Giving back to their hometown
Thanks to her approachable image, through word of mouth among devotees and the impact of the mass media the Baishatun Mazu has gone from being a local deity to one worshipped throughout Taiwan. This has turned the Baishatun Mazu Pilgrimage, which in the past was mainly for local people, into a major national event. Statistics show that 20 years ago 3,000-plus people took part, but in 2024 the number of registered participants has soared to 179,971, a new record.
Hung Ying-fa says that at the core of the rapid spread of faith in the Baishatun Mazu is the work of the Baishatun Field Research Workshop. Their publication Baishadun, founded in 2003, is a representative jieyuanpin.
A group of Baishatun locals, inspired by the fording of the Zhuoshui River during the 2001 pilgrimage, set up the Baishatun Field Research Workshop and in 2003 began publishing Baishadun annually. In 2015, the group was integrated into the cultural section of Gongtian Temple’s management committee, and the publication was renamed Baishatun Mazu, continuing its mission of recording activities related to the Baishatun Mazu Pilgrimage.
Hung Chien-hua, director of the temple’s cultural team, relates that each year they print 2,500 copies of Baishatun Mazu. Besides giving them away on the day when divination blocks are cast to set the date of the year’s pilgrimage, they also give out copies to lucky believers during the pilgrimage itself at random times and places. People who don’t go on the pilgrimage can read the online edition.
Lin Xingfu, deputy director-general of Gongtian Temple, tells us that because Baishatun Mazu records the events of the pilgrimage in detail, it has become an important source for academic research. Indirectly it has enabled the culture of faith in the Baishatun Mazu to become cumulative and to be transmitted, which was their initial motivation for founding the publication. “This is because culture is by its nature something that is accumulated over time.”
“When the cumulative total reaches a certain level, its impact goes beyond what we can imagine as we carry out our work in the short term,” says Lin, adding: “Rather than telling you what kind of feedback the faithful have given, it would be better to say that this accumulation of culture is in itself an enormous feedback from history.”
Each year volunteers from the cultural team move about within the procession, working to record, disseminate, and maintain the traditions of the Baishatun Mazu Pilgrimage. “We record what happens, but don’t put any spin on the facts, so the rest of the work of understanding is up to you.” This remark by Lin is the core maxim of the Gongtian Temple cultural team and represents the value that the Baishatun Mazu publication hopes to bring to devotees.
Whatever form jieyuanpin take, they are always rooted in faith. Only by understanding what underlies them can one truly understand how the pioneers of Baishatun, amidst their hardships, expressed gratitude for help received. And only then can one establish the purest “destined relationships” between people, and between people and deities.
As Baishatun natives, Hung Chien-hua (left), director of Gongtian Temple’s cultural team, and temple deputy director-general Lin Xingfu (right) both endeavor to ensure the preservation, continuation, and dissemination of genuine Baishatun Mazu culture.
The annual publication Baishatun Mazu.
The value of religious objects comes from faith, and faith is generated by devotees. Only by understanding the real content of these objects can one comprehend the friendship and emotions they represent.