Meizhou Mazu Ancestral Temple (appendix)莆田湄洲妈祖祖庙（附）
- Type
- Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
- Location
- China · Fujian · Putian · Meizhou Island, Xiuyu District
- Coordinates
- 25.07, 119.12 Map ↗
- First built
- 987, the 4th year of the Yongxi era, Northern Song · Ancestral temple at the site of origin of Mazu worship; honorific titles conferred by successive dynasties; rebuilt after 1978; "Mazu belief and customs" inscribed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2009
- Heritage status
- Mazu Belief and Customs: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (2009)Meizhou Mazu Ancestral Temple: Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (2006)
Overview
The Meizhou Mazu Ancestral Temple is the site of origin for the cult of Mazu (Lin Mo); after Lin Mo underwent Feathered Transformation in the fourth year of the Yongxi era of the Northern Song (987), local people built a shrine to her, and thereafter the courts of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing successively conferred honorific titles on her, from Lady and Tianfei up to Tianhou and Tianshang Shengmu (Holy Mother of Heaven); Mazu became the central figure of sea-god worship and was absorbed into the Daoist pantheon (the Scripture of Lord Lao's Efficacious Salvation through Tianfei appears in the Daozang). The ancestral temple was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt progressively after 1978, forming a complex that includes the Sleeping Hall, the main hall, Chaotian Pavilion, and a stone statue of Mazu; it is the ancestral court of several thousand Mazu temples worldwide, and grand ceremonies are held each year on Mazu's birthday (the 23rd of the third lunar month) and her Ascension Day (the ninth of the ninth lunar month). "Mazu belief and customs" were inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. This entry serves as an appendix at the intersection of Daoism and popular belief.
Highlights
- Main Hall of the Ancestral Temple
- Stone Statue of Mazu
- Mazu Ceremonial Rites
- Believers on Both Sides of the Taiwan Strait