Songshan Fengtian Temple
Main Deities
About
The moment midnight strikes on the 9th day of the first lunar month, Songshan Fengtian Temple is packed shoulder to shoulder with worshippers come to 'pay respects to the Heavenly Lord' — the grandest night of the whole year. This Taoist temple in Taipei's Xinyi District is dedicated to the Jade Emperor, the Heavenly Lord, and is one of the most important centers of Jade Emperor worship in the Taipei area. The gleaming golden main hall enshrines the Jade Emperor, flanked by the Three Officials and the Star Lords of the Northern and Southern Dippers. To see how Taiwanese people honor Heaven with the most solemn of rites, the 'Heavenly Lord's Birthday' on the 9th is the most spectacular lesson — the full 'five-offering' sacrifice laid out in a scene said to be the largest in Taipei.
History
Songshan Fengtian Temple was founded during the Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty (around the 1880s), at first only a simple straw altar where local residents came to worship the Heavenly Lord. As followers grew year by year, and through repeated expansions from the Japanese era into the postwar period, it reached its present scale. The major reconstruction of the 1960s was the most decisive — the temple deliberately modeled its main hall on Minnan palace-style architecture, building it gleaming with gold and towering in grandeur. The incense at its Heavenly Lord censer has always burned strong, and especially on the 'Heavenly Lord's Birthday' on the 9th of the first lunar month, worshippers pour in from midnight bearing the most solemn five-offering sacrifice — a scale of worship said to be the greatest in Taipei. As the Xinyi District developed and the crowds grew, Songshan Fengtian Temple secured its place as one of the most important centers of Jade Emperor worship in the Taipei area.
Songshan Fengtian Temple
Xinyi District, Taipei City
Visitor Info
Address
No. 12, Ln. 221, Fude St., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City
Region
Xinyi District, Taipei City