Worship Mazuism is first attested in
Huang Gongdu's poem "On the Shrine of the Smooth Crossing" (), which considered her a menial and misguided shamaness whose continued influence was inexplicable. Shortly afterwards,
Liao Pengfei ()'s 1150 inscription at the village of Ninghai (now
Qiaodou Village) in Putian was more respectful. and experienced a vision of "the goddess of Meizhou". Her worship subsequently spread:
Li Junfu's early-13th century
Putian Bishi records temples on Meizhou and at Qiaodou, Jiangkou, and Baihu. By the end of the Song dynasty, there were at least 31 temples to Mazu, reaching at least as far as
Shanghai in the north and
Guangzhou in the south. By the 12th century, she had already become a guardian to the people of Qiaodou when they suffered drought, flood, epidemic,
piracy, When US forces bombed Taiwan during World War II, Mazu was said to intercept bombs and defend the people. Today, Mazuism is practiced in about 1,500 temples in 26 countries around the world, mostly in the
Sinosphere or the
overseas Chinese communities such as that of the predominantly Hokkien
Philippines. Of these temples, almost 1000 are on
Taiwan, representing a doubling of the 509 temples recorded in 1980 and more than a dozen times the number recorded before 1911. Informal centers of pilgrimage for Mazu's believers include Meizhou Island, the
Zhenlan Temple in
Taichung on Taiwan, and Xianliang Temple in Xianliang Harbor,
Putian. Together with Meizhou Island, the Xianliang Temple is considered the most sacred place to Mazu, whose supposed death happened on the seashore of Xianliang Harbor. A ceremony attended by pilgrims from different provinces of China and from Taiwan commemorates this legendary event each year in October. File:Mazu temple in Melbourne - Australia 2010.jpg|A statue of Mazu at the
Heavenly Queen Temple in
Footscray, Victoria. File:Front view of Beitou Guangdu Temple on 6 September 2016.jpg|
Guandu Temple at
Beitou,
Taipei,
Taiwan. File:MazuTemple.jpg|Tianhou Temple at
Tianjin, China. The northernmost Mazu Temple in China. File:三重義天宮.jpg|
Sanchong Yi Tian Temple at
Sanchong District,
New Taipei, Taiwan. File:Thean Hou Temple (18978458805).jpg|
Thean Hou Temple in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. File:成山头 - altar-fountain complex with statues of various Chinese gods in Weihai, Shandong.jpg|A statue of Mazu (
center), carrying a lantern and ceremonial
ruyi, in
Weihai. File:Yokohama Chinatown Ma Ma Temple Halle Innen Altar 09.jpg|
Yokohama Masobyō (Mazu) Temple, Inner Altar, in
Japan Pilgrimages The primary
temple festival in Mazuism is Lin Moniang's traditional birthday on the 23rd day of the 3rd month of the Chinese lunar calendar. In Taiwan, there are two major
pilgrimages made in her honor, the
Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage and the
Baishatun Mazu Pilgrimage. In both festivals, pilgrims walk more than 300 kilometers to carry a
litter containing statues of the goddess between two temples. Another major festival is that around the
Tianhou Temple in
Lukang. Depending on the year, Mazu's festival day may fall as early as mid-April or as late as mid-May. The anniversary of her death or supposed ascension into Heaven is also celebrated, usually on the Double Ninth Festival (the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar). According to academic Chang Kuei-min of
National Taiwan University, the CCP has "created a narrative that it is a champion of
Chinese folk religion" and Mazu has become part of that narrative.
United front-linked groups have sponsored paid trips for Taiwanese to visit Mazu-related temples in Fujian.
In art After her death, Mazu was remembered as a young lady who wore a red dress as she roamed over the seas. In
religious statuary, she is usually clothed in the attire of an empress, and decorated with accessories such as a ceremonial
hu tablet and a flat-topped imperial cap () with rows of beads (
liu) hanging from the front and back. Her temples are usually protected by the
door gods and . These vary in appearance but are frequently demons, Qianliyan red with two horns and two yellow sapphire eyes and Shunfeng'er green with one horn and two ruby eyes.
Lin Moniang (2000), a minor Fujianese
TV series, was a dramatization of Mazu's life as a mortal.
Mazu (, 2007) was a Taiwanese animated feature film from the Chinese Cartoon Production Co. depicting her life as a shamaness and goddess. Its production director Teng Chiao admitted the limited appeal to the domestic market: "If young people were our primary target audience, we wouldn't tell the story of Mazu in the first place since they are not necessarily interested in the ancient legend[;] neither do they have loyalty to made-in-Taiwan productions". Instead, "when you look to global markets, the question that foreign buyers always ask is what can best represent Taiwan".
Mazu, with its story about "a magic girl and two cute sidekicks [Mazu's door gods Qianliyan and Shunfeng'er] spiced up with a strong local flavor", was instead designed with an intent to appeal to international markets interested in Taiwan. == See also ==