Travel Guide To Visit In A-Ma Temple, Macau

The A-Ma Temple is the oldest of the three predominant Chinese temples in Macau. It was once first constructed in 1488, older than the colony itself, and in fact, the title Macau was once derived from A-Ma Kok, which means the Bay of A-Ma Temple. It is positioned dealing with the sea at the backside of Rua do Admirante Sergio, on the southwest tip of the Macau Peninsula, with Barra Hill in the back of it.

The A-Ma Temple is devoted to the goddess Matsu, regarded domestically as A Ma, and acknowledged in Hong Kong as Tin Hau. The deity is a patroness of seafarers and fishermen. Temples committed to her consists of the Thian Hock Keng in Singapore and the Hainan Temple in Penang. The foundation of this temple is hint to a legend. Once, a junk crusing on the South China Sea on a clear day used to be abruptly caught in a tempest. Everybody notion they would now not live to tell the tale the storm when a young, captivating female got here ahead and ordered the sea to calm down.

Miraculously the storm died away and the sea grew to become come. The junk arrived at the port of Hoi Keong. The girl stepped ashore and walked up to to pinnacle of a hill, which is these days Barra Hill. There was once a glowing halo of mild round her, and she ascended into heaven. The A-Ma Temple was once constructed on the spot the place she set foot on land to pay tribute to her. Visit United Airlines Reservations to get cheap flight tickets and extra offers on vacation packages to A-Ma Temple, Macau.

On a extra prosaic level, the temple was once constructed through fishermen who migrated to the Macau vicinity from Fujian province in southern China at some stage in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It was once constructed at the entrance of the Inner Harbor, at a location the place fishermen sheltered towards stormy weather.

When Portuguese sailors arrived in the sixteenth century and requested for the title of the place, they had been advised "A Ma Gao", that means Bay of A-Ma. This resulted in the peninsula being known as Amagao, or via its current name, Macau.

A-Ma Temple is constructed on the slope of Barra Hill. The complicated is entered via the Memorial Arch. Passing this, paths wind in the direction of extraordinary shrines in the complex. The 4 predominant structures at the A-Ma Temple are the the Prayer Hall, the Hall of Benevolence, the corridor devoted to the goddess Guanyin (written Kun Iam in Macau) and the Buddhist pavilion. In addition, there are different pavilions devoted to the special deities stimulated with the aid of Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism as properly as nearby folks beliefs. Let's discover the 4 foremost halls.

The prayer corridor is, I would say, the most important constructing of the A Ma Temple. Also referred to as First Palace of the Holy Mountain, it is the shape constructed for the worship of A Ma. It was once first built in 1605 and rebuilt in 1629. We get this statistics from a stone inscription discovered in the temple. The prayer corridor is a granite shape with lattice home windows and up-pointing roof ridges.

The oldest extant shape at the A-Ma temple is the Hall of Benevolence, believed to have been developed in 1488, and per chance have been rebuilt a few times. It is additionally a shape of granite and brick, and constructed into the hill. Its is protected with inexperienced glazed roof tiles and decorative roof ridges.

Climbing greater up the temple, we attain the Hall of Kun Iam. We do now not understand when it used to be built as no document used to be discovered to that effect. It is a simple brick shape with flush gable roofing, referred to as yingshan.

The Buddhist pavilion, or Zhengjiao Chanlin was once constructed of a grander scale. Within it is a shrine to A Ma and a resting location with yingshan roofing.

The busiest time of the yr for A-Ma Temple is round Chinese New Year, and once more in late April - early May, on the twenty third day of the 0.33 moon, when Cantonese operas are additionally carried out for the pleasure of the deity.