On May 18, Lin Jinzan, chairman of the board of Meizhou Mazu Temple, together with Huang Songqing, president of the Guangdong Yuechao Mazu Culture Exchange Center and honorary president of Guiyu Tianhou Ancient Temple, Yang Zhenxi, honorary president of Guiyu Tianhou Ancient Temple in Shantou, Guangdong, Li Zuolin, chairman of Guangdong Moli Display Technology Co., Ltd., Li Wei, chairman of Guangzhou Yinghai Group Co., Ltd., Zhang Yanxiong, chairman of Guangdong Zhengmaosheng Holdings Co., Ltd., Chen Wenbo, president of Guiyu Tianhou Ancient Temple in Shantou, Guangdong, and more than 800 Mazu devotees gathered on Meizhou Island, the homeland of Mazu, to solemnly hold a ceremony honoring Mazu.
Around 7 a.m., everyone respectfully invited the Mazu statues from the Tianhou Hall of the Ancestral Temple and the divinized Mazu statue from Guiyu Tianhou Ancient Temple to be brought to the Mazu altar at the Shengzhi Gate square of the Ancestral Temple.
The sacred statues were brought to the altar at the Shengzhi Gate square
At the event site
At 9 a.m., the Mazu worship ceremony commenced. The honor guard, ceremonial guard, and dancers took their places in order. As ancient music began, male and female dancers performed the Eight-Row Dance, displaying the beauty of traditional Chinese rites. The presiding officiant, together with all assistant officiants and participating worshippers, presented three offerings to Mazu and performed the ritual of three kneelings and nine prostrations. The atmosphere on site was solemn and reverent.
Guangdong and Fujian are linked by mountains and waters, and their cultures are closely connected. Over the past thousands of years, as people from Fujian continued to settle in the coastal towns and villages of Guangdong, dialects, customs, and folk beliefs were brought to Guangdong as well, and the most far-reaching influence among them has been Mazu belief and customs. Guangdong Guiyu Tianhou Ancient Temple was founded in the Yuan dynasty and has a history of more than 700 years. It has long-standing cultural ties with Meizhou Island, Mazu's hometown. To this day, local place names still preserve connections to Meizhou, such as Meizhou Village and Meizhou Bridge, bearing witness to the shared Mazu bond between the two places. During the 2017 Meizhou Mazu tour of Chaoshan, she once stayed at Guiyu Tianhou Ancient Temple, and local Mazu devotees respectfully welcomed the sacred procession of Meizhou Mazu at the Guiyu Meizhou Bridgehead, becoming a fine story in the history of cultural exchange between the two places.
Dividing Incense and Scooping Fire
Presentation of Exchange Commemorative Gifts
It is understood that this is the 19th consecutive year that Guizuo Tianhou Ancient Temple has organized a pilgrimage group to respectfully invite the split-incense Mazu statue back to Meizhou Mazu Ancestral Temple for a pilgrimage to pay homage to the ancestral temple. It is also the seventh time that a Mazu worship ceremony has been held at the Ancestral Temple. Year after year, these cultural exchanges across mountains and seas have deepened the strong friendship between Mazu believers in Guangdong and Fujian, and fully demonstrated the strong cohesion and appeal of Mazu culture.
Group photo
Set off on the return journey