A Day in Lukang

During our first weekend in Taiwan, we traveled to Lukang for the day with a group of friends from Tunghai University. From our hostel in Taichung, it was about an hour or so by bus. We arrived on a hot, sticky Sunday for a day of shopping, eating, and a visit to the local Matsu temple.

Our first stop was a lantern shop that was world-famous for the artist's handmade, hand-painted lanterns. The storefront was covered from top to bottom in different designs, decorations, and colors. The windows were plastered with photographs of the store owner with various celebrities. When we approached, the old man sat outside the store, greeting us in his calm manner with a small smile.

The Lantern Shop

We entered the small area, covered in every bit of ceiling space, wall shelf, and floor area with lanterns of different sizes and colors. With the help of our friends to translate, we spoke with the worker inside, bartering for prices and searching for the perfect style to give to our family back home as gifts. Many of the lanterns were adorned with tassels, beads, and glitter, while others were painted with flowers, traditional images, and ancient Chinese calligraphy. It was also an option to have the man paint a message directly onto a plain lantern. Christina, another Chatham University student, asked him to write something in Chinese for her sister, who would be graduating during our trip. It was amazing to watch him write the ancient language. He finished by hair drying the ink, preventing it from being smeared on the return trip to the States.

We moved on to a street festival where we were able to try at least a half a dozen different types of Taiwanese snacks. Some were similar to American food, such as candied strawberries, while others were entirely different. As we walked along the midst of vendors, we came upon the temple. A parade celebration was attracting a large crowd of people, making it a bit uncomfortable along with the scorching heat. We decided to eat lunch, an herbal mix of noodles, and then claw our way to the interior courtyard. Fireworks, drums, and traditional parade costumes streamed from the area as we looked upward to the hundreds of lanterns strung between the gates. Our friends explained to us how important Matsu was to Taiwan and its people, emphasizing how special this experience was. We also learned that we had visited Lukang on Matsu's birthday, a national holiday.

Matsu Celebration

As we pushed further to the interior, we found the source of the celebration. Hundreds of people were preparing to worship the goddess through incense or for the next round of the parade. A moment of fortune struck when Matsu herself was carried out by her followers to meet the crowds. We were among the first to see her before she could be worshipped by the nation.

Matsu