妈祖，亦称天后、天妃或天后圣母，是中国民间信仰中的海洋女神。
妈祖据传原名林默(北宋960~987年)，昵称“默娘”，生于福建莆田。据称，她聪慧过人但沉默寡言，并成为一位释道兼修的仙姑，为人占卜祸福。在她羽化后，传言祂常在汹涌海涛中显灵，并能使台风转向，保祐船只航行之平安。妈祖因此成为船员、渔民及沿海地区的守护神。妈祖信仰遍及中国沿海地区和东南亚及海外的华侨社区。
妈祖的圣诞是农历三月廿三。
Ma Zu is a Chinese Goddess of the Sea. She is the deified form of the legendary Lin Mo, a Fujianese shamaness who supposedly lived from 960 to 987(Northern Song dynasty). Revered after her death as a tutelary deity of seafarers, including fishermen and sailors, her worship spread throughout China's coastal regions and overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia and other lands overseas. She was thought to roam the seas, protecting her believers through miraculous interventions.
Her birthday is celebrated on the twenty third day of the third lunar month.
