Tai Vong Temple in Hac Sa Village

Tai Vong Temple in Hac Sa Village

The Village of Hac Sa is one of the present biggest villages of Macao. The Temple of Tai Vong is the only temple of the village and is dedicated to the Emperor of Hung Seng.

It is written in the couplet on the door of the Temple of Tai Vong:

"The spirits gather in Dieshi and the kindness covers Shaxiang"

"The Dieshi" refers to Coloane High Hill, for the Village of Hac Sa lies at the foot of the hill. The "Shaxiang" refers to the village of Hac Sa.

In the temple there is a tablet set up in the 28th year of Guangxu Reign (in 1902), on which the origin of the temple is recorded. The title of the inscription is: "The introducing article about the suggestion of Xiangyi, Guoluhuan and Heishacun to built a temple of Tai Vong and about the mobilization of donations".

The content is: "It is said that the God with merits is worth receiving sacrifices no matter how great or common it is.

In accordance with the belief, a piece of wood or stone is endowed with spirit when one worships it with kowtow by saying "rain" or "shine"… in the past there were shrines in Guoluhuan and Heisha where sacrifices were offered to Tai Vong (Emperor).

There also was a suburban ceremony to worship gods by means of sweeping the floor…"

From the stone tablets we know that the shrine of Emperor Hung Seng had already existed before the temple was built. The "Xiangyi" in the inscription of the tablet refers to the county Xiangshang, and the "Guoluhuan" is the old name of Coloane used from the middle age of the Qing Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty.

The name "Coloane" in Portuguese is still in use.

(Excertps from: Macau Temples by Chan, Lei and Chendra published by IACM SAR 2002). Back to Macau Temples