Worship
Starting from Fujian, worship of Mazu spread to the neighboring coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Guangdong, and thence to all coastal areas of mainland China. With emigration and especially the Chinese diaspora of the 19th and 20th centuries, it further spread to Taiwan, Vietnam, Ryukyu, Japan, and South East Asia; the role of Mazu as patron of the seas ensured that newly arrived immigrants often erected temples to her first, to give thanks for arriving safely. Today, worship of Mazu is also found in other countries with sizeable populations from these regions. In total, there are around 1,500 Mazu temples in 26 countries of the world.
Read more about this topic: Mazu (goddess)
Famous quotes containing the word worship:
“It is the weak and confused who worship the pseudosimplicities of brutal directness.”
—Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)
“Men do not accept their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and worship those whom they have tortured to death.”
—Feodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881)
“My religion is no garment to be put on and off with the weather. You had better know that, all of you. I shall worship as I please and hope for all men to worship as they please in Scotland.”
—Dudley Nichols (1895–1960)