The Dajia Mazu Temple sets up a snack station with pork buns and soup dumplings to welcome back the pilgrimage, ending the vegetarian period.
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Devotees awaiting the return of the goddess Mazu were treated to a feast as a soup dumpling vendor set up a roadside stall to provide free, freshly steamed soup dumplings, also known as Xiaolongbao. As the incense burning ritual was about to begin, the devotees were filled with excitement. The 660 soup dumplings that were steamed on-site were quickly snatched up.
The Mazu goddess returned to her temple on Wednesday morning, signaling the end of the vegetarian period, and a welcoming ceremony was held to bring the deity back to her throne. Devotees also set up a snack station supplying everyone with 200 pork buns and 200 meat-filled rice dumplings that were quickly consumed by the hungry devotees.
Believers lined up along the road, waiting for the Mazu’s palanquin, a vehicle carried by four people, to pass by. Among the procession following Mazu's palanquin, two young brothers sitting in a stroller were patiently waiting for Mazu to return. The brothers had been hospitalized for a week and were hooked up to IV drips, having not yet fully recovered from pneumonia. The Dajia Mazu Temple Chairman Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) presented them with Mazu's amulet, praying for their good health.