北港朝天宮

The Chaotian Temple in Beigang, Yunlin County, is among the most revered Mazu temples in Taiwan, drawing more than a million pilgrims each year. Founded in 1694 under the Qing dynasty, it has served for over three centuries as a spiritual anchor for the worship of Mazu, the sea goddess who protects sailors and fishermen. The temple is particularly renowned for its extravagant traditional architecture — glazed ceramic dragon columns, densely carved wooden altarpieces, and sweeping layered roof ridges encrusted with folk-deity figurines. The annual Mazu birthday celebrations in the third lunar month transform Beigang into a weeks-long religious event of processions, firecrackers, and oracle divination rituals that draws devotees from across Taiwan and the diaspora. Incense smoke fills the halls continuously, and palanquin-borne deity statues are paraded through surrounding streets in rituals largely unchanged since the Qing era.