Thien Hau Temple
Encyclopedia
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
and as Tiān Hòu Gōng (天后宫) in Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, is a Taoist temple in Los Angeles Chinatown. It is one of the more popular areas for worship and tourism in the Los Angeles area. Thien Hau Temple is dedicated to Mazu
Matsu (goddess)
Mazu , also spelt Matsu, is the indigenous goddess of the sea who is said to protect fishermen and sailors, and is invoked as the patron deity of all Southern Chinese and East Asian persons...
, the Taoist goddess of the sea and patron saint to sailors, fishermen, and to those whose cultures are associated with the sea, along with Guan Yu
Guan Yu
Guan Yu was a general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han Dynasty of China. He played a significant role in the civil war that led to the collapse of the Han Dynasty and the establishment of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period, of which Liu Bei was the...
, the god of wars, brotherhood, and righteousness, and Fu De
Tu Di Gong
Tu Di Gong , also known as Tu Di , Tu Gong , and Dabo Gong , is a Chinese earth god worshipped by Chinese folk religion worshippers and Taoists. A formal name for Tu Di Gong is , meaning the earth god of wealth and merit....
, the god of the earth, wealth and merit. Guan Yin and Di Zang, bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
s from the Buddhist faith also has their own shrine in the temple.
History
The temple is associated with the Camau Association of America, a local benevolent, cultural and religious association primarily directed at and associated to the local Vietnamese refugees from Camau ProvinceCa Mau Province
Cà Mau is a province of Vietnam, named after its capital city. It is located in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam, and is the southernmost of Vietnam's 58 provinces...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. The group also supports Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
, Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
, Teochew
Teochew people
The Chaozhou people are Han people, native to the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong province of China who speak the Teochew dialect. Today, most Teochew people live outside China in Southeast Asia especially in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. They can also be found almost anywhere in the...
and Thai Chinese
Thai Chinese
The Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Thailand is home to the largest, oldest, most prominent, and most integrated overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately 9.5 million people...
communities.
The original building of the temple was originally a Christian church and was bought in the 1980s and transformed into a small Taoist temple. Under a strong faith-based community in and outside of Chinatown Los Angeles, the temple was able to raise a great deal of donated money with which to build a larger and grander temple next door, which was completed in September 2005. They also dedicated a new ancestral memorial hall dedicated to the bodhisattva Dizang the following month.
Activities
On the eve of Chinese New Year, members from various communities gather to receive blessings and to burn incense in worship of the deities. Lion dancers perform and firecrackers are popped in order to scare away an evil spirits. Representatives from over 25 family associations headquartered in Chinatown and other communities are present to light the firecrackers at the stroke of midnight. The temple is often seen in LA Chinatown as a local "Times Square" to celebrate the Chinese New Year.On regular days, such as the 1st and 15th day of the New Year, the ceremonial bell and drum outside of the temple are played and only vegetarian food is consumed. On some special days, roast pigs are also offered and consumed at the temple, but due to Buddhist influence, meat is often eaten outside and away from the temple.
Many people come to the temple especially during the first week after New Year to receive a blessing for the year. On the 15th day of the New Year people come to the temple to beckon for money from Mazu and to pay back what they promised to her. (Generally, it is Chinese tradition that double the amount of money beckoned should be paid back to the temple the following year.)
The temple also holds a Ghost Festival
Ghost Festival
The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries...
ceremony in the summer. Buddhist monks are usually invited to chant sutras.