Mazu

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.