A Taiwanese temple isn't a museum or a quiet church. It's a working house for the gods: people come in to light incense, ask a question, give thanks, and go. You're welcome to walk in, look around and watch. Here's what's going on around you, so the smoke, the red blocks and the processions make sense.
How a temple is laid out
Most of Tainan's older temples are a series of halls, one behind the other. You come in through the front hall (三川殿), with painted door gods and, usually, a dragon wall on one side of the entrance and a tiger wall on the other. Then comes a worship hall (拜殿), the main hall (正殿) with the temple's chief god, and often a rear hall for other gods. Out front there's normally a big incense burner facing the street: the Heaven censer (天公爐), for the Jade Emperor.
Facing the temple from outside, the right-hand side is the dragon side and the left-hand side the tiger side. People go in on the dragon side and come out on the tiger side, for blessings in and bad luck out. The centre door belongs to the gods.
The gods you'll meet in Tainan
Most temples hold many gods, not one. These are the ones you'll see most in the old town.
- Mazu (媽祖): the sea goddess. Tradition says she was Lin Mo, born in 960 on Meizhou island in Fujian, who protected sailors. Settlers crossing the rough Taiwan Strait carried her image on their boats, so she's everywhere in Taiwan. → Grand Mazu Temple
- Guan Gong (關公): a deified general, honoured for loyalty, justice and courage. He's the god of war, and many trades also worship him for good business. The Official God of War Temple is Taiwan's only Guan Gong temple in the official rites.
- The City God (城隍): the god who watches over a city and keeps a tally of everyone's good and bad deeds. Tainan's City God Temple (臺灣府城隍廟), built in 1669, is the oldest in Taiwan. Look for the giant abacus he uses to do the sums, and the plaque that reads "You've come" (爾來了).
- Confucius (孔子): honoured as the great teacher, with formal spring and autumn ceremonies. → Confucius Temple
- The Wangye (王爺): lords once worshipped to keep plague away. With Mazu, they're one of the two biggest families of temples in Taiwan.
- The Old Man Under the Moon (月老): the matchmaker. You'll find him at both the Grand Mazu Temple and the God of War Temple.
Incense and offerings
The usual order is to start at the Heaven censer, facing out toward the street, then go to the main god, then the side altars, censer by censer. People tell the god their name, birth date, address and what they're asking about. The number of sticks varies: at the Official God of War Temple it's three at the Heaven censer and one at each of the others. Many temples post their order on a sign; if not, just follow the person in front of you.
You'll also see people leaving donations for "incense and oil" (油香) and paying to light a lamp for the year's blessings. None of it is required of visitors.
Divination blocks (擲筊)
The clatter you hear on the stone floor is someone asking a god a yes-or-no question. The blocks are a pair of crescent-shaped pieces of wood or bamboo root, flat on one side and rounded on the other (in Taiwanese, 跋杯). After stating the question, you drop them:
- One flat, one rounded (聖筊): yes.
- Both flat (笑筊, "laughing"): neither yes nor no. Explain the question again and retry.
- Both rounded (怒筊): no.
The blocks often go with fortune sticks (抽籤). You ask whether you may draw, take a numbered stick from the jar, then throw the blocks to confirm it's the right one: three yeses in a row. The number gives you a printed poem, and bigger temples have someone to help interpret it.
Festivals and processions
Gods leave their temples too. On their birthdays and festival days, statues ride out in carried sedan chairs, escorted by performing troupes (陣頭). A few to know in Tainan:
- The old city's Mazu procession (府城迓媽祖): led by the Grand Mazu Temple, and the city's tourism site says it's Taiwan's earliest Mazu procession.
- The Confucius ceremony: 28 September at dawn, with music and dance in the Qing style.
- Coming of age at 16 (做十六歲): held at Kailong Temple (開隆宮) at the Qixi festival, a custom found only in Tainan.
- The Yanshui Beehive Fireworks: a Lantern Festival night of firecrackers that grew out of prayers to end an epidemic in the Qing era.
Etiquette in one list
- Dress modestly; shoulders and knees covered is a safe choice.
- Step over the thresholds, never on them.
- In on the right (dragon side), out on the left (tiger side), and keep out of the centre door.
- Speak softly, and never walk between someone praying and the altar.
- Ask before photographing people, and don't point at the gods.
- Joining in is welcome; watching respectfully is just as fine.
→ Tainan temples: where to start · Work with us
Sources
Divination blocks, fortune sticks and the main god families from the Taiwan Tourism Administration and the Ministry of Culture's National Cultural Memory Bank. Worship order and fortune-stick steps from the Official God of War Temple. Mazu from the Grand Mazu Temple. Temple layout, the City God, Guan Gong and festivals from Travel Tainan's pages on the Grand Mazu Temple, the City God Temple, the God of War Temple and religious festivals. Checked October 2026.