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All images and texts are copyright protected, ©2026 Evelyn Lee
This project follows members of the ROC Federation of the Spinal Cord Injured (ROC FSCI) during the Baishatun Mazu Pilgrimage—one of Taiwan’s oldest walking pilgrimages and an important living folk tradition. Originating from Baishatun Gongtian Temple in Miaoli, the pilgrimage has continued for over two centuries, with its route and timing determined each year through ritual divination rather than fixed paths.
Participants, known as xiangdeng jiao (香燈腳), walk as carriers of faith, continuity, and collective presence. Some have returned for more than a decade, becoming familiar figures along the route—recognized, greeted, and sometimes accompanied by others who join briefly along the way. The journey unfolds through small exchanges: encouragement, shared steps, and jielian pin (結緣品) offered by strangers.
This chapter follows the return northward. After a night of continuous movement, the procession reaches Yunlin, where participants wait into the early morning hours to meet Mazu at Tianheng Temple in Lunbei. Along the way, there is a quiet realization of the strength of wheels: how they move through distance that tired legs can no longer keep up with. Hours pass in motion, until suddenly it becomes morning. A sunrise appears that, in another context, might not have been noticed at all, yet here it arrives after an entire night of walking.