This Taiwanese tradition has stood the test of time. 這項臺灣的傳統歷久不衰。
Taiwan has many religious festivals. Some are short and simple. Others may involve a little food and music. Then there’s the Mazu Pilgrimage, which lasts over a week, covers hundreds of kilometers, and draws thousands of pilgrims.
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The Mazu Pilgrimage is like an enormous birthday celebration for Mazu, who is known as the “Goddess of the Sea.” Featured in countless myths and legends, Mazu is believed to be a girl from a small fishing village in Fujian. Legend has it that she used her spiritual powers to rescue her family members when their boat was caught in a typhoon. No wonder she is viewed as the guardian of fishermen!
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So why is there a long pilgrimage on land in her honor? Several hundred years ago, a family of settlers moved from Fujian to what is now the city of Taichung. They brought a statue of Mazu with them and later a temple was built around it. Every 12 years, worshippers would take the statue back to its original home in Fujian. However, when Taiwan was under Japanese rule, travel across the Taiwan Strait was blocked. As an alternative, the worshippers picked a river port temple within Taiwan as a destination. The pilgrimage has grown in popularity over the years and today is an important aspect of Taiwanese folk religion.
媽祖遶境尋根溯源
媽祖，亦稱「天上聖母」，相傳為宋朝女子林默娘。關於其生平已神格化，不論是生前或昇天後都有許多傳說及神蹟。據傳媽祖的隨從千里眼、順風耳都能救難於千里之外。這些關於媽祖的種種神奇事蹟給予了人們一股精神上的安定力量。
媽祖遶境活動更是將這樣的信仰昇華，進而成為了一種全民活動。關於大甲鎮瀾宮媽祖遶境進香活動的起源，有一說是清朝福建湄洲嶼林姓一家人來臺拓墾，定居於大甲堡，並將隨行的湄洲朝天閣天上聖母香火安奉在自家廳堂，接著當地士紳將香火遷移至現址建祠，且每十二年前往福建湄州的朝天閣進香。日治時期因海線交通阻隔，大甲媽祖才轉向北港朝天宮「割火進香」，爾後又於民國七十七年改為遶境至新港。如今，媽祖遶境不僅被 Discovery Channel 認為是世界三大宗教盛事之一，聯合國教科文組織也將其列入人類非物質文化遺產（Intangible Cultural Heritage）的代表名錄中。媽祖遶境從以前就吸引不只臺灣還有海外的群眾參與，此活動除了顯現信眾對於信仰的熱情，參與的過程也帶來了心靈上的震撼感受。
