I have to say that I have never been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras but I am taking a wild guess that the small town of Dajia, Taiwan on the Saturday night of Mazu's departure might have resembled close to that! Mazu is known in Taiwan as the popular goddess and guardian of the sea (to be exact the fishermen and sailors that surround Taichung). Mazu rests in a temple called Chenlan Temple in Dajia, and then once a year, she proceeds to make her way south down into the surrounding Taichung countys for 8 days, stopping by over 70 Temples, where people will pray to Mazu for goodluck. Since Rachel lives in Dajia, she had been hearing about this event since the day she stepped foot into her town--and not a lot of
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