What was the construction process of Quanzhou Mazu Tempel?

According to legend,11One night in the Song Dynasty in 1996, all the monks in Chao Hai Temple in Quanzhou had the same dream, dreaming that a goddess appeared, claiming to be Mazu, and asked them to build a palace for her, so that she could live in it and bless the water transportation in Quanzhou.

When the monks woke up, they were very surprised. They thought Mazu appeared, so they elected a respected monk, Xu Shichang, to be in charge of building the Mazu Tempel. So Xu Shichang raised funds from the people, and then used the raised funds to build the Mazu Tempel.

At that time, Mazu Tempel's architecture was huge, consisting of three main halls, two corridors and two pavilions. The original gate was called the circus stage, but it was later demolished and the remaining gate was later rebuilt.

Rebuild the mountain gate as a carved painted wooden barrel arch, with a bluestone dragon column, unicorn stone carvings on both sides and a tiger-killing window. The roof of the mountain gate has four slopes, and the roof is upturned, with porcelain carvings of dragons on it. The cornice ridge of the mountain gate is decorated in a phoenix-tail shape, with soft and beautiful lines and magnificent overall structure.

The stage is connected to the back eaves of the mountain gate, facing north, and the top cover of the algae well is carved with ridge wood, which is small and exquisite and has the unique artistic style of Quanzhou.

On both sides of the mountain gate are the east-west Juelou, which shows the noble status of Tianhou Palace. The East-West Juelou is a two-story pavilion with two towering floors, with bells and drums placed upstairs and two statues of clairvoyance and wind ears placed downstairs, which are magnificent.

Although the great hall, which was also built in the Song Dynasty, has experienced many vicissitudes, its wooden buildings are still well preserved. The main hall covers an area of over 600 square meters. It is built on a base of Mount Sumi, which is 1 m above the ground. This base of Mount Sumi was restored with granite.

On Sumiyo's waist, there are relief patterns such as "carp and fish turn into dragons", lions, Four Treasures of the Study, Xianjiayi, crane dancing clouds and Bao Gailian. Skilled carving techniques and vivid patterns show the supreme dignity of the Tianhou priesthood.

In the main hall, there is a wooden beam skeleton, with round granite columns standing and embossed stigma embossed with lotus patterns. The building structure in the temple is very special and the space changes are very rich.

There are curved finches on the doors and windows of the temple, and there are exquisite carvings on the finches. The patterns are rich and colorful, including geometric patterns, flowers, aquatic animals, birds and animals, etc. There are also pictures of Ruyi, Passion Flower and Magpie climbing plum in the hall, all of which are auspicious symbols. Other designs are animals, meaning "longevity".

The relief in the temple is even more dazzling. There are eight horses, eight treasures, ancient birds and dragons, and various flowers, which show that ornamental fish ride the wind and waves and flowers bloom. These reliefs are all patterns that show the theme of Taoism, with the mascot of Fu Lushou as the foil, showing the extraordinary realm of the immortal family.

The roof of the main hall is nine ridges and double eaves, which belongs to the backer type that falls into the water on all sides. The main ridge is the commanding height of the whole Tianhou Temple, and the two ends are the Shuanglong play beads made of colored porcelain, which are beautifully shaped and bright.

The head of the four-pronged ridge is a combined phoenix pattern This phoenix group is a dragon corresponding to the big ridge, forming a scene of dragons and phoenixes. These are symbols of good luck and longevity.

In Song Dynasty 1 122, Song Huizong granted "Shunzhi", which was called Shunzhi Palace. "Shunji" also means to help the wind.

In the Song Dynasty, the local governor of Quanzhou and officials of municipal shipping departments came to Shunji Palace in spring and autumn every year to hold ceremonies of "praying for the wind" and "offering sacrifices to the sea" to pray for calm and safe navigation, and at the same time to encourage people to develop maritime trade.

In fact, at first people worshipped the sea not in Shunji Palace, but in Zhenwu Temple near Jinjiang, and the ceremony of praying for the wind was held on Jiuri Mountain in Nan 'an County. But later, because the incense in Shunji Palace was very strong, both sacrifices were held in Shunji Palace.

In the Southern Song Dynasty 12 1 1 year, Zou Yinglong, the county magistrate, built a stone bridge under the Sunjiang River and named it "shunji bridge", which was convenient for businessmen and fishermen to sacrifice in Shunji Palace.

Moreover, the belief culture of Tianhou Palace in Quanzhou began to spread to Taiwan Province Province of China in the Southern Song Dynasty. According to records, as early as 1 17 1 year, Wang Dayou, Quanzhou, and well-known places moved some people to Taiwan Province Province.

Later, Wang Dayuan, a famous traveler in the Yuan Dynasty, drifted from Quanzhou to Penghu and wrote in the book Island:

Penghu is divided into 36 large and small islands, facing each other on hillsides and ridges ... Have a pleasant journey from Quanzhou, and you can arrive in two days and two nights ... People in spring live in huts and have their own children.

Penghu in this paper refers to the islands in Taiwan Province Province. From this article, we can know that in Yuan Dynasty, there were already people who immigrated from Quanzhou in Taiwan Province Province. It was also during this period that Taiwan Province Province built the first Mazu Tempel, known as Mother's Palace, which was the earliest Mazu Tempel in the history of Taiwan Province Province.