Each year, on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month
The sea breeze sweeps across Meizhou Island
The tide returns as expected
One thousand and thirty-nine years ago
On a Double Ninth Festival like this
A twenty-eight-year-old woman from the coast
Entrusted her mortal body to the vast blue waves
Mazu, Lin Mo, in her brief twenty-eight years
She has been remembered for 1,039 years
And that remembrance lives on
Through the ebb and flow of the tides
Year after year
People have never forgotten her
With every surge of the tide
it seems to speak for all beings in the world
softly uttering her name
In 960 CE, the first year of the Jianlong era of the Song dynasty
Putian, Fujian
A family surnamed Lin
welcomed a baby girl
who did not cry throughout her first month of life
Her father named her Mo, meaning "silent"
Her childhood name was Moniang
No one could have imagined
that this quiet girl
would, centuries later,
become a source of solace for countless coastal foragers
She began reciting scriptures at the age of eight
At ten, she became literate, gained a thorough knowledge of astronomy, and became well versed in the ways of the water
She read the weather for fishermen and guided merchant ships along their routes
She provided medical care to her neighbors, helped prevent epidemics, and protected them from calamities
The sea was where she grew up
It was also the place she would ultimately journey to.
In 987, the fourth year of the Yongxi era of the Song dynasty
The ninth day of the ninth lunar month
Lin Mo was twenty-eight years old.
That year, the sea was suddenly swept by fierce winds and waves.
Without hesitation, she rushed into danger.
She did everything in her power to rescue those caught in the maritime disaster.
As for her final fate,
two accounts have been passed down.
One account says
She gave her life at sea for a righteous cause, sacrificing herself to save others
Amid fierce winds and raging waves, she risked her life
Ultimately, she tragically perished
Another account says
She ascended upon the wind and returned to the river of stars.
According to the Records of Tianfei's Miraculous Manifestations,
that day, she burned incense, recited scriptures, and bade farewell to her family.
She then climbed Meifeng Peak on Meizhou Island.
At dusk, a plume of white mist rose skyward from the summit, as celestial music could faintly be heard.
Bathed in the glow of a rainbow, she rode the wind and clouds and vanished into the heavens.
Whichever version is told,
people remember the same thing:
she devoted all twenty-eight years of her life
to one purpose: saving others.
She Was Not Born a Deity
She Was Simply an Ordinary Fisherman's Daughter
Innately Kind and Compassionate Toward All Living Beings
She Studied Diligently in Her Youth and Saved Lives as a Young Woman
For twenty-eight years, she remained steadfast in doing good.
She probably never imagined that she would become a figure revered by millions.
She simply chose, whenever a storm arose,
to reach out and help.
And so, people remembered her.
The people of Meizhou built a temple in her honor at the place where she ascended to immortality.
Successive emperors repeatedly bestowed titles upon her, culminating in the honorific "Tianhou."
Mazu belief and customs spread across the waves along the Maritime Silk Road.
From Meizhou Island, they reached across the five continents and four seas.
A thousand years later
She is no longer merely a person, but a lamp, a beam of light
Illuminating all who brave the sea, journey onward, and make their way through life
Remembrance Amid the Sound of the Tides1,039 years have passed
The tides still echo
Every year on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month
a grand commemoration takes place on Meizhou Island
Some journey across mountains and seas, while others set out from their own doorsteps
Some come for the first time, while others have returned year after year
to commemorate the 1,039th anniversary of Mazu's ascension to heaven
October 18, 2026 (the ninth day of the ninth lunar month)
The sacred statue of Mazu from Meizhou will set out on a procession of peace and blessings across Meizhou Island
Devotees from China and abroad are warmly invited to gather in Mazu's homeland
You came across the waves to protect all living beings
We follow the tides here, paying homage with all our hearts
The tides ebb and flow, echoing through the ages.
Yet the light that an ordinary person kindled over twenty-eight years
will continue to shine,
illuminating the sea and every ordinary person still making their way forward.
