Every year, on the 23rd day of the third lunar month in the Chinese calendar, Hong Kong celebrates the birthday of the city’s most revered deity, Tin Hau. This year it falls on May 1.
The name Tin Hau translates to “heavenly empress”, or “Queen of Heaven”. For centuries, people in Hong Kong, and other Chinese communities, have worshipped her as the goddess of the sea and protector of seafarers. There are around 70 Tin Hau temples spread across the city.
Making offerings at one of these temples on the deity’s birthday is said to bring more auspicious results than doing so on any other day, which is why it attracts a higher-than-usual number of worshippers. Many of the temples celebrate with colourful processions, fa pau paper flower tributes, firecrackers, dragon dances and Cantonese opera performances.
In 2021, the festival was added to the fifth national list of China’s Intangible Cultural Heritage.
A dragon dance staged as part of the Tin Hau Festival procession in Shap Pat Heung, Yuen Long, in 2018. Photo: Felix Wong
Lion dancers perform in the Tin Hau Festival procession in Shap Pat Heung, Yuen Long, in 2018. Photo: Felix Wong
The belief in the sea goddess is widespread in coastal regions of southern China including Macau, Zhuhai and Guangdong province as a whole. In these places, she is known by different names, including Mazu, Matsu and A-ma, all roughly translating to “mother-ancestor” or grandmother.
The name A-ma even gave Macau its name – its indigenous people were primarily fishermen who worshipped A-Ma, and when Portuguese settlers landed at A-Ma Gau, or Port of A-Ma, they decided to call the village Macau.
A Tin Hau temple on Lamma Island. Photo: SCMP
An elderly woman holding a baby prays to Tin Hau in Cheung Chau. Photo: SCMP
Whatever name she is referred to by, the origin story remains the same.
According to folklore Tin Hau was originally a girl named Lin Mo, who lived in what is now Fujian province in southeast China in the 10th century during the Song dynasty.
When she was 13, she learned from a Taoist priest how to predict the future and help those who are frail.
A participant in the Tin Hau Festival procession in Shap Pat Heung, Yuen Long, in 2018. Photo: Felix Wong
A drummer plays during the Tin Hau Festival procession in Shap Pat Heung, Yuen Long, in 2018. Photo: Felix Wong
People started to treat her like a goddess after she helped save those drowning at sea.
Most of the Tin Hau temples in Hong Kong were originally built on slopes along coastlines because the deity was worshipped by people whose life centred around the sea.
Now, many of them are nestled inland – not just because land reclamation has pushed the city’s coastline further out but also because the worship of Tin Hau has spread over time even to inland dwellers.
Worshippers sit on a hill above Joss House Bay during the Tin Hau festival in 1976. Photo: Getty Images
The Tin Hau temple at Joss House Bay in Sai Kung. Photo: May Tse
It was built in 1266 during the Song dynasty by two brothers who believed they were saved from a severe ocean storm by Tin Hau. To honour their saviour, they built the temple right where they were washed up to safety.
The Tin Hau temples on outlying islands such as Cheung Chau, Lamma and Peng Chau also host big celebrations for the deity’s birthday.
A Tin Hau temple in Macau. Tin Hau is known as A-ma in Macau. Photo: Shutterstock
In Macau, the goddess’ birthday is celebrated as the A-Ma festival.
The worship of Tin Hau is also popular in Taiwan thanks to the Fujianese population on the island. There, worshippers in Taichung celebrate the birthday month of the goddess by carrying – on foot – a Tin Hau statue on a 300-kilometre (186-mile) pilgrimage that lasts for around nine days.
It is known as the Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage and is the biggest religious procession on the island.
Last year, around 3 million people gathered to watch the pilgrimage.
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