Legend of A-Ma: How Macau got its name
Ancient temple holds the story of how Macau was named
A lot of attention is paid to what’s happening inland in Macau, but people rarely cast their eyes seawards.
Nestled in a hillock on the southern part of the peninsula is the A-Ma Temple, otherwise known as Ma Kok Miu. It's the oldest in the city and one of the best known Taoist temples in Macau, dedicated to the goddess Mazu, protector of seafarers and fishermen.
Mazu was known to her family as Lin Mo, a girl born in the Song dynasty (AD960-1279) and who died at the age of 28 in Putian, in China's Fujian province.
During her lifetime, Lin offered her natural born weather forecasting ability to locals and saved the lives of many fishermen from the menace of typhoons. The local people respected her enormously and eventually deified her as “Mazu: Goddess of the Empty Sea”.
The A-Ma temple is believed to have been constructed by fishermen in the year 1488 to commemorate their beloved Mazu.
