Year 1661, the Dutch were smoking cigar, enjoying their pleasant moment under the sun of Zeelandia(熱蘭遮城) in Tainan. Inadvertently, some black dots were spotted in the far distance on the sea. Usually around this time it should not have any boats on the sea, commander Jacobus Valenijn almost fell off from being terrified that there were enormous battleships through his telescope.   

 

“Koxinga is here!”, Koxinga defeated the Dutch outposts on Formosa, and established a dynasty which ruled the island as the Kingdom of Tungning from 1661 to 1683.

 

Who is Koxinga?

Original name as Zheng Chenggong, pirate leader of Ming Dynasty, who was famous for his conquer of Tainan during the Dutch colony period. The reason why he was nicknamed as Koxinga(國姓爺) was because that Ming emperor appreciated his talent, the emperor gave him the last name(Zhu) of the kingdom as a gift. Koxinga(國姓爺) in Chinese means “The God of Country’s last name”.

 

What does this Temple has to do with Koxinga?

When Koxinga was on his way to Taiwan, he brought along Mazu statue and built Kaji Tianhou Temple. He believed that Mazu can protect them during the travel on the sea. “Kaji” means “the first” in Chinese. So this was the first “Mazu Temple" in Taiwan.

 

Who is Mazu?

Mazu, also known as Matsu, is a popular Taoist and Chinese Buddhist goddess. She is the goddess and patroness of the sea. She is believed to protect fisherman and sailors.

 

Mazu was born on March 23, 906. According to legend when she did not cry when she was born, so she was thereafter named Lin Moniang which means Silent girl or silent young female. She had a mysterious ability to predict weather and often she warned others to not make journeys to the sea. She became a very good swimmer and would often rescue people from the sea even in the harshest weather.

 

After her death, her family and many other families of sailors and fishermen started to pray for her heroic acts to try to save those at sea. Soon her worship spread quickly to other parts of Asia.

 

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