From which dynasty did Mazu, a sea god widely believed in China coastal areas and Southeast Asia, come from?

Mazu, a sea god widely believed in the coastal areas of China and Southeast Asia, originated in the Song Dynasty.

The scale of Mazu belief is very huge. From the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, Mazu became the national deity (Huangdi, Confucius and Mazu), with 15 Mazu palaces in China as the core, starting with the sacrifice to Mazu Tempel in Zhigu (Tianjinwei) on the first day of August, from north to south, with Meizhou Temple on October 20 and Quanzhou Temple on October 25 as the end point, counting 15 Mazu Tempel. Among the fifteen officially recognized Mazu Tempel, Quanzhou Temple and Meizhou Temple are the most important, so the sacrifice ended with Meizhou Temple Quanzhou Temple.

At present, scholars at home and abroad generally believe that Mazu is not a fictional idol, but a historical figure who came out of the folk and was sanctified.

Lin Mo Niang's witch status in the middle of the room is the primitive form of Mazu belief. Mazu belief was born in a special ecological environment and is closely related to marine fishery production and its activities at sea. Fishermen hope to have a patron saint of the sea to protect their safety, because there are countless shipwrecks. Mazu's witch identity just adapted to people's wishes.

She can talk about human misfortune, help the poor, cure diseases and eliminate disasters, and conform to people's wishes, so she set up a temple for sacrifice after her death. Since then, her miracles have followed, shaping her into a perfect goddess. Therefore, the folk belief in witchcraft is the ideological basis for the formation of Mazu culture.

Due to the proposal and advocacy of local officials, the court also frequently sealed Mazu, and Mazu's status became higher and higher. In the 19th year of Kangxi (A.D. 1680), Mazu was named "Mother of Hong Ren Puji Tian Fei", and in the 23rd year of Kangxi (A.D. 1684), it was named "Mother of Heaven" and "Mother of Heaven".

Extended data:

The origin of faith

Scholars pointed out that Mazu evolved from the witchcraft belief in China's Fujian and Vietnam areas, and absorbed other folk beliefs (clairvoyance, clairvoyance) in the process of development. With the expansion of its influence, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism were incorporated into it, and finally gradually emerged from many sea gods, becoming an important element of Fujian-Taiwan marine culture and East Asian marine culture.

Since the Northern Song Dynasty, it has been deified and called Mazu (the local people's honorific title for female ancestors), and it has been worshipped by those who built temples. Since then, it was named Lady Hui Ling by Song Gaozong and became a god recognized by the court. Mazu belief spread from Fujian to Zhejiang, Guangdong, Taiwan Province, Ryukyu, Japan, Southeast Asia (such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam). Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Shandong and Liaoning all have Tianhou Palace or Mazu Tempel.

In recent years, the research on the marine history of Mazu in East Asia has triggered a discussion on the history of tributary trade, Ryukyu network and transnational immigration in East Asia before the discovery of western maritime geography, and Mazu belief circle has become one of the historical witnesses of the formation of marine economy and social structure in East Asia.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Mazu