Township in Miaoli, was also placed on the palanquin at 11:50pm to join the pilgrimage.
Chung said the pilgrimage was designated a national intangible cultural asset in 2010 due to its historical and cultural significance.
Gongtian Temple said that the outbound leg of the pilgrimage to Beigang is expected to take 34 to 37 hours.
Matsu is scheduled to arrive in Beigang at 11am tomorrow, ahead of the holy fire ceremony at Chaotian Temple at 12:40am on Sunday.
In previous years, the return leg of the pilgrimage has been completed in similarly short time frames.
Last year, devotees returned from Yunlin to Miaoli in just 34 hours.
The Ministry of the Interior describes the Baishatun Matsu pilgrimage as Taiwan's longest religious walk in terms of distance and the only one in the country with a route, duration and rest stops that change annually.
A total of 400 foreign “high- level” professionals have been naturalized as Republic of China (Taiwan) citizens over the past decade as the government has eased nationality rules to attract talent from a wider range of fields, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The 400th high-level professional, who works in the electronics industry, was approved for ROC citizenship on Aug. 26, the MOI said. The MOI quoted the newly naturalized citizen as saying that Taiwan is a leader in fields such as semiconductors, electronics manufacturing, artificial intelligence development and energy technology. He also said
China has warned that it could cancel a planned US-China leaders’ summit if Washington approves new arms sales to Taiwan, a Japanese media outlet quoted sources as saying yesterday. US President Donald Trump, “apparently eager to showcase some diplomatic achievements ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections, places great importance on holding the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平),” Japan’s Kyodo News reported. “While preparing for Xi’s upcoming trip, China has restated its position that the Taiwan issue is a ‘red line’ in bilateral relations,” the report said. The report said that when Xi met with Trump in Beijing in May, Xi said
A Chinese military drone was spotted conducting reconnaissance off Taitung County as President William Lai (賴清德) visited Pingtung County this morning to inspect a drill of the armed forces’ precision-strike capabilities, prompting the military to closely monitor its actions. Today was the final day of a three-day military exercise at Jioupeng Base (九鵬基地) to test the joint combat capabilities of the armed forces and coast guard. The exercise began on Wednesday simulating air defense interception and yesterday tested long-range strike capabilities and new air defense weapons. This morning, the military conducted a final exercise involving air defense, anti-ship and drone operations. Military sources said
RARE PEEK: The footage released showed one of the bears staying in a cave for as long as 70 days, providing the first record of Formosan black bear’s overwintering The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday released tracking records of released Formosan black bears for the first time, showing that they get much closer to human settlements than previously thought. The agency said it had captured two bears, Da Qu-ali (達古阿里) and Aziman (阿里曼), in indigenous villages in Hualien County and began to track them with a camera-mounted satellite collar after releasing them back into the wild. The results confirmed that the bears have moved from deep mountain areas into lowland hills closer to human communities, leading to an increase in human-bear conflicts, it said. The agency has introduced artificial intelligence-assisted early
RSS