The Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage, which Discovery named one of the world’s top three religious events, is a nine-day procession in which devotees follow Mazu more than 300 kilometers from Dajia in Taichung to Xingang in Chiayi and back again, to pray for peace and health.

Gongs, drums, and firecrackers can be heard all along the way, and free food is provided to keep the pilgrims’ strength up. Following such a procession is a way not only to quickly get to understand local customs, but also to discover the tradi­tional Taiwan­ese food near the temples, and this has attracted several Taiwan-based YouTubers from abroad to experi­ence and appreciate the island’s culture more deeply.

A world-class Mazu documentary

After learning from his in-laws that there was an event in downtown Changhua on par with the American Fourth of July parade, Beck, a lover of hustle and bustle, immediately rushed to the nearby Confucius Temple and waited until the crowd poured in and the firecrackers began to go off all around. “What really left an impression was the sound of the firecrackers,” he says excitedly. “I was absolutely cap­tivated!”

Determined to get into the spirit, Beck joined a pilgrimage at Nanyao Temple in Changhua, near his home. In each township along the way, he would always enthusiastically ask the people around him, “How do you feel?” To which everyone would crowd the shot and shout “Happy!”

Originally Beck just wanted to share his life with his family in the US, but he found that “after shooting for a while, I began to feel how special Taiwan is,” and he decided to make it his goal to share Taiwan with the world. In his videos on the pilgrimages, he introduces the story of Mazu and the pilgrimage commencement ceremony, and uses close-ups to show viewers details that are usually overlooked, like the details of Mazu’s phoenix robe, the colorful medallions and weapons held by her guardians, and the brilliantly robed religious masters lined up to perform the ceremonies with their ritual implements.

Over the past five years, Beck’s Mazu videos have become packed with ever richer content, drawing inspira­tion from American action film director Michael Bay and creating a constant sense of excitement. One year, during the annual Mazu pilgrimage at Chao­tian Temple in Beigang, Yunlin County, he filmed a tīn-thâu array from the Fuhai Temple at Zhu­wei in Taoyuan’s Dayuan District, who were carry­ing a palanquin with their temple’s main deity, Fuxin Wang­gong. Beck filmed their “flying palanquin” cere­mony, in which two of the bearers are spun around on the ends of the palanquin, rising into the air and coming back down in a representation of the deity taking control of their bodies. Beck’s video drew many comments from Taiwanese viewers, praising him for capturing such a rarely seen piece of folk culture and likening his filming techniques to those of National Geographic.

A new angle each time

When taking part in the pilgrimage at Nanyao Temple in Changhua, Beck begins the video by pointing out the historic nature of the event, with Nanyao being the first temple in Taiwan to hold annual pilgrimages to bring their Mazu back to her mother temple in Ben­gang. On the return trip, Beck also took part in a custom whereby once every three years the procession fords a river, which originates from a time when there were no river bridges in the area. As he filmed, more than 10,000 devotees waded into the water to march forward with Mazu.

During the Beigang pilgrimage Mazu is always greeted with a storm of firecrackers, creating such a thunderous sound that when Beck took part he couldn’t help but remark to the camera that his ears were hurting. Once the procession gets moving, with all its performance troupes and decorated floats, it stretches out for several kilometers. Children on the floats dressed in historical costume hand out “peace candies” along the way, another unique feature of the Beigang parade.

In Beck’s view, the two most popular Mazu pilgrimages, Baishatun and Dajia, each have a slightly different feel: “Bai­sha­tun is more peaceful, while Da­jia is livelier and uses a lot of firecrackers.” In addition, the Bai­sha­tun route is not fixed, with Mazu deciding on the spot which way to go when the road forks. Beck had to run through fields and rely on his past as a sprinter to keep up while filming. In contrast, the Dajia route is fixed, nowadays even offering a tracking app that Beck is full of praise for.

Feeling the love

While the processions may be different, Beck felt the same warmth from the locals in both. Seeing the free food along the roadside, he joked that it was “like one massive buffet!” No matter how many times he takes part, Beck is always excited to do so, saying, “Although my skin is white, my heart is that of a Taiwan­ese!”

Recounting his impressions of the pilgrimages, Beck notes that beyond the hospitality he experienced, he also noticed a volunteer team cleaning the streets afterward, another way the devotees showed their appreciation for Mazu.

The selflessness of the pilgrimages has touched Beck deeply, and he has also invited other foreign friends to join him and brought along cookies and drinks to hand out to devotees. To his surprise, when he and his companions handed out the food, they even got back boxed lunches. Looking at the boxes full of sustenance, he once again felt the full measure of Taiwanese hospitality.
 

Tied to old Taiwan

Click on Reed Giovannetti’s personal Instagram account, named findmeinchiayi, and you will see photos not only of Chiayi’s food and attractions, but also of temples and deity statues. Among them are three posts of him practicing at Chiayi’s Shanhaizhen Temple for a part in their traditional Eight Generals performances.

Giovannetti first came to Taiwan while in college, to teach English at a summer camp. He ended up teaching in two of Taiwan’s most historic cities, Tainan and Chiayi, and his host families took him to visit many temples in southern Taiwan. When he arrived at Nankunshen in Tainan, he was especially struck by the mediums swaying their bodies and performing rituals. “I thought it was so cool! I’d seen the Gen­erals Xie and Fan before, but never an actual medium,” Giovannetti says, lifting his hands and imit­ating the medium being taken over by the deity.

That encounter would turn out to be a turning point for Giovannetti. He had originally been majoring in biopsychology, but after seeing that medium performing his rituals, on returning to the United States he switched to a double major in psychology and religious studies. Since then he has continued to explore the world, visiting Singapore, Indonesia, Malay­sia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Japan, but in ­every country he visited, he always thought of his time in Taiwan. “Those countries are great, but Taiwan had become my gold standard.” Ultimately he decided to return to Taiwan and settle in Chiayi.

Seeing history through temples

In the eyes of many Taiwanese, Chiayi is a rural backwater, but for Reed Giovannetti it is an ancient city full of history. There are many historical temples in the area. Every year, the oldest pilgrimage group in Taiwan, from Changhua’s Nanyao Temple, travels to Tianhou Temple in Chiayi’s Xingang Township to change Mazu’s phoenix robe.

Giovannetti, who speaks fluent Mandarin, has never taken a formal Chinese class, instead prac­ticing by visiting major temples in Chiayi and chatting with devotees. Many people wonder why he studies religion, and he always smiles and responds that he actually studies people, and that through reli­gion you can get to know the local history. Also, the best local food always shows up near temples.

Following Giovannetti around the temples in Chiayi City, he leads us through the western downtown area to the Guanxiangjing Temple, a temple to the God of Wealth with a history of more than 200 years, which was bombed during World War II and later restored. Nestled away in an alleyway, it exudes a peaceful atmo­sphere.

Then we follow Chiayi’s busiest road, Zhongzheng Road, to the City God Temple, a national historic site located in the eastern downtown area which is over 300 years old. The City God walks the line between the natural and supernatural worlds, impartial, serving as the local guardian figure. Once inside the temple, Giovannetti points to the soaring caisson ceiling, remarking, “That was made without any nails, entirely with wood joints. Absolutely beautiful.”

Our last visit is to the nearby Shuangzhong Temple. Although small in scale, it is the oldest temple in Chiayi, founded about 350 years ago and dedicated to two great generals of the Tang Dynasty. “Look at that ceiling and the tiger pattern; it’s very special.” Giovannetti always observes the temple architecture carefully. Patting the terrazzo pillars at the entrance, with lucky dragons wrapping around them, he says, “I was moved to see this. My great-grandfather was from Italy, where terrazzo originally comes from.”

Spreading the love

How many times has Giovannetti joined in a Mazu pilgrimage? After thinking for a while, he says, “I’ve been to the Dajia one three times, as well as the Baishatun, Ximen, and Beigang pilgrimages, and the parade for the god Xuanwu. I’m not just interested in Mazu, but also Guan Gong, Hu Ye, Guanyin....” What strikes him most about the parades is the humanity: “Everyone is so friendly, it’s wonderful!”

His love and understanding of Taiwan’s religious culture saw him invited onto the show God Bless Bao­dao to take part in the Baishatun Pilgrimage and to join Chiayi Shenhaizhen Temple’s “Shejiajiang” procession (a variant of the “Eight Generals” procession). At that time, he first cast an oracle to obtain the temple lord’s consent, after which he ate vegetarian food for nine consecutive days as is customary and then took part in tīn-thâu array practice. “My thighs hurt so bad!” he says, slapping his thigh and smiling. For formal tīn-thâu performances, makeup is applied to the face to invite the gods into the body, and Giovan­netti’s fellow group members told him he was the first foreigner in Taiwan to go through the process.

Over eight years of living in Taiwan, he has given guided tours of Chiayi to friends from 17 countries, taking them to Fengtian Temple in Xingang, Chaotian Temple, Ximen Mazu Temple, and more, explaining things like why it’s necessary to enter the temple on the right and leave on the left and how Mazu ascended from mortality to godhood, as well as sharing food and historic sites. All of this he does in the hope that when his guests leave, they will have come to love Chiayi as he does, and will have got an insight into Taiwan’s history through the city.

For more pictures, please click《Mad About Mazu: The Passion and Philanthropy of Pilgrimages》