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  ICLP Prepares for Annual Mazu
Pilgrimage
Kendall Lee Smith, on assignment
The spring quarter is off to a smooth start,
and ICLP has welcomed many new students.
Thursday March 2 at lunchtime, ICLP students interested in learning
about the deity Mazu (媽祖) and her deep cultural connection to the
Taiwanese people listened to instructor Huang Chu-hua
(黃琡華) deliver a lecture titled “Mazu Worship and the Culture of Temple Festivals” (媽祖信仰與廟會文化), in which she discussed the significance
and cultural origins of this goddess.
Students and teachers enjoyed complementary
lunches while Huang Laoshi explained the folk
history of Mazu who protected the migrants of Fujian province to Taiwan during the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties.
Every year on the twenty-third day of the third month of the lunar
calendar (農曆) tens of thousands of Taiwanese head south
for a few days, turning the normally quiet and peaceful town of Beigang (北港) into a frenzy of fireworks and
floats, and making this day Taiwan’s largest and most vibrant folk
activity. The festivities
commemorate Mazu’s birthday.
The main component of the religious festivals
for the worship of Mazu is a ‘procession’ (繞境出巡). The
procession includes activities that highlight the importance of this
special holiday. Those participating
will be able to see the Ceremony of Incense and temple fairs. Worshippers ask for protection from the
goddess by kneeling down in preparation for Mazu’s
“spirit sedans” (神轎) to pass over their bodies, or
bombard spirit sedans with firecrackers to demonstrate Mazu’s
invulnerability.
Those who have signed on to make the
three-day pilgrimage south in mid-April will be lucky enough to fully experience
what Mazu means to Chinese, particularly
Taiwanese. However, this is only one
of the stops ICLP will be making during the trip to southern and central Taiwan.
Students will also be making their own cakes at Dajia’s
Cake Shop (大甲三寶文化館), and have a
chance to visit some of Lugang’s (鹿港) many
historical ruins and temples.
The second and
third day of the trip will be spent in Nantou
County (南投縣), where
students will yacht around Sun Moon Lake (日月潭).
Other activities include visiting the Phoenix Tea Recreation Garden
and some of Taiwan’s most architecturally interesting and renowned
monasteries, including the Chung-Tai Buddhist temple (中台禪寺) in Puli (埔里). This is a
trip into the heart of Taiwan’s
religious and cultural history and an opportunity to experience a side of Taiwan
seldom seen in the bustling streets of Taipei. It will take place from April 13 to 15.
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