The A-Ma Temple (媽閣廟) is the oldest temple in Macau, generally dated to 1488 in the Ming dynasty, and it is dedicated to A-Ma, better known as Mazu: the sea goddess who protects fishermen and sailors along the south China coast. Legend says she was a young woman from Fujian who calmed a violent storm and brought a boat safely to shore at this spot before vanishing up the hill. The temple may even have given the city its name. When Portuguese sailors landed here in the 16th century and asked what the place was called, the story goes, locals answered A-Ma-Gau, “the Bay of A-Ma,” which the Portuguese turned into “Macau.” Rather than one big building, the temple is a cluster of small halls, pavilions and shrines climbing the rocky hillside, linked by stone steps and moon gates. It blends Daoist, Buddhist and Confucian worship. Incense coils hang from the ceilings and smoke drifts everywhere, and the boulders around the halls are carved with calligraphy and the image of an ancient junk. The temple is still very much a working place of worship, and it is busiest around Chinese New Year and on A-Ma’s festival in spring, when fishermen and devotees come to pray for safe voyages. Since 2005 it has been part of the Historic Centre of Macau UNESCO World Heritage Site.
