China Meizhou Mazu Cultural Tourism Festival kicks off

Actors perform during a grand praying ceremony for sea goddess Mazu at the 19th China Meizhou Mazu Cultural Tourism Festival in Putian, Southeast China's Fujian province, Dec 2, 2017. The festival kicked off Saturday on Meizhou Island, the home town to Mazu. Mazu belief and customs was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2009. Mazu is the deified form of the historical Lin Mo, a shamaness who lived in the tenth century on Meizhou Island in southeast China's Fujian province. Revered after her death as a patron of seafarers, including fishermen and sailors, her worship spread throughout China's coastal regions and Chinese communities throughout Southeast Asia. [Photo/Xinhua]