• Date: Third lunar month (March-April), nine days

The Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage is one of the largest religious events in the world and is almost certainly the most spectacular religious procession you will ever witness. The Mazu statue from Zhenlan Temple in Dajia, Taichung is carried by devotees on a nine-day, approximately 340-kilometre round journey to Fengtian Temple in Xingang, Chiayi County and back, stopping at temples along the route. Millions of people participate as pilgrims, spectators, and volunteers.

Until 1988 the procession went instead to Chaotian Temple in Beigang, Yunlin, a destination it had kept since 1914. The break was a matter of status rather than logistics: Dajia recast the journey as 遶境（bringing blessings）rather than 進香（paying tribute to a senior temple）, Beigang declined to receive it on those terms, and Xingang offered instead. It has never gone back.

The procession moves day and night. Devotees prostrate themselves beneath the palanquin bearing the goddess’s statue, believing the experience brings blessing and protection. Elaborate firecracker ceremonies accompany each temple arrival. Food, drink, and supplies are freely distributed to pilgrims by volunteers, an expression of communal generosity on a staggering scale.

For a traveller, even a brief encounter with the Mazu pilgrimage, watching the procession pass through a town at midnight or joining the roadside crowds at a temple stop, is likely to be one of the most memorable experiences Taiwan offers.