A ceremonial attendant holds up incense sticks during the prayer ceremony for the deity Mazu from Meizhou place at Singapore's Thian Hock Keng temple on July 6, 2017. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)
To the joy of her devotees, sea goddess Mazu from Meizhou, China is on a two-day visit to Singapore.
This is the second stop of her two-week Southeast Asia tour, which also took her to Kuala Lumpur and Malacca of Malaysia.
On her way, Mazu had received warm welcome and sincere worship from local prayers, many of them of Chinese origin. A grand praying ceremony was held Thursday at Singapore's Thian Hock Keng temple, which was joined by Khaw Boon Wan, Singapore's Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and the Minister for Transport.
On Wednesday afternoon upon arriving in Singapore, Mazu embarked on a 100-km-long tour, crossing by eight temples which stands for her worship, attracting hundreds of followers. Among them were old-aged people on wheelchairs and babies in the arms of their parents.
Mazu belief and customs was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2009.
Mazu is the deified form of the historical Lin Mo, a shamaness who lived in the tenth century on Meizhou Island in southeast China's Fujian province.
Revered after her death as a patron of seafarers, including fishermen and sailors, her worship spread throughout China's coastal regions and Chinese communities throughout Southeast Asia.
