Gods mount up
The birthday incense is burned at 7 a.m., and then the gods are invited to mount their palanquins.
The comically dressed po-be-a (“messenger”) sets out first and announces Mazu’s approach. Two pairs of awe-inspiring “god puppets” walking in large wobbly strides guard the procession’s flanks. Next, electric-techno neon god dancers, dragon dancers, and lion dancers come forward one after another to pay their respects before the palanquins. Female amateur dance troupes perform sexy dances to rock music, to the delight of the watching worshipers. It’s a very Taiwanese performance.
The Jinguashi Mazu procession’s seven palanquins make quite a sight. The palanquin carrying Tudigong’s statue leads the way followed by one carrying Baoming Temple’s Shennong statue, another carrying Gengzailiao’s Mazu statue, still another carrying both Guandu’s and Mailiao’s Mazu statues, and then the palanquin of Cyuanji Temple’s Mazu statue, a “lineal descendant” of the Beigang Mazu statue. The palanquin of Guan Yu, Cyuanji Temple’s principal deity, brings up the rear behind an elevated one carrying a Jade Emperor statue.
Because the whole route of the procession ranges up and down slopes via stairs and alleys, the gods ride in palanquins made of rattan, which weigh less than the more typical wooden ones. Even so, they weigh tens of kilograms, require teams of eight to carry them, and leave their bearers out of breath after trips up or down stairs. Given the rain-slick roads, treacherous footing, and cooperation among bearers necessary to make it all work, it’s no wonder the procession has a reputation as the most difficult in Taiwan.
Following the former ropeway up the slope, the procession arrives at the New Taipei City Gold Museum, where worshippers kneel and let the palanquins pass over them to seek blessings from the gods. Five or six times as many adherents wait here this year as in the past: the line stretches all the way to the museum’s ticket booth, and marks the first high point in the procession.
We follow the road past the place where Jinguashi residents have set up an altar to welcome the palanquins. There we see the “swapping incense” custom peculiar to Mazu processions along Taiwan’s northern coast, which involves adherents replacing the procession’s partially burned incense sticks with fresher ones of their own. They then take the partially burned incense from the procession and place it in the incense burners in their own homes, to represent the passing of the gods’ blessings to each household and each resident.
Zheng Jinmu, Cyuanjin Temple’s 96-year-old senior monk, chants sutras to wish Mazu a happy birthday.