What is the significance of the Dragon Mother’s Birthday in Wuzhou?

Dragon Mother is a very distinctive goddess spread among the people in the Xijiang River Basin of my country. Its popularity and influence are as great as those of Mazu (Tianfei), the Goddess of the Sea. Devoted men and women who worship the Dragon Mother can be found all over Guangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hunan, Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia.

The Birthday of the Dragon Mother is a day to commemorate the birth and "ascension" of the Dragon Mother. There are two birth dates for Dragon Mother's birthday: "Birth" and "Run's birthday". "Birthday" is said to be the day when the Mother of Dragons is born. The eighth day of the fifth lunar month is the official day. The ten days from the first to the tenth day of the lunar month are all the "Birthday" period; "Run's Birthday" is said to be the day when the Mother of Dragons "ascends to heaven" , taking the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar as the official day, the three days from the fourteenth to the sixteenth day are all "birthday" dates.

The number of worshipers at Rundan was only slightly more than usual. Pilgrims who come to worship are generally people from the city and neighboring villages. The Dragon Mother's birthday is often referred to as "birthday". The largest number of people celebrating birthday are also the most lively. On the day of his birthday, pilgrims from Baise, Longzhou, Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Guigang in the upper reaches, and Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau and other places in the lower reaches came to visit in groups or in collective "birthday groups". worship. At this time, the Dragon Mother Temple was crowded with people inside and outside the temple, the sound of firecrackers was deafening, and the sky was filled with smoke from incense candles.

During the birthday celebrations, all the philanthropic men and women showed their devotion to the Mother of Dragons. Some presented dragon robes, some donated money for incense oil, some bought statues and talismans of the Mother of Dragons, and some even donated gold ornaments. , very enthusiastic. Wuzhou Dragon Mother Temple was restored and reopened in 1987. On the eighth day of the fifth lunar month alone, the Dragon Mother's birthday, more than 50,000 pilgrims came to worship within eight hours.

The Mother of Dragons has a profound influence on society, and people regard her as a patron saint who prays for blessings and peace. Many residents on the water have dragon mother shrines for worship, and some parents even use their infant deeds as "gan'er" with the dragon mother to pray for their children to grow up healthily.