Chinese goddess of the sea Mazu was spotted, alongside her guardians, Qianliyan and Shunfeng’er, riding business class on a flight to Kuala Lumpur from the Chinese port city of Xiamen, according to a BBC report.
The goddess, known as the protector of fishermen and sailors, would have presumably been more comfortable with ocean travel, but opted for the flight given the length of her journey.
The statues were brought to Malaysia and Singapore by China’s Meizhou Mazu Ancestor Temple for a first ever cultural exchange, during which a festival will be held in her name.
“This is the body of our divine goddess, a symbol of Chinese folk culture,” said a representative of the temple.
Mazu and her companions were ushered to the airport by an entourage of over 130 people, where she was photographed at the check-in for her flight at Xiamen Gaoqi International, according to the report.
The deities flew business class with a ticket price of RMB2,091 each.
"This is basic respect we have for the culture of Goddess Mazu," a spokesperson who received the statues in Malaysia is reported to have said. "They were also more than 6 feet high, so they had to fly business class."
Airline employees took extra care to fasten the goddess and her guardians into the front row seats, harnessing their feet to account for turbulence.
As an added courtesy, according to BBC, the airline even provided the holy statues with their own passports for the journey.
The three statues left for the tour from their home, an ocean temple in Fujian province, to Malaysia’s Thean Hou Chinese Temple over 2,800 kilometers away.
The statues will soon be headed to Singapore, after which they will be brought back to Fujian.
[Images via BBC]
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