Spring Festival Matsu Blessing Ceremony
Putian, Southeastern. com, May 1 (reporter Wu Bingduan, correspondent Chen Qiangwen/photo) called Mazu and shared peace. On the morning of May 1, 2024 (the 23rd day of the third lunar month), the 1064th anniversary of Mazu's birth, the North Bank Economic Development Zone of Putian held a series of activities to commemorate the 1064th anniversary of Mazu's birth. Representatives of more than 500 Mazu institutions at home and abroad, and more than 10000 Mazu admirers gathered at the Tianhou Ancestral Temple of Xianliang Port to celebrate Mazu's birth and participate in Mazu's grand event.
Folk custom street performance
At about 9:00 am that day, the gongs were rung and the whistles were whistling; The guard of honor is majestic and the sound is heard from all directions. All Mazu palaces and temples and Mazu admirers formed a folk custom team to escort Mazu Luan and drive. Starting from the intersection of Mazu Health City, they walked on the street with singing and dancing all the way to the pilgrimage square of Xianliang Port Tianhou Ancestral Temple. The long folk art and literature walk on the street like a huge dragon winding through the streets, which is spectacular.
At 11:00, the ritual music was played, and the Spring Festival Matsu Prayer Ceremony officially began at the pilgrimage square of Tianhou Ancestral Temple in Xianliang Port. The honor guard, the ceremonial guard, the chief mourner and the accompanying mourner entered the ceremony in order to participate in the blessing ceremony. The master of ceremonies announced "firing a salute", and the chief mourner, the accompanying mourner, and the admirers of Mazu bowed three times and kowtowed nine times to Mazu; At the end of the ceremony, read out the memorial ceremony, make five sacrifices, and burn gold and silk; Ritual ceremony, the scene gongs and drums, firecrackers sounded in unison. The whole ceremony was grand and the ceremony was solemn, which amazed tourists at home and abroad. The activity was also broadcast live through the Southeast Network, where many worshippers of Mazu worshipped Mazu together in the cloud to pray for the blessing of Mazu, the country is peaceful and the people are safe, and the weather is favorable.
Spring Festival Matsu Blessing Ceremony
On the day of the event, the Xianliang Port Tianhou Ancestral Temple also held a folk performance of "Heart to Mazu", which was performed by the intangible cultural heritage folk teams of various Mazu cultural institutions. The Han Costume Show, Mazu Umbrella, Walking on Stilts, Car Drum, Waist Drum and other series of programs were brilliant and eye-catching. On that night, the Tianhou Ancestral Temple will also hold a fireworks show, which will be launched in multiple bursts, bursts, breaks and other ways on the scene to create a warm, jubilant and brilliant fireworks show.
It is reported that the ritual custom of "Mazu returning to his mother's home" is one of the important contents of the Xianliang Port Mazu culture, which was included in the second batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage lists in Fujian in 2007. The ritual activity of "Mazu returning to his mother's home" is a link and bridge, which has greatly deepened the connection and communication between the incense distributing Mazu Temple around the world and the Xianliang Port Tianhou Ancestral Temple, and has effectively promoted the widespread inheritance and development of Mazu's belief culture at home and abroad.
