Three Temples Bring Their Deities to a Century-Old Heritage Site for “Lin Garden Divine Assist” Events

Three temples will bring their deities to the Lin Family Mansion and Garden in New Taipei for a festival blending traditional faith with hands-on cultural activities. The “Lin Garden Divine Assist” series runs from Sept. 19 to Oct. 3 and marks the 20th anniversary of the heritage site’s cooperation with Taipei’s Xia-Hai City God Temple.

For the first time, the event will connect Xia-Hai City God Temple with Banqiao’s Ci-Hui Temple and Jieyun Temple. The program is organized around three themes: help with relationships, help with luck and help with peace and safety. Visitors can enter the garden to pray, collect stamps from all three temples and exchange them for a fortune-drawing ball, a blessing and a limited gift.

The festival opens on the morning of Sept. 19 with a welcoming procession. Four workshops will accept online registration from noon on Sept. 7. They include a mineral-pigment painting workshop focused on love and blessings, a sound and music activity about relationships, a weaving workshop for creating lucky objects, and a sewing workshop for making protective amulets.

The amulet workshop on Sept. 27 will incorporate the garden’s distinctive begonia-shaped leaky-window motif. Other activities will include a fortune-telling stall on Sept. 25, a competitive divination-block tossing event on Sept. 28, and a closing portrait-drawing event on Oct. 3. Twenty groups will be selected to have artists create personalized portraits based on stories they share about the garden.