the MazuDAO NFTs became available for purchase for NT$18,880 (US$615) through the temple's internet store

By utilizing the blockchain, the Chinese sea goddess Mazu, which already has a thriving industry in Taiwan, can attract more attention.

Worldwide, Chinese cultures are well-known for their worship of the Mazu deity. It has a long history of being revered in Taiwan as a sailor's protector. Thousands of believers carry a statue of the goddess 300 kilometers and nine days from Taichung City's Dajia Jenn Lann Temple.

These pilgrimages and celebrations have given rise to a "Mazu economy," in which consumers spend money on items with a Mazu theme and donate money to charitable organizations.

The Dajia Jenn Lann Temple, which was constructed in the 1700s during the Qing Dynasty, has chosen to operate using Web 3.0 technologies. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) honoring the sea goddess are created and traded during this procedure. For the yearly Spring pilgrimage, these tokens can be utilized as a form of fast-track admittance pass.

In August, the MazuDAO NFTs became available for purchase for NT$18,880 (US$615) through the temple's internet store, MazuBuyBuy. More than 2,800 New Faith Tokens have been produced and sold by the temple thus far.

It is anticipated that the nine-day journey will generate more than NT$5 billion (about US$163 million). Forkast was informed by Mingkun Cheng, vice chairman of the board of the Dajia Jenn Lann Temple, that on the day Mazu visited her home temple, around 500,000 people took part in the pilgrimage.

According to Cheng, the MazuDAO NFTs are well-liked by younger people, which explains why more people in their age group are traveling.

Online gods?

According to Associate Professor Mao-Hsien Lin of the Taiwanese Languages and Literature Department at the National Taichung University of Education, many traditional cultural traditions are combining modern technology.

According to Lin, an expert on the Mazu faith, many of the group's more seasoned adherents are still dubious about the new adjustments.

They enjoy being able to touch the god sculptures, according to Lin. People who practice their religion online typically have less faith in the ability of their gods to hear and respond to their prayers.

Lin, on the other hand, cautioned that followers of more traditional religions might not find the NFT holders' priority pilgrimage benefit to be very tempting.

When praying, you don't need to be particularly close to the statue. They want direct interaction and physical contact with the statues of the deities, he said. It has received too much advertising, they claimed.

Unlike other NFT projects, which concentrate on online marketing channels, this NFT project adopted a different strategy. Instead, they planned offline marketing campaigns to connect with orthodox believers.

Many of the group's senior members "live in a Web 0.0 environment," according to Jerry Yan, the project lead for MazuDAO, and don't even have smartphones.

Yan explained that in order to communicate with elderly temple visitors, a telephone customer support team was required, and informational kiosks had to be erected up in front of the temple to inform Web0 believers.

"We'd frequently encourage them over the phone to call their grandchildren to assist and set up crypto wallets on their behalf," said the rep.