"The most important thing I've learned is this: The fact that we all believe in different things is nowhere near as important as the fact that we all believe."

Monday, February 08, 2010

Orientation Week Pt 3


Friday, the last day of orientation was my favorite day. We visited the ruins of St. Paul, shown on the left of this page. We also visited A-Ma Temple, a Portuguese Wine Museum, and Hac-Sa Beach. My favorite part of the entire week was definitely A-Ma Temple. It is the oldest temple in Macau, built to honor the sea goddess Matsu. According to folktale, when they Portuguese arrived, they pointed to the temple asking what the island was called. The locals thought the Portuguese were referring to the temple instead of the entire island, and therefore answered "Matsu" which was later changed into "Macao" by the Portuguese.


Inside the temple there were many chimes in the trees with wishes written in Chinese on them. There was also many small statues with pots of incense sticks lit in front of them to honor ancestors. Since Chinese New Year will be here very soon, there were lots of people visiting the temple in honor of the holidays. Shown are the circular incense coils that covered the ceiling of the temple. They are supposed to represent someone's life. As a person grows older, they become more focused on their goals and become wiser. (Hence, the coiling inwards). The red pieces of paper are wishes. I was under the (very wrong) impression that honoring ancestors and traditions was a thing of the past in modern-day China. However, many young people still come to the temple before deciding important life decisions--like who to marry or where to live. There was without a doubt an overwhelming sense of peace about the place and many students took part in having their fortunes read by a monk.