The 12th Taichung City Mazu International Festival got underway March 12 as part of celebrations for the deity’s birthday, city officials said.
“A series of exhibitions, martial arts competitions and folk performances will heat up the city’s 29 districts over the next few months,” Deputy Mayor Tsai Bing-kun said at a news conference.
The Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage will mark the climax of the event April 8 to 17. Pilgrims departing from Jenn Lann Temple in Dajia, Taichung, will walk through Taichung City, Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi counties, visiting over 90 temples before their journey of 330 kilometers comes to an end at Xingang Feng Tian Temple in Chiayi, said the city’s Cultural Affairs Bureau.
The carnival is expected to draw more than 200,000 visitors from home and abroad to central Taiwan, organizers said.
The Mazu belief and customs were inscribed in 2009 on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. (THN)
Write to Kwangyin Liu at kwangyin.liu@mail.gio.gov.tw