China News Service, Ningde, Fujian, May 4 (Reporter Ye Mao) On May 4, March 23 of the lunar calendar, Mazu temples on both sides of the Taiwan Strait jointly held an event to commemorate the 1061 anniversary of Mazu’s birth. Celebrate Mazu's birthday.
At 9 o'clock in the morning, the "Mazu First Palace" Songshan Tin Hau Palace, Xiapu County, Ningde City, Fujian Province, was connected to the Daya Yongxing Palace in Taichung, Taiwan, Xingang Fengtian Palace in Chiayi, Taiwan and Zhutian Hou Palace on Kaohsiung Road in Taiwan through video linking to convey the friendship between the compatriots on both sides of the strait.
"Pray for Mazu to bless the cross-strait peace and the people to live a happy and healthy life." said He Dahuang, chairman of the Fengtian Temple in Xingang, Chiayi, Taiwan.
Accompanied by solemn and elegant ceremonial music, the spring ceremony to commemorate the 1061 anniversary of Mazu’s birth follows the traditional ritual system.
In front of the golden statues of Mazu on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, the participants dressed in long gowns and yellow ribbons on their shoulders to complete the ceremony of welcoming the gods, offering incense, reading the blessings, offering the first offering, offering the Asia, offering the end, and performing three kneeling and nine prostrate , Sending God and other traditional etiquette.
Zhu Zongmin, deputy chairman of the Taichung Daya Yongxing Palace in Taiwan, said that the Mazu culture has intensified the emotions between the two sides of the strait and hopes that both sides of the strait will jointly carry forward the Mazu spirit and enhance mutual understanding.
As an important dissemination place for Mazu's beliefs and customs, Xiapu Songshan Tianhou Palace is an existing temple with a long history and a high standard in ancient Chinese architecture. It has a history of nearly a thousand years.
According to textual research, this is the first Tianhou Palace after the Meizhou Ancestral Temple, so it has the reputation of "Mazu Palace".
According to incomplete statistics, in the past 30 years, there have been more than 100 Taiwan's Mazu Temples and more than 100,000 Taiwanese believers who have visited the temple of Tianhou in Xiapu Songshan for incense.
Chen Jie, secretary-general of the board of directors of the Xiapu Songshan Tianhou Palace, said that Mazu is the "goddess of peace on the sea" that both sides of the strait admire. Non-governmental exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.
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