The goddess of the sea Mazu, commonly worshipped along the coasts of China and in Southeast Asia, originated from which dynasty?

The belief in Mazu, the goddess of the sea, which is widely worshipped along the coasts of China and in Southeast Asia, originated in the Song Dynasty.

The scale of Mazu faith is very large, since the Song Dynasty until the Qing Dynasty, Mazu has become one of the three major gods (Huangdi, Confucius and Mazu) by the state rituals of successive generations of China's fifteen A-Mazu Palace as the core of the year on the first day of August sacrifices Zhigu (Tianjin) A-Mazu Temple to start from the north to the south, October 20 is sacrificed to the temple of Mekong Island, October 25 to sacrifices to the end of the temple of Quanzhou, the festival of fifteen A-Mazu temples. The royal text varies with the temples, and among the fifteen officially recognized A-Ma temples, Quanzhou and Meizhou are the most important, so the festival ends at the Meizhou and Quanzhou temples.

At present, scholars at home and abroad generally believe that A-Ma is not a fabricated idol, but a historical figure who came out from the people and was sanctified.

Lin Mo Niang's status as a "Lizhong Witch" is the original form of A-Ma's beliefs. A-Mazu beliefs arose in a special ecological environment, closely related to marine fisheries production and its maritime activities. The fishermen wanted to have a guardian deity to protect their safety because of the countless number of people who were killed in sea accidents. A-Mazu's status as a witch is a perfect fit for the people's desire.

Her ability to speak of earth's misfortunes and blessings, to help the needy, to cure the sick and to eliminate disasters responded to people's wishes, and so she set up a temple to worship her after her death. It was only thereafter that one of her miracles followed another and molded her into a perfect goddess. So the folk belief in witchcraft was the ideological basis on which the culture of A-Ma was formed.

The status of A-Ma became higher and higher due to the proposal and advocacy of local scholars and eunuchs, and the imperial court frequently bestowed fealty on A-Ma. In the 19th year of the Kangxi period (1680), A-Ma was named "Holy Mother of the Heavenly Consort", and in the 23rd year of the Kangxi period (1684), A-Ma was named "Heavenly Queen of the Heavenly Consort", making "Holy Mother of the Heavenly Consort" and "Queen of the Heavenly Consort" A-Ma's sacred names.

Expanded Information:

Origin of the Faith

Scholarly studies have pointed out that Mazu evolved from the wizard beliefs of the Min-Yue region of China, and in the course of its development, it absorbed other folk beliefs (clairvoyance and obedience). With the expansion of its influence, it also incorporated Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and finally gradually stood out from the many sea gods and became an important element of the marine culture of Fujian and Taiwan, as well as the marine culture of East Asia.

Since the Northern Song Dynasty, A-Ma Zu has been deified, known as A-Ma Zu (a local honorific for a female ancestor) and worshipped in temples, and then named Lady Linghui by Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty, making her a deity recognized by the imperial court. Mazu beliefs spread from Fujian to Zhejiang, Guangdong, Taiwan, Ryukyu, Japan, Southeast Asia (such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam) and other places, and there are Tianhougong (Heavenly Empress) or Mazu temples along the coasts of Tianjin, Shanghai and Nanjing, as well as Shandong and Liaoning.

Research into the history of A-Ma in East Asian oceans in recent years has led to a discussion of the history of tribute trade, Ryukyu networks, and transnational migration in East Asia before the discovery of Western navigation and geography, and the circle of A-Ma has become one of the historical witnesses to the formation of East Asia's maritime economy and social structure.

Baidu Encyclopedia - A-Mazu