culture & tradition · Taiwan
Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage
大甲媽祖遶境進香
The short answer
Procession on foot of about 340 km in which the Mazu statue of Dajia Jenn Lann Temple is carried through Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi and back, accompanied by very large crowds of worshippers.
Where
Dajia, Taichung
Country
Taiwan
When
annual, nine days and eight nights in the 3rd lunar month (usually April); the departure date is set by divination at the temple on the Lantern Festival
Last held
2026-04-17 to 2026-04-27
Next edition
Not announced yet
Organiser
Dajia Jenn Lann Temple
Good to know
2026: departed at 22:05 on 17 April and returned to the temple in the early hours of 27 April, more than two hours behind schedule. No registration or ticket needed; anyone can walk along. The 2027 dates will be set on the Lantern Festival (2027-02-20). Attendance estimates vary widely (from 'tens of thousands' of walkers to unofficial totals in the millions) and no official count was found. The URL is a Taichung City Government page, not the temple's own site. The separate Baishatun Mazu pilgrimage (Miaoli) drew over 460,000 registered participants in 2026.
Kungfucius says: Nine days and more than 300 kilometres on foot behind a goddess. Kungfucius's step counter gave up.
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