Asia Pacific|Noisy, Gaudy and Spiritual: Young Pilgrims Embrace an Ancient Goddess
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/03/world/asia/taiwan-religion-mazu-pilgrimage.html
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Taiwan Dispatch
On an island whose religious diversity is part of its democratic identity, many of the faithful participating in a pilgrimage for Mazu, Goddess of the Sea, were in their 20s and teens.
By Chris Buckley and Amy Chang Chien
Photographs by Lam Yik Fei
Chris Buckley, Amy Chang Chien and Lam Yik Fei spent four days walking parts of two pilgrimages in central and southern Taiwan. On the journey, they interviewed around 20 pilgrims.
In a din of firecrackers, cymbals and horns, a team of devotees carried the shrouded wooden statue of a serene-faced woman, holding her aloft on a brightly decorated litter as they navigated through tens of thousands of onlookers.
As the carriers nudged forward, hundreds of people were lined up ahead of them, kneeling on the road and waiting for the moment when the statue would pass over their heads.
Some wept after it did; many smiled and snapped selfies. “I love Mazu, and Mazu loves me,” the crowd shouted.
Mazu, sometimes known as the Goddess of the Sea, is the most widely venerated of dozens of folk deities that many people in Taiwan turn to for solace, guidance and good fortune. The huge annual processions to honor her are noisy and gaudy. And yet for many, they are also deeply spiritual events, acts of faith showing that Mazu and other spirits remain vibrant presences here, alongside Buddhism and Christianity.
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