Dajia Mazu Temple

One thing you should never miss in Taiwan is to go to a famous and ancient temple. A temple is usually the religious center of a township or the a region. The most well-known deity of the temples is Mazu (媽祖). She has been a goddess in China blessing fishermen on their dangerous trips on the sea since hundreds of years ago and gradually became the deity in all temples in the provinces near the sea. When people immigrated from China to Taiwan, Mazu also came here to bless the immigrants. Among all temples, Dajia Mazu Temple is the most famous one in Taiwan.

Dajia Mazu Temple was built in 1770. It adopted the Chinese palace design. The size of the temple shows how important this temple is in the hearts of the residents. The original temple was too old to fix and the residents decided to move the temple to the current location in 1980. However, they spent a fortune together and hired veteran architects and artists to make the new one exactly like the old one. With the coming of locals and tourists from everywhere, there is always a need to rest and take some foods. There is a long street of different delicacies of Taiwan next to the temple.You can find fried spring onion cakes, Chinese herb soup with duck and pork leg, and different sweet clear soup there. Taichung has long been famous for pastry and cake and the “butter crispy cake (奶油酥餅)” near the temple is well known all around Taiwan. Make sure you have some before you go. 

Another important event of the temple is the "Mazu marching" in April. The parade marches with the Mazu deity, visit more than one hundred temples on the road, and to another Mazu temple, Fengtian Temple, in Chiayi in southern Taiwan. They walk for eight days and bless all the people on the route. After important ceremonies, the parade marches back to Dajia and finish the amazing 300 kilometers long journey on foot. There are more than one million people joining the parade in recent years. It is truly an overwhelming journey to participate in.