How much do you know about Mazu's birthday? There are different opinions about the year of Mazu's birth and death in history.
Every year on the 23rd day of the third lunar month, people in Tian Fei can be seen doing various activities everywhere, because this day is Mazu's birthday. But do you know that there are many versions of Lin Moniang's birth year in history? What are the sources and credibility of these statements? Please listen to the analysis of teacher Cai Xianghui, who has studied Mazu belief for many years, in the book Tian Fei's Epiphany and Mazu Belief!
When is Mazu's birth and death year?
The first theory is that he was born in the first year of Stegosaurus in Song Taizu and died in the fourth year of Yongxi. The earliest person born in the first year of Stegosaurus was Liu Kezhuang, a Putian writer at the end of Song Dynasty and the beginning of Yuan Dynasty. Liu wrote in "A New Record of Princess Temple in Fengting":
According to it. For example, Tian Fei's Epiphany Record, Tianhou Zhi, Xu Baoguang's biography of Zhongshan and Huang Zhou's biography of Ryukyu all adopted this theory, while Tian Fei's Epiphany Record further wrote that the date of birth was March 23, 2004, and Yongxi rose in Meizhou Island on September 9. This statement has become a common practice. Since the Qing Dynasty, Mazu festivals have been held in temples all over the country.
The second theory is that he was born on March 23rd, the first year of Tang Tianbao, and the year of his death is unknown. The article "Tianfei Niangniang Chamber", the fourth volume of "A Complete Collection of Three Religions" published in Wanli Period of Ming Dynasty, points out:
Li Xianzhang's book A Brief Study of the Legend of Mazu in the Three Religions, centering on the Biography of the Three Religions and the Biography of Tian Fei's Mother, once verified that the editor of the Biography of the Three Religions wrote the Biography of Tian Fei Niang according to the biography of Mrs. Linshui in the first year of Tang Dali, so it is unfounded to regard the first year of Tang Tianbao as the year of Tian Fei's birth.
The third theory is that he was born on March 23rd, 8th year in Yuan You, Song Zhezong, and died on February 19th, 4th year in Yongxi. There are thirty-two characters in Putian County Records of Qianlong, and the immortal interprets the text. The article Tianhou holds this view, but in the year of birth, it is added that the four years of Taiping and Xingguo are 1979. Ganlong's Xianyou County Records also holds this view.
However, this statement is obviously wrong. If you were born in the eighth year and died in the fourth year, your birth year will be later than your death year, and it will be reversed. It is unreasonable to be born in Taiping for four years and die in Yongxi for four years, but he was only nine years old when he died.
The fourth view is that he was born on March 23rd, the fourth year of Taiping and Xingguo in Song Taizong, and died on October 10th, the first year of Dazhong Xiangfu. The "spiritual woman" in Nanzhulin's Genealogy holds this view, saying:
The genealogy of Nanzhulin was compiled during the period of Ming Yingzong, and was rebuilt several times later. Its founder is Sun Linhang, Jiumu Linzao VI. Lin's Genealogy of Nanzhu was written in the middle of Ming Dynasty, which was earlier than the version of Tian Fei's First Sound Record. Its credibility is not low, but because it is not widely circulated, scholars rarely quote it.
Among the above four statements, the first one is that he was born in the first year of Stegosaurus, which is based on Liu Kezhuang's Newly Built Princess Temple in Fengting. Liu Wenben is praising Mazu for being born in the Song Dynasty. After his death, he will always protect the country, the people and the country, which is not enough for Lin Mo to live in the first year of Stegosaurus. In addition, in the first year of Stegosaurus, Putian was still in a period of division and was not ruled by the Song Dynasty. In addition, Maureen's great-grandfather lived in seclusion in Meizhou Island during Zhou Xiande's administration, and his seventh great-grandson was born two or three years later, which is unreasonable. The second statement, which was born in the Tang Dynasty, comes from the Complete Works of the Origin of the Three Religions, but it is not consistent with the existing historical records of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, so no one agrees with it in later generations. The third theory is that he was born in the eighth year of Song Yuanyou. Compared with Liao Pengfei and Ding Bogui's Ci Zhi, Yuan You Bingyin Mazu's dream of building a temple was later divided.
The fourth four-year-old story of peaceful revival comes from Nan Zhulin's genealogy. Some families in Fujian that have passed down for thousands of years have ancestral halls and genealogies, such as the Lin family in Nanzhu, the Zhu family in Nanzhu and the Li family in Baitang. Because these genealogies are not circulated in Fu Zi, it is difficult to see and quote them in academic circles. 1990, Jiang Weikun's "Mazu Literature" quoted the "Lingnv Pian" in the "Nanzhulin Family Tree", and its content was only known overseas. The founder of Nanzhulin's family is Sun Linhang, VI of Jiumu Linzao. According to Tian Fei's Preamble to Lin Lin, Maureen is the ninth grandson of Shaozhou Secretariat. Although there are differences in the classification of houses, he is of the same origin as the Nanzhulin family, and the historical materials are highly reliable. In addition, the statement that Lin Mo was born and died in the first year of Dazhong Xiangfu in the fourth year of Taiping and Xingguo is exactly thirty years old, which is consistent with Shu Min's statement. This is a well-founded statement about Maureen's birth and death year.
Secondly, the year of Taiping and Xingguo was the year when Putian was formally incorporated into the territory of Song Dynasty and Xinghua County was established, which was a new era for Putian people. Liu Kezhuang's "Newly Built Princess Temple in the Black Widow Pavilion" says that from the political point of view of Putian, it is a symbol of the Song Dynasty, and the year of establishing the county is the most exciting year in Putian. There are two reasons for this. One theory is that the King of Fujian ruled Putian in the Five Dynasties. It is understood that Putian was destroyed by the Southern Tang Dynasty, and Putian was ruled by Chen and stayed in school. In the first year of Stegosaurus's entry into Song Taizu, Jiangnan and Fujian were not included in the territory. After Song Taizong ascended the throne, he was determined to explore the south. In the third year of Taiping and rejuvenating the country, Chen occupied Putian, and the people of Putian were spared the pain of exorbitant taxes and fees and gained a new life. Tian Fei's Prehistoric Records takes the founding year of Song Taizu as the date of birth, and pushes the date of birth of Tian Fei to 19, which is more clear than Liu Kezhuang's metaphor.