Both pilgrimage to mother temple and the other form of pilgrimage, which focuses on visiting historic or famous temples, have grown significantly since 2000. Due to the specific historical background of some Mazu temples in Yunlin and Chiayi, where many people from the agricultural area migrated to the metropolitan area during the period of industrialization in 1980s, the two counties have become the major destination areas for the Mazu-pilgrimage, with even more pilgrimage visitors than older areas like Tainan and Kaohsiung. Yet, no quantitative investigations have been conducted on the Mazu-pilgrimage in Taiwan. This study performs such a quantitative research, establish networks of pilgrim groups visiting more than one target temple from data collected from all Mazu-temples in Yunlin and Chiayi for three consecutive years. Using network analysis methods, including community detection and hierarchical clustering analysis, this study explores the characteristics of network structures with reference to different temporal and spatial conditions. The concept of a ＂co-constructed pilgrimage circle＂ is proposed as the basic structure for explaining the changes in network structure under different time and space conditions. This novel concept is expected to join the theories of worshipping circles and belief circles in related studies in enriching academic imagination of the modern development of Taiwanese popular religion.
自2000年以來，不僅媽祖進香活動的熱絡程度明顯成長，也出現了大量非謁祖的參香活動。雲林、嘉義地區因為一些媽祖廟的特殊歷史背景，加上臺灣工業化過程中，雲嘉農業地區大量人口往都會區遷移，造就了雲嘉地區成為媽祖進香、參香的主要目地區，比臺南、高雄這些歷史更悠久的地區被進香、參香的量都大。截至目前為止，學界尚未有針對臺灣內部進香、參香的狀況進行某個地區的完整調查及量化資料分析。本研究採用網絡分析的方法，包括分群分析、階層群聚分析等，探究不同時、空條件下的網絡結構特徵。透過分析連續三年收集雲嘉地區所有媽祖廟被參香的資料，發現有相對穩定的被共同參香的廟群，這些廟群成為掌握不同時、空條件下網絡結構變化的基本結構群。
