Sea Goddess Firework Parade

Every year in the third month of the lunar calendar it gets very busy especially in the rural areas of Taiwan. It is the Mazu, or the Sea Goddess's birthday and there are many processions all over the place. One of the main one is the Dajia Procession that lasts for 8 days 9 nights starting at 10pm today (7th April). Religious processions are a major part of Taiwan society, and in particular the Dajia Procession is considered one of the most important one. Today I saw on the news that all the politicians and next year's presidential candidates have flocked to Dajia Temple to join in the first day event. What better way to gain more exposure!

Like last year, I plan to go to the final day of the procession next week. And, if I can get the timing right, I'm hoping to take part in the procession one day as well. So keep a lookout for my posts.

In the meanwhile, let me share with you another Mazu parade I stumbled upon a couple of weeks ago. This was held in a town called Lukang. I was visiting for the day and when I arrived part of the main road was closed off. Funny I thought. A few moments later there was a lot of music and drums, and the parade started to come through. Considering this was a weekday, you'll see from my video that this is still a pretty well organised and big event, though of course not as big as the Dajai Parade. I was standing towards the front of the parade when they suddenly stopped. I looked ahead and saw some fireworks on the ground, I couldn't see the end of it. The next 90 seconds was absolutely the most exhilarating moments that I've experienced in a long time. And in case you think your screen is flickering, those are the fireworks and firecracker bits spitting towards me! Hope you enjoy the video.