Mazu (Matsu), the most worshiped Taoist female deity, has many names. Her name Mazu is comprised of the characters mā (媽), meaning “mother,” and zǔ (祖) meaning “ancestor,” in Taoism, she is Tian Shang Sheng Mu (天上聖母), or “heavenly goddess.”meaning mother, and in Southern China Southern regions of China, Mazu is affectionately called Ā-mā (阿媽), translating as “grandmother” or “mother.” Mazu has been one of the most popular Chinese goddesses and a significant Taoist deity in southeastern coastal China since her birth in the early Song dynasty. Her appearance, demeanor and legends of her life vary greatly, based on whether they are from oral folk legends or written official imperial accounts. As a popular syncretic deity, she has a huge cult following among Taoist, Buddhist and Popular Religion devotees who view her a kindhearted humble Buddhist with shamanistic beginnings who protects those associated with the sea – sailors, fisherman and merchants and those living near the sea. Two hundred years after her death at age 28 in recognition of her filial piety and her aid to state officials, the imperial bureaucracy in accordance with Confusion precepts bestowed on her honorific titles and raised her status in the celestial hierarchy. During the Yuan Dynasty, she was designated Protector of the Empire and the Brilliantly Outstanding Heavenly Queen and in the early Qing Dynasty was made the “Holy Mother of Heaven” and later “Heavenly Empress” and many imperially sanctioned and provincial temples were built in all coastal provinces and along navigable rivers throughout China and in Taiwan. Her remarkable rise from peasant to imperially sanctioned goddesses was not uncommon since many ordinary men and women were elevated to deities in late Imperial China in the 18th through 19th centuries. According to Lee Irvin, three Great Chinese Goddesses – Guanyin, the Queen Mother of the West and Mazu – were all imperially sanctioned, and each epitomized the feminine role of compassionate protectors who grant health, long life and safety to all devotees regardless of their rank or status. In provincial images Mazu is a plain matronly figure with simple unadorned robes and a flat hat, sometimes with a phoenix, seated on a backless chair. As the Empress of Heaven, she is portrayed seated on an ornate dragon throne in a long flowing robe with an official’s girdle at her waist and an imperial headdress with tassels or a simple ceremonial bonnet, holding an official tablet or scepter. Cults associated with the Empress of Heaven are strongest in Southern China in Fujian and Guangdong, Hong Kong, Taiwan, many Southeast Asian Chinese communities and Vietnam. Los Angeles has a large and impressing Thien Hou Temple open to all.
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This small antique-Chinese-wood-carving represents Mazu, which translates as “Mother Ancestor,” the tutelary deity “Protector of the Sea” who protects seafarers and is very popular among Taiwanese, Fujianese, and Cantonese sea cultures. This syncretic cult figure is the most imortant ofthe female Taoist-Deities and continues to be worshipped by Taoist, Buddhist and Popular Religion followers. In…
This vibrant image represents the “Heavenly Empress” Mazu wearing a red-tiered outer robe topped with a black scalloped collar bordered with gold and carved in graceful folds. Three ornamental flowers painted on her stomach might reflect the Popular Religion myth that when Mazu’s mother was pregnant, she prayed for a daughter as she already had six sons. In a dream Guanyin gave her a flower blossom to wear, and the next day Mazu was born.
This home devotional image, finely carved in the round, represents Mazu, the most revered Taoist female deity in coastal areas in mainland China, Taiwan and Vietnam. She sits in a traditional deity pose, hands covered by a ritual cloth with a space to hold a hu tablet on a plain armless high back chair. She is a provincial matronly figure, eyes calmly cast down and dressed in humble attire with characteristically small feet, a hanging red sash, and a modest hat with a flat phoenix.
Mazu has many names and titles. In China she is Mazu (Matsu) meaning ‘Ancestor Mother’ or ‘Eternal Mother’ and on southern China she is affectionately called ‘Ā-mā’ meaning ‘grandmother’ or ‘mother.’ In Taiwan she is ‘Holy Heavenly Mother’ and the ‘Empress of the Heavens’ and ‘Tianhou,’ Daughter of the Dragon. She is the most worshiped female Taoist…
This Mazu, the protector of sea farers, is portrayed as the imperially sanctioned “Empress of Heaven” seated on an elaborate horseshoe shaped dragon throne, hands clasped symbolically holding a hu tablet, adorned with elegant dragon robes, an official’s girdle, a flat-topped Empress headdress and small feet resting on a pair of gilt fu lions. Meant to be seen from all sides this beautiful carving is decorated on front and back.
Seated imperiously on a horseshoe chair with legs on a turquoise embossed pedestal on a base with carved characters of her title “Holy Mother in Heaven,” this majestic Mazu is depicted in the imperial style, wearing a regal flat topped headdress and elaborate robes with dragons and an officials girdle at the waist highlighted in red and covered with gilt. This wonderful carving is in excellent condition after years of use.
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