Mazu Memorial Ceremony
01 · Historical Records
At present, more than twenty countries and regions around the world, and more than five hundred counties and cities in thirty provinces and municipalities within China, have built more than five thousand fairly large Mazu branch temples; nearly two hundred million people worship Mazu, and every year more than one million domestic and overseas tourists travel to the ancestral Mazu temple on Meizhou Island to pay homage. Mazu culture originated in the early years of the Northern Song dynasty and has a history of more than one thousand years to this day. Mazu, with the family name Lin and the personal name Mo, was born on Meizhou Island in Putian in the first year of the Jianlong era of the Northern Song, and died in the fourth year of the Yongxi era while rescuing people from a disaster at sea. In October 2004, the China Mazu Cultural Exchange Association was founded at the ancestral Mazu temple on Meizhou Island in Putian, Fujian, providing an important platform for Mazu cultural institutions and figures at home and abroad to carry out academic research, conduct exchanges and fellowship, promote Mazu culture, and enhance mutual understanding and consensus.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Meizhou Island lies at the mouth of Meizhou Bay on the coast of Fujian and belongs to Putian City, Fujian Province; it is the hometown of Mazu, the sea goddess revered throughout the four seas, and the place where Mazu culture originated. Grateful for the good deeds she did in her lifetime in aiding the world, people spontaneously built a shrine on Meizhou Island to worship her shortly after her death, first calling her "Mazu" and honoring her as the goddess who protects seafarers. The sacrificial ceremony of the ancestral Mazu temple is held every year on the 23rd day of the third lunar month, the birthday of Mazu, at the ancestral temple square on Meizhou and the Tianhou square of the new hall. The ceremony takes about 45 minutes in full and comes in large, medium, and small scales. Its procedure includes: 1. beating the drums and firing the cannon; 2. the honor guard and ceremonial guard squad taking their positions, and the musicians and dancers taking theirs; 3. the chief sacrificer and accompanying sacrificers taking their positions; 4. welcoming the deity and offering incense; 5. laying out the silk offering; 6. reading the sacrificial address; 7. kneeling in homage; 8. performing the rite of the first offering, with the Music of Peace played; 9. performing the rite of the second offering, with music played; 10. performing the rite of the third offering, with music played; 11. burning the sacrificial address and the silk; 12. three kneelings and nine kowtows; 13. completion of the rite. Among the thousands of Mazu temples throughout the world, more than one thousand are in Taiwan, where Mazu is honored as the "Holy Mother in Heaven." Mazu culture has a strong cohesive force among Chinese people all over the world and exerts great influence, especially in Southeast Asia. Over a thousand years, Mazu culture has become an important component of the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation, and a cultural bridge and spiritual bond linking Chinese people at home and abroad and connecting all parts of the world.
Five thousand branch temples
Over five thousand branch shrines stand in some twenty countries and five hundred Chinese counties, making Mazu a faith shared across seas.
The pilgrimage peak on Meizhou
More than a million pilgrims reach the ancestral temple each year, and the birthday crowds both squares far beyond ordinary days.
The association's platform
Founded at Meizhou in October 2004, the association gives research and fellowship a standing institutional channel for Mazu communities abroad.
From the river to the strait
The cult spread along rivers, coasts and straits, so that every anchorage on the water could become a place of worship.
Pilgrimage across five continents
Carried by migrants to twenty countries on five continents, the cult gathers nearly two hundred million worshippers and reconnects the three regions each year.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The custom of the Mazu sacrificial ceremony has a long history and far-reaching influence; especially along the mainland coast of China and in the Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions and across Southeast Asia, the image of Mazu is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, known to all, young and old.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Mazu culture and customs of Meizhou form a system of their own, with unique content and research and conservation value; in particular, they can play a considerable role in further promoting exchanges between Fujian and Taiwan. In the long course of transmission and development, Mazu culture gradually spread to the riverine and coastal areas of China and to the Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao regions, and then, following the footsteps of overseas Chinese, spread to more than twenty countries on the five continents. The routes by which Mazu beliefs and customs spread kept pace with the history of seafaring: first along the rivers and coasts to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao, then, following the footprints of overseas Chinese, out beyond the country's borders, coming to rest in more than twenty countries on the five continents. Today's configuration is not the result of a single imperial founding act, but the accumulation of successive migrations and vow-fulfillments over a thousand years. A loose yet stable connection is maintained between the mother temple and the branch temples: local temples need not seek instruction for every matter, yet all regard Meizhou as their ancestral seat. This state of each going its own way while sharing a single origin is precisely the structural reason why Mazu culture has been able to survive for so long.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Lin Jinbang 04-1962
- Ma Zhaosheng 05-2983
- Wu Jiang 05-2984
- Chen Jianquan 05-2985
- Li Qingxiang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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