Why visit temple fairs during the Spring Festival?

Why visit temple fairs during the Spring Festival? The origin of visiting temple fairs during the Spring Festival

1. The prototype of ancient sacrifices and prayers

Temple fairs are also called "temple markets" or "festivals". It is one of the forms of market trade in my country. Its formation and development are related to the religious activities of local temples. It is held on temple festivals or specified dates. It is mostly located in and near temples for worshiping gods, entertainment, shopping and other activities.

In ancient times, sacrifice was a frequent and significant event in people's lives. In the process of worshiping ancestor gods and natural gods, people gather together and collectively carry out some activities, such as making offerings, playing music, holding ceremonies, etc. This kind of gathering for worshiping gods can be regarded as a form of folk temple fairs in later generations. prototype. In fact, this can also be seen from the Chinese characters for "temple fair" itself. "Temple" originally referred to a building dedicated to gods, especially the gods of ancestors.

2. Festival market trade

Temple fairs originated around temples, so they are called "temples"; and because small businessmen and vendors saw many people burning incense and worshiping Buddha, they set up displays outside the temple. Starting various stalls to make money gradually became a regular activity, so it was called "Hui". Over time, "temple fairs" evolved into today's entertainment activities during festivals, especially during the Spring Festival.

Nowadays, in addition to displaying local specialties and delicacies at Spring Festival temple fairs, you can also see a variety of folk toys that are usually difficult to come into contact with. The Spring Festival temple fair is filled with masks, theatrical wooden figures, carts, swords, spears, and bamboo dragons. There are many kinds of folk toys in the temple fair, and they are all exquisitely made and can be called handicrafts.

3. The influence of religious multiculturalism

Temple fairs have had a strong religious culture since their establishment. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, with the influence of the spread of Taoism and Buddhism, the form of temple fairs Changes have also occurred, and the impact has become more and more far-reaching.

In addition to the rituals of worshiping gods, the religious ceremonies of the Spring Festival temple fairs also include entertainment content to attract the crowd, such as dance, drama, tours, etc. In this way, not only the faithful men and women flock to it and enjoy it endlessly, but also many ordinary people are willing to join in the fun. In order to win over the masses, Buddhism and Taoism often expand their influence by going out of temples.

Nowadays, the most popular temple fair culture also includes the culture of praying for children. The month-long Renzu Temple Fair is held every year from February 2nd to March 2nd of the lunar calendar. Its main activities are worshiping Renzu and "tying dolls". Women who are married but have no children are required to dig out the "children's kiln" which symbolizes the door to fertility during the temple fair, and buy back some local clay toys "mud dogs" in order to have children as soon as possible. These clay toys made of loess include "human-faced monkeys" with different shapes, which the locals call "human ancestor monkeys", as well as various weird and interesting animal toys such as tripod monkeys, hericium swallows, two-headed tigers, and cows. , pigs, horses, sheep, etc. In addition to using them to offer sacrifices to ancestors, women also take them home as toys for their children.

4. Secular public activities

After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Spring Festival temple fairs gradually turned into more popular folk activities. Special temple fair management and so on have also appeared in various places. They worshiped Guan Yu and built ancestral halls and temples, especially theaters and other sacrificial places, which further expanded the influence and role of temple fairs.

Nowadays, the main content of the Spring Festival temple fairs is to display folk customs, such as lion dance, traditional ethnic flower parties, modern dance, Beijing folk custom figures, traditional business "cover" exhibition, old Beijing old photo exhibition, Folk handicraft exhibitions, special book fairs, and special performances of Peking Opera, martial arts, and acrobatics, etc. The temple fair integrates tourism, leisure and entertainment, shopping and catering, and has distinctive traditional ethnic characteristics.

In addition, the Spring Festival Temple Fair also has many cultural and entertainment-related festival activities, such as Qinqiang opera, pole opera (i.e. puppet show), cross talk, oboe, magic (called "illusion" in ancient China, commonly known as " "Jugglers"), counting treasures, playing Chinese flags, Yangko, stilts, etc. The Spring Festival temple fair is also the most important moment for these folk cultures to be introduced to the people.

Necessary items for the Spring Festival temple fair

1. Paper fish. A bamboo split is tied with white thread for easy carrying; there are also strings of gold and silver ingots made of clay and covered with gold and silver foil, which are also tied to the bamboo split.

2. Windmill. There is a noisy windmill. This kind of windmill is made of thin strips and colored paper strips pasted into wind wheels, which are installed on the straw rack. Each wind wheel has a pair of small drum legs tied with white thread, and beats a clay sculpture covered with paper drum. When the strong wind blows, there is a loud roar. This kind of windmill can be single, or there can be four or even a dozen connected together.

3. Visit the temple fair. The official activities of the "Five Signs of Wealth Temple" start from the second day of the first lunar month. Early in the morning on the second day of the Lunar New Year, most of the people who go to the Temple of Wealth to offer incense, except the rich and distinguished, ride bicycles. Most of them wear cotton robes of various satins, mandarin jackets or waistcoats, and fine felt hats on their heads.

The famous temple fair during the Spring Festival

Hakkas "walk in ancient things"

The Hakkas in Luofang Town, Liancheng County, Longyan, Fujian, hold a grand festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month every year "Traveling Ancient Things" activity. Although "walking on ancient things" is a "specialty" in the north, it was introduced in the Ming Dynasty by the people of Luofang Town, which was often hit by droughts and floods, as a way to pray for good weather, peace and prosperity, and was known as the "carnival in the mountainous area."

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, several boys of about 10 years old dressed in opera stand on the sedan platform, carried by young adults, and surrounded by colorful flags and drum bands, they first run on the dry land. Then he ran towards the river at the end of the village. Whoever reaches the finish line first wins and will be blessed in the coming year.

Baofeng Majie Book Club

Majie is located in southwest Henan, a small village under the Funiu Mountains. Every year in the first month of the year, folk artists from Anhui, Hebei, Shandong and other places gather here to participate in the Ma Street Book Fair held on the fields to the east of the village.

The eleventh and twelfth days of the first lunar month are the prelude to the book meeting, and the thirteenth day of the first lunar month is the main meeting. On this day, artists will first go to the Fire Temple to worship the God of Fire, and then they will choose a venue, drive wooden stakes, hang trumpets, take the piano, clear their throats, and start singing. Every year at the Majie Book Club, the artist who speaks best, has the highest book price, and is the most popular artist will be named the "Top Prize Winner" of that year. Here, although it is not as flamboyant as a Western carnival, it has become a unique carnival that interprets traditional culture.

Yan'an Temple Fair

In the Yan'an area, there is a custom of attending temple fairs to get engaged. Engagement temple fairs are generally held twice a year, the first on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month and the second on the 22nd of the seventh lunar month.

When attending the temple fair, the man and woman are invited to the temple fair by the matchmaker, and the man's family is required to bring watermelons, apples and other gifts. The two families sit on the floor, and the man's family puts out the food they brought for the woman's family to taste. The adults chatted and made common sense. If young men and women love each other, they will find another secluded place to fall in love. When the talks are almost complete, the parents of both parties will ask a matchmaker to come forward and negotiate an engagement.