Mazu 媽祖, the goddess of sea who protects all fishermen and sailors in Taiwanese religions, is worshiped in southeastern China, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan. Born as Lin Moniang 林默娘 in the Song Dynasty, she was apotheosized and had temples built for her. Emperors in subsequent dynasties have been known to give Mazu official titles that further elevate her divine status. The Mazu belief became stronger and stronger over the years, and when the Han people immigrated to Taiwan, they brought the belief with them. Today Mazu is considered to be one of the most widely believed goddess in Taiwan, with at least 510 temples, 40 of which have reliable written history. Legend has it that while many people were crossing the Taiwan Strait to immigrate to Taiwan, high waves and bad weather conditions always cost many lives. However, whenever those who were in trouble called for Mazu 媽祖 to help, she would always appear without putting on her makeup to save those who needed to be saved. Yet, if those in trouble called for the Tian Fei 天妃 (literally “Heavenly Princess Consort”, a title of Mazu), she would appear in her fullest attire to save people with grace, which often happened much later as it was thought that she needed her time to put on the full attire. So every sailing man always call Mazu by Mazu instead of Tian Fei, in the hope that she will rescue those in need out of trouble immediately. Legends also has it that during WWII, Mazu blocked bombs released by the Allies with her skirt. As Taiwan was still part of the Japanese Empire during WWII, and thus a base for the Japanese army, the Allies bombed Taiwan heavily. One day in Dajia 大甲, Taichung, two bombs were released into the town, one destroying the area near the train station, while the other one landed in the market next to the Jenn Lann Temple 鎮瀾宮 (sometimes spelled as Chenlan Temple), the most famous Mazu temple in Taiwan, without exploding. As the statue of Mazu inside the temple had her arms open at that time, it was said that Mazu caught the bomb to protect the part of the town near the temple from being destroyed.
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 02:56:20 +0000
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