Mazu: The Chinese Goddess Who Went Global
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 เม.ย. 2024
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Mazu is a Chinese goddess particularly popular in Taiwan and the southeastern provinces of China. But she's also arguably the most popular Chinese goddess around the world, worshipped in 20 different countries around the world.
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Can you please make a video about Mary's hagiographies in Ethiopic texts and the Orthodox tradition?
Taiwan is still legally chinese territory, they just don't recognise Beijing as the government. we really need to stop spreading this lie that Taiwan is independent. it will be independent when they actually declare independent. until then, no major country, including EU and US recognise Taiwan. we can't recognise what doesn't 'yet' exist.
don't just repeat what some politician say for their own benefit, they are not being honest. Taiwanese are oppose to de-chinese policy because it is stupid, Matsu is a chinese religion, Min and Hakka are Chinese dialect, to whitewash history because it does not support their political agenda is really disgusting. you can't just delete culture. could you imagine if the american founding father say christianity is a threat because the british are christian and they can use christianity to control how american think? do you really understand what these "taiwanification" politician are real saying?
I love the juxtaposition of essentially saying "I am not running for president for personal gain" directly before calling yourself the god-son of a major deity
Sounds like he already gained his personal
Almost every regent from ancient history:
It's like Augustus claiming to be the son of a god.
Sounds awful familiar 😅
@@ryshow9118 A tale as old as time.
"I am a god-son to a goddess, vote me"
Sounds legit
😂😂😂
More like a saint
The last time a Chinese person claimed to be son of God started a civil war that killed 20 million people.
He could also be a virgin 😂
Sounds like jesus lying all.over again
Here in the Philippines the Filipino-Chinese syncretized Mazu with the Virgin Mary. One such example is the Our Lady of Caysasay in Batangas Province. Filipino-Chinese venerate the Virgin of Caysasay. They even have a statue of the Virgin of Caysasay displayed in the Mazu temple and they also have a festival for the Virgin. They first celebrate a catholic mass officiated within the temple compound and after the mass a Lion and Dragon dance is performed then a procession of the Virgin follows. Kao ka opera were also performed during the feast.
There are also many Filipino-Chinese catholic syncretism here like the Santo Cristo de Longos, the lost festival of San Nicolas de Buayang Bato and the Black Nazarene of Capalonga.
In Taiwan, for many people, Mazu, the Virgin Mary, and Guanyin are more or less three faces of a similar entity too.
I am really interested in the religious practices that you sited,might please provide more details on them?
I went to La Union, Philippines and visited Ma-Cho Temple. They have pamphlets and a website explaining the syncretism of Mazu and the Virgin Mary. The temple was soooo serene and the temple was overlooking the sea.
@tc2334 Mother Marry is not considered a deity. She is thought of as the "mother of God". And in islam she is considered the mother of a mighty prophet.
@@Grim_Azrael Yeah. I know. I didn’t say she was a deity though.
Watching from Taiwan, I was surprised to see this video. Yes in Taiwan Buddiism, Taoism, Chinese Folk religion, Chinese shamanism are all somewhat mixed, the lines between them can be blurry and most people have several religious belonging. The only thing missed in the video are Mazu companion guardians the demon/general Qian Li Yan and Shun Feng Er could have been metion in the history or iconography part.
Thanks for your insight, more stuff to learn!
The two are displayed in 10:35 for example
@@d512634thank you for the timepoint!
that's true for mainland China also
This kind of merging or syncretism is pretty common. I don't know what it's like in the PRC because everything about China is heavily politicized and with certain subjects propaganda interferes with real academic fact, but in Japan for example there is a term Shinbutsu for the syncretism of Buddhism and Shinto which is effectively what has become of Shinto, the national religion, as a whole.
Buddhism itself seems to lend to syncretism more than most if not all other mainstream religious beliefs- It's just highly compatible with other ways of thought and other belief systems, and as a consequence of being changed in different ways by the systems with which it has merged, there are now also wildly different forms of Buddhism that increase its overall compatibility even more. Christianity does not seem to be as intercompatible with other (non-Buddhist) belief systems, but just from its sheer spread and popularity it has also been syncretised endlessly with other religions. Even the most popular form of Christianity, Catholicism, is actually a syncretic merge of early Christianity and a late Greco-Roman religion called Orphism.
Macau is actually named as Port of Matsu because the original port was situated in front of the Matsu temple. Matsu island controlled by Taiwan is also named after the goddess. The largest city in Penghu islands (Pescadores) is named Makong, which means Matsu temple.
Interestingly, there used to be a competing tradition of sea gods worshipped by Chinese travelers to Taiwan other than Matsu, called Shuixian, which literally means Water Deity or Deities, since there are multiple historical and mythical figures who died by drowning that are referred to as one of the Water Deities. Early Chinese visitors such as Yu Yonghe, who visited in 1697 encountered a typhoon on his way back to China, and his ship sunk, leaving a few men clinging to a plank. They prayed to the Water Deity, and performed a ritual called Water Deity peddling, which involved symbolic peddling with chopsticks, and the Water Deity delivered them to Penghu. For a long while in Taiwan, fishermen worshipped Matsu, and merchants worshipped Shuixian. The oldest cities in Taiwan would have both Matsu and Shuixian temples, such as Makong, Tainan, and Hsinchu.
My parents just went to join the Dajia Mazu pilgrimage last Sunday. I would have never expected Mazu to be covered on this channel, but the quality is top notch as usual!
they're was a court case in china, a fisherman was arguing he already payed all his debt own by another fisherman, and the judge ask him 'can u swear on mazu u are telling the truth?' and the fisherman think about it, and say ' fine, i'll pay him'
As a Fujian native, was not expecting to see such video on youtube.
Speaking of syncretism, here in the Philippines some of the Chinese diaspora and their descendants have practised folk religion with the Catholic faith many of us are baptised into. They are baptised for a variety of reasons (often assimilation into Spanish colonial society), and fuse goddesses like Matsu with locally revered manifestations of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Matsu (Ma-cho in the local dialect of Hokkien) is seen by some as an emanation of Our Lady of Caysasay in Batangas, sometimes the reverse. That small miraculous image is also associated with the sea, and in the colonial era, ships passing near her shrine en route to Manila or Cavite would fire guns to salute the Virgin. Today, there are pilgrimages to the Catholic shrine by Ma-cho devotees, who venerate Mary in both the Catholic and Chinese manner, then they drive north through Manila to the Ma-cho temple in La Unión. Sometimes, they bring a statue of one or the other for the final procession to the temple.
Another instance is Our Lady of the Abandoned of Manila, and behind her shrine is a holy well and a small Taoist temple where she is called "Santa Ana Lao-Ma" ("Venerable Mother/Granny of the Santa Ana district"). It is increasingly common in urban centres to see a blend of Chinese folk rituals to honour Catholic figures, as beliefs like Chinese Astrology and Feng Shui are more mainstream among non-Chinese Filipinos.
Here in general santos their a church here dedicated to Our Lady of Peace & Good Voyage! Sailors & fishermen here ask for her protection, maybe its all connected to this Taiwanese goddess for seafarers, as their are chinese Catholics here too
Interesting way of Chinese religion blending with Christianity
When I first came to Asia to live/work, I had a a 17 hour layover in Taipei (on my way to Guilin, China). My first stop was the Longshan Temple to pray to Mazu. I'm not Chinese ethnically and I'm Buddhist or Taoist (I'm Hindu!), but the pull was too great and her love so strong. I thanked her for safe travels and vowed to her that in every city I visit that has her temple, I'd make a visit. So, from Tianjin to Qingdao to Macau...any place I go that I know has a Mazu Temple, I definitely make a stop.
did she grant u anything?
@@fannyalbi9040usually only Western religion folks want something in return from divine beings. Eastern folks want to understand more about the religions to improve on personal level.
Just like how we perceive love as unconditional in the east, take the vows seriously. hence, much lower divorce rates.
Oh, my goodness! I just went to the Baishatun Mazu pilgrimage (a record number this year). It is such a beautiful way to experience kind-hearted people and Taiwan. So glad you're bringing attention to this fascinating piece of popular devotion.
I live right by the Mazu temple in Australia! I can see the statue from my balcony, it’s feckin massive.
did she grant you any wish?
@@fannyalbi9040i never prayed to her before. maybe i should try
Im glad youre covering Chinese religion! Despite being one of the largest countries in the world with the largest ethnic group in the world, Chinese religion and belief are rarely discussed in the West. The main deity in the current belief is still identified with the same one during Shang dynasty! It's one of the oldest continuous religions in the world with clear written records. It would be cool if you can cover more of it!
I was a high school foreign exchange student in Taiwan and my host family had a shrine in the traditional Chinese tradition. Every day after breakfast and before leaving the house, everyone in the family, and I was expected to as well, bowed to the family altar. Again when we would arrive home after school. It was fascinating. I feel like sometimes Westerners don't really understand or take Eastern religiosity seriously just because it can be very open and fluid, but in reality it is very important to real, every day people.
Thank you for sharing
The ancestral spirits protect the home
yes i've met some people from singapore who called her mother, like ma dzu
Yeah, though thats primarily from a religious dependency, such as how Christians called the pope "Father"
This guy literally said he is Mazu's God-son directly
Tian Hou Gong, which is a temple for Mazu, has been the oldest Chinese temple since 1800s…
I went to that Temple in Taiwan at the start of the video. I was travelling with friends, and I remember our host (who, incidentally, was a champion Taiwanese ballroom dancer) genuflected to the goddess as we left. My friends didn't notice, but seeing the act stuck with me.
Also, I can't help but see the 'cult' of Mazu as being comparable to Catholic popular sainthood: mortal miracle worker becomes larger-than-life target of devotion after death.
Thai person (and former anthro student) here; yeah, it seems like Southeast Asia has a long history of venerating local spirits in addition to Buddhism. Nat worship in Myanmar is a good example, as is that of Nang Nak, who is a legendary “ghost” of a woman who died when her husband was at war and waits for him to return. Thai “Spirit houses”, or tiny shrines dedicated to local spirits are found in a large percentage of homes as well.
Some Catholic countries also have those huge processions, where they carry the statue in a big parade.
Here in the Philippines the cult of Mazu is always identified with the devotion of Virgin Mary.
Yeah despite that Philippines is Catholic dominant country but still elements of oriental religion still present through inculturation.
Abrahamic cults are all evil.
Idolatry
That is wrong brother the sacrements of churches from katholikos - catholic and orthodox and every old churches of the east dont worship saints and marry. In churchs tradition and biblical account the person faithful in life and until matyred is a saint for they have follow christ through suffering christ also make them children of god and they are leavin so you pray to the saints and marry to pray for you and understand they are a good example. Ask marry and saints to pray for you as it is you as a fsmily member to pray with you so it not worship it veneration
@@thisnthat7760jesus is idolatry
@@thisnthat7760then stop worshipping Apollo and Jupiter and calling them Jesus and God
This goddess, i think, gave Macau it's name, but in macau we call her A-má, we even have a statue of her on a hill
Yes! I got to visit her temple when I went to Macau. It was so beautiful.
Well, they all derived from the same, right? 媽祖 -> using "a" (阿) as a simplifying term like 阿伯 -> 阿媽
yes, mazu gave macau it's Portuguese and English name, macau came from 妈港，ma(zu) port
Nothing says “Taiwan” like a billionaire running for president because a goddess told him to
I knew of Mazu quite recently, upon researching for my taiwan trip, and yes, Guanyin immediately came to mind 😊🤗
Mazu is very tal!
Really cool seeing in depth views of other deisms around the world. Here in the middle of America the only exposure I get to religion is Christianity.
you mean theisms
And not even the cool kind of Christianity
@@Texasmade74 he could mean deism; worship of a different supreme deity than that of the Abrahamic religions
@@4rtieThat's not what deism means though
@@4rtie Deism doesn't mean religions in general
Mazu is well respected and Powerful Goddess.I prayed to her and I can feel the strong vibes.
I live in Taitung, a small city on the east coast of Taiwan. Every 12 years there is a big Mazu festival, where for three days the whole town is vegetarian. People don't eat meat and especially seafood, because Mazu is the patron goddess of the denizens of the deep. It's followed by a huge seafood feast, because after all she is also the patron goddess of fishermen.
Our first local McDonald's had been built in between festivals, and the owners, being from Taipei, didn't know about this local custom- until several large tattooed gentlemen (Taoist temples are often associated with local gangsters) 'suggested' they cancel their hamburger menus for the festival, otherwise the goddess might be displeased and come out at night and smash all their plate glass windows. They quickly got religion.
有趣。請問下一次慶典是什麼時候呢？
In the Philippines, there is a community that consider Mazu and Our Lady of Caysasay (a version of the Virgin Mary) to be one and the same.
In fact, they also used the iconography of Guan Yin bodhisattva to represent the virgin Mary.
She is maybe also the grandmother of the Vikinggod Odin!
As a devotee of Guan Yin, I found this video very interesting and informative. Thank you
Thank you ReligionForBreakfast! I just discovered this channel and I'm very happy I did! very enrichment program😉
I am so happy to see a very good and informative video of Holy mother Mazu! I see very little videos about Mazu and was really pleasantly surprised when YT algorithm showed this is at very top of recommendations today!! Thank you 😊
Woo I am so here for Chinese deities
I had never heard of her. Loved learning about this deity and tradition! Great episode
Fantastic video, very very interesting! Thanks!
Hey thanks for covering a neighborhood deity from my childhood (grew up in Taiwan)!
Mazu is also prominent in many diaspora communities as she's a sea goddess associated with safe voyages. Many Chinese migrants thank her for safely reaching new lands. I see Mazu as south-Chinese female opposite to the north-Chinese Jade emperor - it is matriarchal, sea-based, mercy-giving (as opposed to patriarchal, land-based, law-making).
I live in a moderately sized town in southern Georgia (the state, not the country). Even here, there's a statue of Guanyin at the local university.
Huh interesting.
Love this short video. I'm honored to be cited twice in it.
love your videos. thanks
I repeat: Excellent videos!
I love this surprising video!…in my personal time, I’m privately obsessed with learning about Taiwanese folk religion
Pretty sure she also inspired Avatar's Lady Tienhai from the comic The Rift. Giant statue and all. Weirdly she's a bit of a reversal of Mazu, because she started out as a divine entity and then became a mortal.
one of the most celebrated legend of Mazu in Taiwan is that during WWII people allegedly saw during the Allied bombing of Taiwan, a woman in her 30's wearing Ancient Chinese attire running around in the clouds defecting american bombs form civilian settlements
Interesting.
I really loved ur content ❤❤
right on, Good Sir.
Excellent direction thou hast taken.
Timely & awesome!
Here for this
Great Video very interesting
great video
solid attempt at the pronunciations, effort went into that!
hah, i'll take it. That "z" phoneme was driving me crazy.
@@ReligionForBreakfastThe ping-yin system could be confusing, but it is actually just “ts” sound with minimal air coming out of your lips. (Hang a tissue paper infront of your mouth while trying to pronounce the “ts” sound, if the tissue paper doesn’t move, then you are doing it right!)
The same goes with b,d,g.
B is just un-exhaled p; d is just un-exhaled t; g is just un-exhaled k.
@@ReligionForBreakfastThe older generations of ethnic Chinese in Malaysia (60+ now) and those receiving pure Chinese education usually cannot pronounce ‘z’ the western way. For example, my mother (77y) will use the Mazu style of ‘z’ to pronounce the word zoo, and it would sound like ‘joo’, zip would sound like ‘jip’.
😮 I never heard about Her before, thank you! 😃
Great video, she’s a niche mythical figure to many of us, so this is super interesting!
I love your content
I can see why there were so many people taking pictures in the footage from the San Francisco temple, it's gorgeous. (Though I find the postcards look better, as there aren't 3 zillion other people in the frame taking their own pictures)
Manimekla godess of sea,mentioned in sangaman literature okd tamil literature it spreads from south india to southeast asia. God of sea seems to be a common idea forall commiunities.
Sangam texts also mention Kadalon as the god of the sea, now identified with Varuna.
Sea deities are very useful and easy to conceptualize naturally, because the sea is always uncertain, dangerous, and its storms and waves seemingly have infinite power, it is a force to either be feared, drawn on through worship, or to be tamed by supernatural forces, sailors especially would find spiritual comfort in being able to somehow communicate with powers governing the uncertain ocean
Thank you, Dr. Henri. Very informative video, as always.
I've been following your TH-cam channel for a couple of years and enjoying it quite a lot. Recently, I had a chance to watch your video on Avatars and got curious about Hinduism too. However, I didn't seem to find a dedicated series in any of your playlists. So, I'm wondering: are you planning a series on Hinduism similar to those about Buddhism, Daoism, and other religious traditions any time soon?
Just wanted to say, with no irony whatsoever, this is a really great series of videos.
I remember watching a video by Aaron Ra talking about this particular goddess.
Really which video
@miguelatkinson h is series debunking Noah's flood in particular the video that talks about mythology debunking Noah's flood.
@@grapeshot O yeah I think watched that video before
@@grapeshot aron ra is cringey
@@Texasmade74 he is the one that brought me into atheism I'll always be grateful to him for that
Living in Taiwan as a student, I was just at the pilgrimage as a friend invited me a few weeks ago, it is indeed a huge event here! Really happy to get a bit more context on what was going on
Thank you and all the interesting commenters.
Here’s the thing that a lot of people who are used to Abraham make religions don’t understand… When people say they are a son or daughter of a god or goddess it doesn’t mean they are actually related to them. It means that god or goddess has claimed them as a worshipper/that God is that worshipper’s patron. Usually this is done through a ceremony or ritual, it isn’t someone just deciding to pray to a deity out of nowhere. (One can say they are a son of Mazu, a daughter of Yemaya, a son of Freya, a daughter of Isis, a daughter of Inanna, etc…)
I mean understandable, definitely what pantheon gods and goddesses are.
fascinating, thx for the video the oriental religion is a new wolrd for me
Thank you.
Her Chinese name during her life on this world was 林默
Thank you so much for the video. I myself am a devoted mazu faith practitioner, I recommend the great pilgrimage (which I have been practicing for over a decade) held annually in Taiwan. I can serve as your guide if you would like to pay a visit.😊
How long have you worshipped Mazu for?
@@Texasmade74 before my birth when I was in my mother’s womb, Mazu knew me already. As my birth is blessed by her when my mom pray in her temple to wish me a good life to come.
@@Joxinus how's your life now? Did Masuk grant your mother wish already?
@@TakaTinHey I would say yes, I am satisfied with my peaceful and blessed life. However, faith isn't all about wishes coming true, it's more about the relationship built in between. The relationship deepens and strengthens through every pilgrimage I participated in in the last decade. I also brought others with me on the pilgrimage and found them feeling saved and became devoted afterward.
@@Joxinus I hope I have faith like you. The problem with this is that the deity claimed as it can grant wishes. Like that's the reason people go to worship in the first place.
Can you pls do a video on the Goliards? Seems it would be a fascinating topic!
mazu mentioned LETS GOOOOO
I'm shocked that I've never heard of her before. I thought I did a fairly deep dive into Chinese religion, but this is the first I'm hearing of her.
Imagine how horrible her mother must have felt for waking her daughter, leading to the death of her forth son. Wow.
4:30 classic st elms fire atmospheric phenomena
in Medan, Indonesia, we call her Ma Co Po, very popular here too
I am an expat in Taiwan. I went on the Dajia Matsu pilgrimage with a Taiwanese friend. It is crazy how you can get swept up in the fervor of the experience.
U mean an immigrant in taiwan?
Must be like Japanese festivals
Oh you mean the statue of library, yes that Mazu!
Since I'm a Korean-Canadian who can speak decent Japanese, the Mazu worship looks to be similar to a religious practice of a goddess worship from a rare Japanese new religion called Hachirakukai Kyōdan (八楽会教団) in Kyushu, Japan.
Mazu and her worship go back over 1000 years though
@@Texasmade74Yes, and Mazu worship seems to influence Japan after WWII.
@kimandre336 Asian deities, especially from places like China,Korea,and Japan, don't stay in just one place for long
Interesting.
I noticed throughout this video you made frequent reference to Buddhism, Confucianism, and other religions popular in China, always making it clear that these are entirely distinct religions where practitioners sometimes incorporate elements from different religions into their lives. The channel "UsefulCharts" presents it in a different way, describing what he calls "Chinese Syncretism", as though it's a sort of unique religion made of a fusion of elements from Confucianism, historic Chinese polytheism, and Taoism, as well as Buddhism. He doesn't call Syncretism a "religion" per se, but it has many of the qualities of one, without any specific beliefs of its own or hard-and-fast rules for _how_ the various source beliefs should be syncretised. I thought it was a really interesting way of thinking about things, and I'd love to see your take on the concept.
syncretism is religious and most scholars of religion would say the same thing
As descendants of boat people, we celebrate Mazu/Tin Hau's birthday (22/3 in lunar calendar) every year in parades. There are many deities associated with water in Chinese mythology but yes, only she is widely worshipped all over the world.
Thank you for making this video.
Chinese folk religion not mythology
Do you worship her or any other deities?
Mother Goddess Durga in the Indian subcontinent has a nine- day festival dedicated to Her.
Are you going to make a video about Pericope Adulterae?
HOLY MAZU FULL OF GRACE
Mazu was a belivelent and compassionate folk which whom during her lifetime only practice whichcraft for good intent and cast spell on her follower for charms of good omen
Have you ever done a video on Our Lady of Guadalupe? The devotion of her followers reminds me of this, including the millions of people who descend on Mexico City during the annual feast day.
We have a Heavenly Queen temple here in Melbourne ❤
I love Mazu so much,she is very cute!
Granny, aka Empress of Heaven. Sounds about right😉😂
Fun fact: Mazu has an ID card number in Mainland China. Once her statue took a flight from Fujian, her hometown, to somewhere else, and the Police assigned an ID card number to her. It is: 350321096003237001. 09600323 is her birthday. She was born in the Song Dynasty. 0323 should be the 23rd day of the 3rd day of the Chinese calender. My late grandma was born on the same day, but more than 900 years after.
She is really powerful and does protect her believers
Anecdotally, Guanyin seems more popular in Vancouver, I see plenty of Guanyin statues and rarely a stature of Mazu or is there a conflation of the two?
are there a lot of hoklos in vancouver? (why do you expect to see mazu)
Mostly Cantonese people, and Andrew did note that Mazu is popular in Guangdong. Also there is a fair amount of Taiwanese people.
Usually, Buddhists will pray to Guanyin, while Taoists will pray to Mazu.
@@peterkhew7414 People i know don't draw a clear line between taoism and buddhism, it's all melted together
even tho large portions of Chinese Canadians would be from cultural subgroups of costal southern China that worships Mazu, my guess would be that Guanyin is just a lot more generally popular among all of the the Chinese community, Guanyin also covers more general prayer demands while Mazu is more specialized for life around the sea
can you do a video on Guan Yin?
please do a video on “who were the scythians”
We called her "Ma Co Po" . My Grandma entrust her to be my Guardian 🙏🏻
i knew she is popular among fishermen in hong kong, didn't know she that much more popular in taiwan
She's Taiwan's patron goddess.
Lady Ma Zu had a temple in Nagasaki too
That stuff about China vs. Taiwan and Mazu worship reminds me of in the Civilization games where you can win just by having your religion take over.
This makes me peoud of my part chinese ancestry good thing seeing this being covered
Thank you for taking the time to get those pronunciations down!
There is one somewhat misleading point I caught in the video- Euhemerism (a Greek word, because this is actually a common thing across cultures), or the trend of interpreting religious myths as embellished versions of or metaphors for historical events, including conflating gods with historical figures, is actually extremely common in Chinese religion.
yes. Well even abrahamic religions are china-ized in china. They follow own version religions. I mean they add cultural deities and rituals to mainstream religion they follow.
How about the water goddesses of the Mekong and Iriwaddy
11:11 What about the fact they recieved all the surplus energy (mainly gas and oil from Russia) for the last few years?
I want a lifetime membership for $300! how do i do it???
I didint even know Daoism was polytheistic. Would love to hear more about Chinese or East Asian religion.
You could easily google Daoist gods and there many accurate sources for Chinese folk religion online
Daoism has hundreds of gods, so yes it's very much polytheistic.
@conho4898 some people in the west tend to only look at Daoism from the philosophy angle which is dishonest and overlook or ignore the fact that Daoism has blended with Chinese folk religions over the course of Daoism' existence
Dude are you kidding…..heard of Toa Pek Kong? Guan yu?
One of the more controversial statue project in my rural district in northest point of Borneo
Mazu Mazu Mazu !
You could have added that Kennedy and Nixon were debating over the Matsu Island with Nixon sweating off his makeup.
😂that is guan yin statue in houston tx. that temple is bun tao gong. i know i live like 5 mins away and go there.
Well if it lines up it lines up, a god is important ancestor or concept or energy or whatever to have on ur side.