Guides · Tue 27 Oct 2026
The Mazu pilgrimages 2027: Dajia and Baishatun, and how to join
Neither of Taiwan's two great Mazu pilgrimages has a 2027 date yet, and neither will until the temples divine one early in 2027. This guide says plainly what is known, what is only a pattern, when each temple announces, and how a visitor joins a walk that is open to anyone willing to walk.
The short answer: There are no confirmed 2027 dates for the Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage or the Baishatun Mazu Pilgrimage, and any website that gives you exact 2027 dates today is guessing. Both dates are set by divination, by casting moon blocks before the goddess, and announced by the temples themselves. Dajia's Jenn Lann Temple announces on Lantern Festival day, which in 2027 is Saturday 20 February. Baishatun's Gongtian Temple announces early in the year; in 2026 the announcement came on 2 February. Our calendar carries both pilgrimages as expected, in mid April windows that follow the recent pattern, and this guide explains the pattern honestly rather than dressing it up as a schedule.
Why the dates cannot be known yet
Mazu, goddess of the sea, is Taiwan's most widely worshipped deity, and her two great pilgrimages are acts of devotion first and events second. At Dajia, the start date and time are decided each year at Lantern Festival, when the chairman of the Jenn Lann Temple board casts divination blocks in front of the goddess to ask when the procession should set out. The Central News Agency's reporting of the temple's announcements shows the system working in both recent years: the 2025 date was decided at the Lantern Festival ceremony and announced on 12 February 2025, and the 2026 date was settled the same way. At Baishatun, a divination block ceremony at Gongtian Temple fixes the departure, the arrival at Beigang and the return in the same way; in 2026 the temple announced the result on 2 February. Until those ceremonies happen in 2027, there is nothing to confirm, and the temples are the only announcement sources that count.
Dajia: the pattern
The Dajia pilgrimage is a nine day, eight night walk of about 340 kilometres from Jenn Lann Temple in Dajia, Taichung, south through Changhua and Yunlin to Fengtian Temple in Xingang, Chiayi, and back, and it is a registered national folk custom. It departs late at night, and hundreds of thousands of followers walk some or all of the route. The recent pattern is a Friday night departure in April: in 2025 the procession set out at 10.45 in the evening on Friday 4 April and returned on Sunday 13 April, and in 2026 it was scheduled to set out at 10.05 in the evening on Friday 17 April, returning on Sunday 26 April. Our calendar's expected window for 2027, Friday 9 to Sunday 18 April, follows that shape. It is a planning window, not a date: the temple's Lantern Festival announcement on 20 February 2027 replaces it.
Baishatun: the pattern, and the route that is not planned
The Baishatun pilgrimage walks from Gongtian Temple at Baishatun in Tongxiao, Miaoli, to Chaotian Temple in Beigang, Yunlin, and back. It is famous for having no fixed route at all: the palanquin bearers follow the goddess's direction at each junction, stop where the palanquin stops, and the pink roofed palanquin's pace has earned it the nickname of the pink supercar. It was designated a national intangible cultural asset in 2010. The 2026 edition, announced by the temple on 2 February 2026, departed at 11.55 in the evening on Sunday 12 April, reached Beigang on 16 April for the fire offering ceremony just after midnight, and returned to Gongtian Temple on 20 April, eight days in all. The year before lasted ten days and drew nearly 330,000 registered participants, a record the temple itself reported; the 2026 walk was reported at 460,000. Our expected window for 2027, Sunday 11 to Monday 19 April, mirrors the 2026 shape and carries the same warning as Dajia's: the divined dates, when Gongtian Temple announces them, are the real ones.
The season around them: Mazu's birthday
The pilgrimages sit inside a wider Mazu season that ends at the goddess's birthday, the twenty-third day of the third lunar month. In 2027 that is Thursday 29 April, carried in our calendar as Mazu Birthday 2027, an expected date that rests on the lunar calculation rather than a temple announcement. Mazu temples across Taiwan, including Dajia Jenn Lann, Beigang Chaotian and Lukang Tianhou, hold birthday rites, opera and processions. It is not a public holiday. If the pilgrimage dates move, the birthday does not: it is fixed by the lunar calendar.
How to join
Joining is simpler than the scale suggests, because both walks are open. For Dajia, there is no registration barrier to walking: followers join the procession at any point along the published route, walk a day or the full nine, and the towns along the way provide free food, drinks and places to rest, offered by residents and temples as part of the custom. The temple publishes the day by day route and overnight stops after the Lantern Festival announcement, and that document is what to plan around. For Baishatun, registered pilgrims sign up with Gongtian Temple in the weeks before departure (in 2026 registration ran from 11 March to 9 April) and receive the official vest, cap and armband for a small fee, but walking along unregistered is also normal, and because the route is unplanned, pilgrims follow the palanquin's live position rather than a map. In both cases the honest planning sequence is the same: hold mid April lightly, book nothing non-refundable against the expected windows, and fix your plans the week the temple announces.
Etiquette for visitors walking along
These are religious processions that visitors are welcome to join, not parades staged for visitors. Walk behind or beside the palanquin, never in front of it, and never touch the palanquin or reach for the goddess's statue. Dress modestly, accept offered food graciously and in modest portions, and give way to the palanquin crews, the flag teams and elderly devotees who have walked for decades. Photographers should ask before close portraits and stay out of the road when the palanquin is moving at pace, which at Baishatun can mean jogging. Many walkers observe courtesies such as not drinking alcohol along the route; following the crowd's example is the reliable guide.
What is expected, and what would make it confirmed
| Pilgrimage | Expected window | Status | Announced by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage 2027 | Friday 9 to Sunday 18 April 2027 | Expected, following the recent Friday night April pattern | Jenn Lann Temple, Dajia, on Lantern Festival day, 20 February 2027 |
| Baishatun Mazu Pilgrimage 2027 | Sunday 11 to Monday 19 April 2027 | Expected, mirroring the 2026 shape | Gongtian Temple, Baishatun, early in 2027 (2 February in 2026) |
| Mazu Birthday 2027 | Thursday 29 April 2027 | Expected, fixed by the lunar calendar | Temple calendars; the date is the twenty-third day of the third lunar month |
We will replace both windows with the temples' dates as soon as the announcements land, and note the change on the records. More spring listings are under festivals.
Sources: Central News Agency reporting carried by the Overseas Community Affairs Council news service, for the Dajia divination system, the 2025 departure on 4 April and return on 13 April, and the Baishatun announcement of 2 February 2026 with departure on 12 April, Beigang arrival on 16 April and return on 20 April; Focus Taiwan reporting of Jenn Lann Temple's 2026 announcement, for the 17 April 2026 departure; Taiwan Panorama, for the 2026 Baishatun participation figure; the Tourism Administration's Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage page, for the pilgrimage pattern and route. Checked 27 October 2026. No 2027 date for either pilgrimage had been announced by either temple at the time of checking.
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