Mazu (goddess)
Tin Hau redirects here. For other meaning of Tin Hau, see Tin Hau (disambiguation)Mazu (;
POJ: Má-chó·), mortal name
Lin Moniang (林默娘), is the
Taoist goddess of the
Sea who protects
fishermen and
sailors. She is extremely popular among the
Taiwanese,
Fujianese,
Cantonese, and
Vietnamese people, who have cultures strongly linked to the sea. The
Matsu Islands are named after her.
* Popular names:
** Mazu
** Mazu-po (媽祖婆, "Elder Lady Mazu")
** A-Ma (阿媽, "Grandmother")
**
Tianshang Shengmu or
Tianhou Shengmu (天上聖母, 天后聖母, both meaning "Heavenly Holy Mother")
**
Thiên Hậu in Vietnamese
* Official titles:
** In the
Yuan Dynasty, she was officially the "Protector of the Empire and the Brilliantly Outstanding Heavenly Queen" (護國明著天妃 Huguo Mingzhu Tianfei).
** In the
Qing Dynasty, she was made the "Heavenly Empress" (天后;
Mandarin: Tian1 Hou4;
Cantonese:
Tin Hau)
According to legend, Lin Moniang (林默娘) was born in
960 (during the early
Northern Song Dynasty) as the seventh daughter of Lin Yuan (林愿) on
Meizhou Island,
Fujian. She did not cry when she was born, and thus her
given name means "Silent Girl."
There are many legends about her and the sea.
Although she started
swimming relatively late at the age of 15, she soon became an excellent swimmer. She wore
red standing on the shore to guide fishing boats home, even in the most dangerous and harsh weather.
According to one legend, Lin Moniang's
father and
brothers were fishermen. One day, a terrible
typhoon arose while they were out at sea, and the rest of her family feared that those at sea had perished. In the midst of this storm, depending on the version of the legend, she either fell into a
trance while
praying for the lives of her father and brothers or
dreamed of her father and brothers while she was
sleeping. In either the trance or the dream, her father and brothers were drowning, and she reached out to them, holding her brothers up with her hands and her father up with her mouth. However, Moniang's
mother now discovered her and tried to wake her, but Moniang was in such a deep trance or dream that it seemed like she was dead. Moniang's mother, already believing the rest of their family dead, now broke down, crying, believing that Moniang had also just died. Hearing her mother's cries, in pity, Moniang gave a small cry to let her mother know she was alive, but in opening her mouth, she was forced to drop her father. Consequently, Moniang's brothers returned alive (sadly without their father) and told the other villagers that a
miracle had happened and that they had somehow been held up in the water as a typhoon raged.
There are at least two versions of Lin Moniang's death. In one version, she died in
987 at the age of 28, when she climbed a
mountain alone and flew to
heaven and became a goddess. Another version of the legend says that she died at age 16 of exhaustion after swimming far into the ocean trying to find her lost father and that her corpse later washed ashore in
Nankan Island of the
Matsu Islands.
Lin Moniang (2000), a minor Fujianese
TV series, is a dramatization of the life of Mazu as a mortal.
After her death, the families of many fishermen and sailors began to pray to her in honor of her acts of courage in trying to save those at sea. Her worship spread quickly. Much of her popularity in comparison to other sea deities resulted from her role as a
compassionate motherly protector, completely different from
authoritarian father figures like the
Dragon Kings. She is usually depicted wearing a red robe, and sitting on a throne. She somehow became an empress figure during the
Yuan Dynasty.
|
Mazu statue at Chùa Bà Thiên Hậu, Los Angeles |
Taiwan
There are about 800 to 1000 Taiwanese temples dedicated entirely orpartly to Mazu.
Jenlan Temple (鎮瀾宮) in
Tachia,
Taichung County is the most famous Mazu temple in Taiwan, and an annual pilgrimage takes place there each spring.
Chaotian Temple (朝天宮) of Peikang Township (北港鎮) in
Yunlin is another popular temple of Mazu in Taiwan. Heavenly Empress Temple-Meizhou Ancestral Temple (天后宮湄洲祖廟) is on her native Meizhou Island. There is also a temple on the
Pescadores Islands.
Hong Kong
In
Hong Kong, around 60 temples are dedicated, at least partially to Tin Hau. The temple in the Tin Hau area, east of
Victoria Park, in
Eastern district, on
Hong Kong Island, has given its name to the area and to
the MTR station serving it (
Island Line). The "Tin Hau Temple" is one of the
declared monuments of Hong Kong.
See
Places of worship in Hong Kong for a more detailed listing.
Macau
Macau has three Tin Hau temples (one per
Coloane,
Macau Peninsula, and
Taipa). In total, there are around 1,500 Mazu temples in 26 countries of the world. The name "Macau" is thought to be derived from the Templo de A-Má (Temple of A-Ma) (媽閣廟, Cantonese Jyutping: Maa1 Gok3 Miu6, local pronunciation: Maa5 Gok3 Miu6 or Maa5 Gok3 Miu5), a still-existing landmark built in 1448 dedicated to the goddess Mazu.
United States
Mazu has also gained popularity in the west as well. Many temples dedicated to Mazu are located in many Chinatowns in the United States. The oldest Taoist temple in the United States is dedicated to Mazu, Tien Hau Temple in San Francisco, built in 1852.
Another Mazu temple that has gained notoriety in the west is located in
Los Angeles, which is known as
Chùa Bà Thiên Hậu, an immensely popular tourist attraction in Chinatown. The temple is also home to the
Camau Association of America, a Chinese/Vietnamese
Teochew benevolent association. On
September 5th,
2005, the temple was completed after two years of building, costing about $2 million dollars. The temple itself has become popular by many, mainly because of its annual 24-hour lion dances and legal
firecracker display on
Chinese New Year's Eve.
Her
birthday-
festival is on the twenty-third day of the third lunar month of the
Chinese calendar. It falls in late April or early May in the
Gregorian calendar.
*
2001:
April 16*
2002:
May 5*
2003:
April 24*
2004:
May 11*
2005:
May 1*
2006:
April 20*
2007:
May 9*
2008:
April 28*
2009:
April 18*
2010:
May 6*
Chinese mythology*
Tin Hau (MTR) - a MTR station in Hong Kong
*
Malaysian Chinese Gods*
A statue photo*
Biography of Mazu and celebrations of her festival (in
Traditional Chinese)
*
Chua Ba Thien Hau, Los Angeles (Description)
