In a decade and a half, smartphones have dominated our professional and private lives. But what about the needs of the spirit? One group in Taiwan is making sure the faithful can keep up with the times. Tomasz Koper has the story.
Religious pilgrimage? There’s an app for that!
The Dajia Matsu pilgrimage attracts hundreds of thousands of followers every year. The temple organizing the event also maintains a companion app, which got new features this year. Those following the procession can now automatically tag themselves on social media using GPS data from their phones.
The statue of goddess Matsu will visit 186 temples this year. The app’s project manager says the software has information on every temple on the deity’s itinerary as well as estimated arrival times.
Users can tag themselves at these locations within eight hours before or after that time, but they have to connect the app to their Facebook profiles. Forgetful followers can choose to tag themselves automatically within 500 meters of each temple.
There’s a reason many care about tags - followers with a perfect attendance record can win one of 40 gold statues of Matsu worth over NT$10,000 each.
A temple representative says the app is used over a million times each year both at home and abroad. Even those far away can accompany the goddess on her journey.
This year the app is also upping its live footage game. Telepilgrims can watch footage from a lens on the goddess’ palanquin.
With apps like this, smartphones are quickly becoming indispensable not only in our everyday, but also spiritual lives.
Tomasz Koper, Rti News