Since 1488
We had visited the Venetian casino and the Macau Tower in Macau thus far. Interesting as both stops were, they were both icons of modern Macau and not quite the experience I was looking for. However, because we had arrived at Taipa, they were logical stops for us to visit on our way to Macau Peninsula.
We got back on our wheels and headed off to our next stop. We were dropped off here…and our first experience of the distinctive wave pattern in cobblestone that we would find in Macau.
Approximately four hundred years ago the Portuguese landed on a sea promontory near a temple. They asked the local inhabitants the name of the land, but the locals misunderstood, thinking that the Portuguese were asking for the name of the temple. So they answered 'A Ma Gok', which was the name of the temple. Later, the Portuguese translated the named into 'Macau' and used it to refer to the land. So, this temple – the A Ma temple – was the reason behind the name Macau. The temple has been here since 1488.
According to legend, A-Ma, a poor girl looking for passage to Canton was turned away by wealthy junk owners. Instead a poor fisherman took her on board. Shortly after a storm blew up, wrecking all the junks but leaving the fishing boat unscathed. When it returned to the Inner Harbour, A-Ma walked to the top of the nearby Barra Hill and, in glowing aura of light, ascended to heaven. In her honour, the fisherman built a temple on the spot where they landed.
We entered through the Gate Pavilion.
A succession of pavilions are aligned with the main gate which leads to the Prayer Hall located in front of the Hall of Benevolence.
There is a large rock engraved with a traditional sailing junk at the entrance. The temple is dedicated to Tin Hau or Mazu, the Goddess of the Sea and Seafarers. A Ma is the informal way of addressing Mazu. There were people praying at the prayer table to Tin Hau; so this is the closest I was getting.
The A-Ma Temple consists of a bewildering number of prayer halls and pavilions connected by winding paths through moon gates and tiny gardens.
Built at various times, the various pavilions are dedicated to the worship of different deities. Whilst we were travelling with Buddhist and ex-Buddhist practitioners in our party, they all scattered in the various directions to pay appropriate respects to the different deities. We were left on our own to explore; so I wasn’t entirely sure of the layout.
We did find the Prayer or Wish tree.
This courtyard was outside a major pavilion, the entry is located to the left of the picture.
There were a heap of people praying in here.
Notice the boy in the picture? He’s rubbing a Resonance Bowl. Assuming you have the right touch, rubbing the handles on the bowl will change the frequency of the waves in the bowl. The aim is to produce spouts of water from four points or nodes in the bowl. You might find similar bowls in Science museums these days and I only remember seeing someone create the water spouts once in my life.
Incense has been used as a method of purifying the surroundings, bringing forth an assembly of buddhas, bodhisattvas, gods, demons, and the like. Take a look at those huge coils in the temple!
Worshipers at the temples will also light and burn sticks of incense or joss sticks in small or large bundles, which they wave or raise above the head while bowing to the statues or plaques of a deity or an ancestor.
Individual sticks of incense are then vertically placed into individual incense holders located in front of the statues or plaques either singularly or in threes, depending on the status of the deity or the feelings of the individual. The temple included the appropriate incense holders. This one looked rather old to me.
I also found this one elsewhere in the temple. The joss sticks were definitely grouped mostly in threes.
Many Chinese traditionally believe that the deceased will have 'material' or earthly objects materialise when burnt, for their use in their afterlife in hell. Some say this practice sprung from the ancient Chinese's attachment to life such that they believe there must be life in equivalent in another world after death. The idea of using burning is to "dematerialise" objects so that they too can "materialise" in the other world. Many temples will have similar type ovens for this practise.
The Stupa was originally used to hold the remains of Buddha or another sacred relic. These days there are multiple uses for it. The stupa here is constructed along the lines of a pagoda and when I asked the Buddhists in my Party@12, they seemed to think that this was more for symbolic purposes. But they didn’t know for sure.
The A Ma Temple is located at the foot of the Barra Hill with some of the pavilions located up the hill.
We just kept following the path upwards.
There were shrines like this dotted along the way. This one was a shrine dedicated to Buddha.
And still we climbed.
This was the uppermost shrine.
This top shrine was honouring Kun Lam or Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy. We'd already seen her at the Tian Tan Monastery.
What goes up, must come down.
And still more pavilions.
The roof tiles were more beautiful than this picture shows.
I was really fascinated with the fact that bananas were growing here. It must get rather hot and humid in summer.
There were a number of moon gates that we walked though before we headed on out.
In 2005, the temple became one of the designated sites of the Historic Centre of Macau enlisted on UNESCO World Heritage List. Whilst it isn’t the oldest site in the world I’ve ever visited, it is one of the oldest I’ve been to in Asia.
Since 1488. The A-Ma temple already existed before the city of Macau came into being. It may be of interest to note that in Cantonese, Macau is Ou Mun, translating to “gateway to the bay”. It does make you wonder what Macau could have been called today if those fishermen of the past had provided a different answer.
(Continued in Next Post)
Everything is so different except the casinos. I will get to stay caught up now.
Maybe you might get to see more later. 
Always a good day when you can help someone else.
We figured that maybe it was an acquired taste that they thought us westerners wouldn't be able to handle!
