The history of Orthodox Luerhmen Sheng Mu Temple 廟宇沿革
Luerhmen Sheng Mu Temple is located in what was previously the Taijiang inland sea on the southwestern coast of Taiwan, to the north of Bei-Wei island. By the 12th century, fishermen who lived on Bei-Wei and Luerhmen islands had built a shrine to Sheng Mu. 

In 1661, the Ming general Zheng Cheng-kung (also known as Koxinga) planned to invade Taiwan to use it as a base to resist the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming family to the throne. Upon arrival, they found the tide too low to enable a surprise attack. While waiting for the tide to rise, he took a small boat to scout the enemy’s fort and unexpectedly found the Luerhmen Sheng Mu Temple. After offering incense and praying to the Sheng Mu, Koxinga marveled at the sight of the sea level rising higher than usual, allowing his navy to sail to the the Dutch fort at Chi-Kan. Afterward, he established his kingdom in Taiwan and rebuilt the Luerhmen Sheng Mu Temple, to thank Sheng Mu for her help.
  鹿耳門聖母廟位於古臺江內海西緣北汕尾嶼北邊的鹿耳門嶼。在12世紀時，當地漁民已建神龕祭祀媽祖。西元1661年，鄭成功為反清復明，決定駐守臺灣，等待時機。當時，因正值退潮之際，軍隊無法順利抵岸，鄭成功為先刺探軍情，便駕著小船前往敵營，卻意外發現了聖母廟，於是鄭成功便焚香祝禱。沒多久，媽祖顯靈使海潮大漲，鄭成功的軍隊最後順利抵臺，並在臺灣建立自己的王朝。為感念媽祖的神蹟，鄭成功便下令建造鹿耳門聖母廟。

In 1831, the Temple was flooded and the foundations of the temple were washed out due to a severe thunderstorm. The statues of Luerhmen Sheng Mu and hundreds of other gods were forced to move to the nearby Hai-An Temple. Plans to rebuild the Luerhmen Sheng Mu Temple were constantly thwarted by flooding, so the statues were kept in Hai-An Temple for eighty-seven years.
  西元1831年，聖母廟因洪水氾濫，廟基嚴重受損，村民只好將聖母與其他神明的神像遷於海安宮。之後幾次重建也遇上洪水，以致神像寄奉於海安宮長達87年。

In 1912, Fu-Mei Temple in Cyuanjhou City, China, built a boat that was to serve as a kind of floating temple. The people believed that god would live on the boat and direct the boat wherever god wanted to go. This kind of boat is refered to as a “king ship.” Sometime later, the people of Hai-Ling Temple on Penghu Island found the boat floating eastward. The island residents gathered around the king ship, making offerings to it and praying that it could stay permanently to protect them. Priests from the temple divined god’s will. This divination revealed that the god wished to visit Luerhmen Sheng Mu temple; it needed to keep sailing east to provide blessings to the people there. In mid-July, the king ship was found floating near Luerhmen harbor. Lacking resources to worship the king ship, the fishermen of Luerhmen pushed the ship back to the ocean. No matter how many times they pushed the ship away, it would simply float back the next day. On the fourth time, as the fishermen tried to push away the ship at night, loud music suddenly burst out from the ship, and the whole ship lit up. Frightened, the fishermen stopped pushing the ship. Later on, priests again divined the will of the goddess Matsu. They revealed that the king ship was invited here by Luerhmen Sheng Mu to protect the residents. With great reverence, the villagers held a big ceremony to welcome and worship the king ship with offerings and flowers.   
西元1913年，福建泉州富美宮放送一艘五府(李、池、吳、朱、范)王船東來，途中經澎湖海靈殿附近停泊時，當地信眾迎起祭拜，並祈求奉祀於廟中。然而，王爺乩示:係承鹿耳門媽之邀，必須前往助佑萬民，無法駐留。當年七月，王船漂至鹿耳門，經漁民發現後，因乏力奉祀，便將王船推向外海。翌日，王船又飄回原處，就這樣三進三推後，至第四次時，船上突然鼓樂大奏，漁民驚嚇之餘，便不敢再推。後經土城文館三媽乩示，五府王爺係應鹿耳門媽之聘而來，宜以大禮迎進祀奉。因此，信徒乃擺設鮮花香案，恭迎王船。
 
In 1914, the elders of the town of Tucheng (in modern-day Annan district), close to Luerhmen proposed rebuilding the temple for Luerhmen Sheng Mu the following year. The local worshippers also began excavating temple relics from the original site. Cooperation between the elders and the locals enabled the construction to be completed in 1916 in its location in the downtown of Tucheng. The statues of Luerhmen Sheng Mu and other deities, including the king ship were finally returned from Hai-An Temple to the newly built one. Religious belief in Sheng Mu then became widespread all over Taiwan and overseas. Sheng Mu became known as the “Mother of Luerhmen.”
西元1914年，土城村民提議重建鹿耳門聖母廟，信眾便開始在廟宇舊址附近掘土重建，並於西元1916年落成，並將聖母、五府千歲及其他神祇的神像遷回鹿耳門聖母廟。現今，聖母信仰在臺灣及海外地區聲名遠播，並被稱為「鹿耳門媽」。

 

Rituals and rites 宗教儀式 
Luerhmen Sheng Mu Temple is near the seaside and Matsu is also the sea goddess. During the Qing dynasty, three prominent Taiwanese families who dominated international trade were conducting their business in Luerhmen and had taken over the management of the Temple there. These families held the first Lu-Erh Men ghost offering to release the souls of all those who had departed during sea battles and shipwrecks. The ghost offering has since been the centerpiece ceremony held at Luerhmen Sheng Mu Temple right up to the present day. 
因鹿耳門聖母廟位於沿海，且媽祖又為海上女神。清朝年間，掌握臺灣內外商貿大權的「臺郡三郊」，也開始管理鹿耳門聖母廟，為超渡海上的英靈孤魂，便舉辦隆重的「鹿耳門普渡」，至今，仍為聖母廟眾要的儀式之一

 

Architechture 廟宇建築 
Failing to fulfill the needs of the increasing number of believers, in 1975, the temple board decided to raise funds for an expansion, and six years later, the third rebuilding project was completed. The majestic temple was built according to the style of the Forbidden City in Beijing and is now known as the “Greatest Sheng Mu Temple in the Far East.” Make sure you plan your itinerary ahead of time and spare plenty of time for a visit to the temple. The ornate decorations of the temple and the folk religious rituals are found nowhere else in the world. 
 西元1975年，因廟宇內部無法容納大量信眾參拜，廟方決定擴建，於六年後第三期擴建計畫完成。鹿耳門廟係參考紫禁城風格，相當壯觀，故又被稱「遠東第一廟宇」。因此，確定你準備足夠的時間參觀聖母廟，其廟宇內部裝飾與宗教儀式是獨樹一格，是遊客必看的景點喔!。

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