【51Talk-用英语介绍非遗文化】人类非物质文化遗产代表作：妈祖信仰

人类非物质文化遗产代表作：妈祖信仰

Mazu belief and customs

Mazu is the most influential goddess of the sea in China. In 987 AD, Mazu from Fujian Province devoted her life to saving lives in a shipwreck. In her honor, local residents built a temple and began to worship her as a goddess.

妈祖是中国最具影响力的海上女神。在公元987年，来自于福建的妈祖因救海难而献身，被百姓立庙祭祀。

（Statue of Mazu on Meizhou Island）

With the development of seafaring, she gradually became the navigation

goddess and gained greater influence in coastal southeast China and some regions in southeastern Asian.

后随着海运业的发展，妈祖遂成为海神，逐渐成为中国东南沿海及部分东南亚地区的航海保护神。

The custom of Mazu is also known as the Mother Belief, Goddess Belief, Princess of Heaven Belief, Queen of Heaven Belief, Our Lady of the Sky Belief. It is a folk culture dedicated to worship and praise Mazu’s grace, benevolence, and philanthropy, with Mazu palaces and temples as the major venue of various activities, and manifested in relevant customs and temple fairs.

妈祖信仰也称为娘妈信俗、娘娘信俗、天妃信俗、天后信俗、天上圣母信俗。妈祖信仰是以崇奉和颂扬她的功德、善良、大爱精神为核心，以妈祖宫庙为主要活动场所，以习俗和庙会等为表现形式的民俗文化。

During the long history of development, Mazu culture is spread to coastal cities as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao in our country. It follows the steps of overseas Chinese to more than 20 countries all over the 5 continents of the world. Mazu culture has strong cohesion power for Chinese all over the world, especially in the southeastern districts. After 1000 years, Mazu culture has become an important part of the splendid Chinese culture, as well as cultural bridge and spiritual linkage connection Chinese people all over the world.

在漫长的发展历史中，妈祖文化传播到我国沿海城市以及台湾、香港、澳门。它跟随海外华人的脚步来到世界五大洲的20多个国家。妈祖文化对世界各地，尤其是东南地区的中国人具有强大的凝聚力。一千年后，妈祖文化已经成为中华灿烂文化的重要组成部分，也是连接世界各地中国人民的文化桥梁和精神纽带。

Up to date, the belief has spread to more than 20 countries and regions, and the over 5000 Mazu temples around the world received worships from over 200 million followers. In T aiwan, over 17 million people out of its 23 million population are Mazu believers.

目前，已从湄洲妈祖祖庙传播到世界20多个国家和地区，在全球拥有妈祖宫庙5000多座、信众2亿多人。在2300万台湾同胞中，有1700万信仰妈祖。

The custom of sacrificial ceremony for Mazu enjoys long history and profound effect. Mazu is very famous, especially in coastal regions, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and southeastern countries, where everybody knows Mazu. Mazu culture and

customs in Meizhou is unique and worth studying on and protecting. It is especially important for promoting the communication between Ming Nan and Taiwan. On the Double Ninth Festival (lunar calendar) of 1987, about 100,000 Mazu believers across Taiwan Straits held the “Mazu Ceremony of the Millennium Festival”, which lasted for one week, in the Mazu Temple of Mei Zhou. An academic discussing meeting on memorial of one millennium after Mazu’s death is held, opening a new prelude for the communication between T aiwan and mainland of China.

妈祖祭祀习俗历史悠久，影响深远。妈祖非常有名，尤其是在沿海地区，香港、澳门、台湾和东南部国家，那里人人都知道妈祖。梅州妈祖文化习俗独特，值得研究和保护。这对促进闽南与台湾的交流尤为重要。1987年重阳节(阴历)，海峡两岸约10万妈祖信徒在梅州妈祖庙举行了为期一周的“千年妈祖庆典”。妈祖逝世一千周年纪念学术讨论会召开，揭开了台湾与中国大陆交流的新序幕。

On September 30, 1999, in the fourth session of UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, “Mazu belief and customs” was added.This is China’s first belief intangible cultural heritage.

在2009年9月30日联合国科教文组织政府间保护非物质文化遗产委员会第四次会议审议，决定将“妈祖信仰”列入世界非物质文化遗产，妈祖信仰即成为中国首个信俗类世界遗产。