#Mother's Day##City God Temple##History and Culture##Temple Fair Culture##What are the characteristics of City God Temples around the world#
Yongren
Every year on the 25th day of the third month of the lunar calendar, it is my hometown, the ancient city of Fengxiang, which is called the "Suye Temple Fair".
For more than 40 years, I have been wandering away, spending less time with my parents and more with my parents, and in order to make up for the guilt in my heart, I have been accompanying my mother in my hometown since I retired. This year's Suye Temple Fair and "Mother's Day" happened to meet, and it was a good weather with bright sunshine, which finally gave me a chance to accompany my elderly mother to catch the temple fair.
The "Fucheng God Temple" in the ancient city of Fengxiang is located at the intersection of the north end of the "Fumiao Lane" on West Street and the west end of "Juncang Lane" on North Street. On both sides of the alley entering and leaving the City God Temple, commodity stalls are lined up one after another, needles and threads, clothing jewelry, antique porcelain, pen and ink calligraphy and painting, bonsai flowers, everything is dazzling.
On the square in front of the City God Temple, there is a tall "Fengxiang Uprising Monument", telling people about a red memory that happened in the City God Temple more than 70 years ago that was sealed by history.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Kou Xuewen and Gao Shenzhi, former underground members of the CPC in Yang Hucheng's department, accepted the instructions of the provincial party committee, formed troops from Lintong to Fengxiang, entered the garrison regiment of the Kuomintang Qianshan Garrison Headquarters, and in May 1949, successfully planned and launched the regiment's uprising in the "Fuchenghuang Temple", and captured Chiang Kai-shek's protégé, Li Mengbi, commander of the Kuomintang major general who graduated from the first phase of Huangpu, to welcome the PLA army into the city. More than 1,000 rebel troops were incorporated into the First Field Army, and on July 10 of the same year, the "Fumei Campaign" was launched, and Fengxiang and Baoji were fully liberated.
The "Fengxiang Uprising Monument" is the first monument built on the site of the "White District Cloth Point" in the northwest region during the Liberation War. The stele is made of granite stone, symbolizing the firm faith and strong will of the insurgents; The red five-star above the stele represents the fierce loyalty of the revolutionary ancestors to the country and the people; The monument is 5.22 meters high and marks the date of the uprising on May 22, 1949.
On the lintel of the temple gate directly opposite the monument, the four large gold characters of "Fuchenghuang Temple" come into view, and Park Maogong is stable and powerful. The couplet on both sides of the temple gate, "The three Yang worlds accumulate good and do evil, who has been spared by the Yin Cao Di Mansion throughout the ages", is even more far-reaching and thought-provoking.
The solemn and elegant temple gate and the tall and majestic monument are intertwined, and the ancient religious sacrifice and the red memorial collide to form a unique scenery, making people's thoughts travel through the ancient and the modern, and feel more meaningful.
According to the data, the words "city" and "god" first appeared in the ancient book "Zhou Yi": "The city is restored to the god". Xu Shen, a scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty, explained in his book "Shuowen and Jiezi": "The city is also prosperous and the people, from the soil to the cause, and from the sound; The gods, the city, there are water pools, there are no water gods." The word "city" originally meant the city wall, and later extended to the important settlement of human beings - the city; "God" refers to the moat surrounding the outside of the city, with water being a "pool" and no water being a "god".
The word "City God" should originally mean "city" and "city", and then gradually moved from objective to subjective, from material to spiritual, and "City God" also evolved into the Taoist god who guards the city.
The belief in the city god arose during the ancient Southern and Northern Dynasties, reached new heights during the Tang and Song dynasties, and began to tend to be personified and diversified. The image of the city god is not fixed and uniform, most of them are selected by the local people themselves, and different historical figures are in charge. Its criteria are loyal martyrs who have been martyred for the country, famous figures of integrity and wisdom, and people look up to them like the sun and the moon, and worship them like gods, so that they can live for centuries.
The images of city gods across the country are Chunshen Jun Huang Xie during the Warring States period; Feng Shang, a meritorious minister of the Qin Dynasty, and Fan Zeng, Xiang Yu's subfather; Xiao He, a famous minister of the Han Dynasty, Guan Ying, a founding hero, Ji Xin, a loyal general and Huo Guang, an old minister of Gu Ming; Zhou Yu, the governor of the Three Kingdoms, and Xu Sheng, Marquis of Wuhu; Liu Zongyuan, the "Mr. Hedong" of the Tang Dynasty; Wen Tianxiang, a national hero of the late Song Dynasty; Qin Yubo, a Yuan dynasty scholar of the Yuan Dynasty, and Chen Youshu, a leader of the peasant uprising; Yang Jiaoshan, the loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, Hai Rui, "Hai Qingtian", and Yushi Zhou Xin of "Cold Face and Cold Iron"; Zhu Yigui, the leader of the Taiwan uprising, "King of Zhongxing"; The national hero of the Qing Dynasty Chen Huacheng..., and there is also a situation where a city god temple worships many historical figures. In the City God Temple in Shanghai, there are three city gods: the old city god Huo Guang, the city god Qin Yubo, and the new city god Chen Huacheng, famous for "one temple and three city gods".
The construction date of Fengxiang's "Fuchenghuang Temple" is no longer known, but according to the "Jiyuan of Things" (also known as "Jiyuan Collection of Things") written by Gao Cheng in the Song Dynasty, it is an earlier specialized book that examines the origin and evolution of things. It is recorded that the enshrined in the Fengxiang City God Temple should be Feng Shang, a meritorious minister of the Qin Dynasty ("Qin meritorious minister Feng Shang, seeing a dream of the ancestor of Han Gao, was ordered by heaven to lead the city god as the king, and then placed it under the world"). ）。
The revised "Rebuilding Fengxiang Fuzhi • Volume 3 Sacrifice" revised in the thirty-first year of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1766 AD) recorded: "Fuchenghuang Temple, northwest corner of the city". The "Rebuilding the Fengxiang County Zhi Zhi Volume 7 Art and Literature Stele" revised in the 32nd year of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1767 AD) includes the article "Records of Rebuilding the County City God Temple" written by Zhang Zhang, who was the prefect of Fengxiang during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, which recorded: "Fengxiang used to worship the city god in the north and west corner of the city, covering the area of the ghost valley where the Hanmen Gate was overhanging, and Chongyin Yiye. In ancient times, there were five temples, towering and standing, and the father and old people passed down for more than 200 years. The temple was the first hall before, and I don't know when it was created, and the incense was in the past, and the ancient hall was immersed in decay for a long time. ...... The abbot of his nationality, Ding Tan, and the elders of Dong Qi, Lao Xuedou, Jing Jikui, and Dong Zhimin. Today, I am fortunate to accumulate money and become a nobleman, and I am a dove worker with materials, and I am paying for the Xingsi Temple? Yu Yu: Yunruo. It is an urgent need to prosper, and it is the camp that will be completed in the middle of autumn this year, and it will be completed in March. The temple is five, and it is still if it is up and the building, and if it is lower and the universe."
Entering the temple, you will be greeted by the magnificent "City God Hall", and on the left and right sides are distributed "Bell Tower", "Drum Tower", "Bodhisattva Hall", "Lonely Soul Hall", "Mother Temple", "Five Holy Temples", "Suye Hall" and other buildings.
My mother religiously offered incense and alms to the gods of each temple, and asked for red cloth belts. Because my mother suffers from senile underlying diseases, chest tightness and shortness of breath when walking for too long, when I asked my mother to sit and rest, I asked her hometown why the people in her hometown called the City God Temple "Suye Temple"? My mother explained to me: Emperor Dongyue, the god of Mount Tai, rules the life and death of the netherworld and the world, and the affairs accepted by the city gods in various places must finally be collected for the Dongyue Emperor to handle. Therefore, the Dongyue Emperor set up seventy-five divisions to manage affairs, the most famous of which was the "Quick Report Division", because it was in charge of good and evil karma, and the retribution was rapid, so it was called the "Quick Report Division".
Although the owner of the Express News Division is a subordinate of the Dongyue Emperor, the people think that he can respond to his needs better than the City God, and he is fierce, so in his hometown, the limelight of the Master of the Express News Division gradually overwhelmed the City God and became the closest god in the hearts of the people. People in their hometown used to honor the small gods who were close to the people as Ye, such as "Mountain God", "Land Master", "Tree God", "Ma Wangye", "Cangshen Ye", "Stove King", "Medicine King" and so on. People affectionately call the owner of the "Quick News Division" "Suye", and over time, the "City God Temple" is called "Suye Temple", and the City God Temple Festival is also called the Suye Temple Fair, and the "Suye Hall" is specially built in the temple for people to pray and worship, and it has always been incense prosperous.
Taking advantage of my mother's resting space, I visited an elderly manager surnamed Yan in the temple and learned some basic information about Fengxiang's "Fuchenghuang Temple".
The reason why Fengxiang City God Temple is called "Fuchenghuang Temple" is related to the history of administrative construction in ancient times. According to the "Records of History", in the twelfth year of the Duke of Qin Xiao (350 BC), the capital of the Qin state was moved from Yongcheng (now Fengxiang) to Xianyang ("Residence for three years, as the palace court of Ji Que in Xianyang, Qin from the capital of Yongxiang"). ——"Shiji • Shang Jun Lie"), set up Yong County. In the second year of Emperor Suzong of Tang's reign (757 AD), he took the legend of "blowing a flute to lead the phoenix" and changed Yong County to Fengxiang County. Although the "capital" became the "county seat", in ancient thousands of years, Fengxiang has been the seat of counties, prefectures and provinces of successive dynasties, and as the political, economic, military and cultural center of central and western Guanxi, it also plays an irreplaceable position and important role.
In the third year of Hongwu (1370 AD), Hongwu promulgated a system of rules specifically for the worship of the city god, dividing the city god into four levels: capital, prefecture, prefecture and county. The city god of the sealed capital city is the zhengyi product "Chengtianjian Guo Simin Shengfu Ming Ling King", which governs the city gods of all provinces, prefectures and counties in the country; Fuchenghuang is the second product of the "Supervision Division Min Chenghuang Weiling Gong"; Prefecture City God is the third product "Supervision Division Min City God Lingyou Marquis"; The county city god is the fourth product "supervision department of the city god Xianyou uncle". He also ordered that the city god temples in various places should not worship other gods, and only called them "the gods of a certain prefecture or county". He also demanded that "when new officials of prefectures, prefectures, and counties arrive in office, they must first stay in the temple of the city god, and pay homage and oath, with the intention of the yin and yang surface, so as to settle the people." The city god was also changed from a guardian deity to the name of "Yin official" corresponding to the "Yang official" sent by the imperial court, responsible for the affairs of the netherworld in this area.
During the Ming Dynasty, Fengxiang Prefecture was subordinate to the Shaanxi Chengxuan Envoy Department, and administered seven counties and one prefecture (Fengxiang County, Qishan County, Baoji County, Fufeng County, Mei County, Linyou County, Qianyang County, and Longzhou (present-day Longxian and northwest of Chen Cang District). "Fengxiang Fuzhi" Yun: "Fengjun is the right auxiliary of the Three Qins, and Fengyi is the leading oil of the eight genera". Therefore, Fengxiang's City God Temple is the "Fuchenghuang Temple", and the City God belongs to the second product "Superintendent Simin City God Weiling Gong" personally sealed by Zhu Yuanzhang, so after the new officials who came to Fengxiang in ancient times took office, they first had to go to the "Fuchenghuang Temple" to worship the city god master.
The city god of Fengxiang Prefecture in the Ming Dynasty not only governed the seven counties and one prefecture to which it belonged, but also threatened Chongqing Prefecture in the southwest.
According to the article "Qijiang has an extra 500-year-old "prefecture" level city god temple" ("Qijiang Daily" - 04th edition - PDF version - 2023-01-05, author: Yang Youqian), there are two city god temples in Dingshan Town, Qijiang District, Chongqing, which belong to "one county and two city gods". One is the county city god temple, and the front of the lintel of the other archway is engraved with three double-hook characters of "Tiger Brain Mountain", and the money is "Wanli 6th year (1578 AD) Pengyin May 16th auspicious erection", the back is engraved "Fengxiang Yuan" three double-hook large characters, the drop "Wanli 6th May 16th auspicious dan, lure the head of the marshal Fuzhi Ou Shili, widely spread".
There is an ancient stele from the fourth year of Daoguang (1824 AD) here: "Gaiwen Qiyi Anli Sanjia place name Tiger Brain Mountain, ancient temple from the Ming and Qing Dynasty, the former dynasty Zhengde died in ■ to the tiger brain, lying in the white clouds, this demon is very heavy, so it is sealed one county and two city gods." Another payment was made in the sixth year of the Great Han Dynasty (1917 AD), the "Gong Lost Monument", which has been exposed to the sun and rain, wind and frost, mottled and difficult to recognize, but "the host of Fengxiangye", "Hu Brain Mountain Fengxiang Courtyard City God Temple", "City God Temple was created from the former dynasty", "the ancient temple is clear and Qing, and the former dynasty is Zhengde in... Died to the tiger brain, lying in the white cloud, seeing that this accumulation of demons is very heavy, so he sealed one county and two cities... Cut to the West Fengxiang Mansion to show the saint, canonize the Fengxiang Courtyard, and eliminate thieves and catch thieves ■ Fang Ning..." and other contents are still vaguely argued.
According to the analysis of this article, "According to Zhu Yuanzhang's regulations for sealing the city gods of the world, the Fengxiang Fu City God Temple should be the second grade Weiling Gong, and Qijiang Dingshan is the 'Fengxiang Mansion Xiansheng', indicating that the 'Fengxiang Courtyard' is the palace of the Fengxiang Fu City God Ye Wei Linggong, which is naturally the prefecture level." ...... The city god of Fengxiang Prefecture in Shaanxi Province is the regional chief of the whole country in the western provinces, equivalent to the head of the precinct group, and found that the area around Dingshan, which is located at the junction of Sichuan and Guizhou, has accumulated very heavy demons, and the county-level city gods in Qijiang are unable to control it, and there are also serious problems in the level and ability of the city gods of Chongqing Prefecture.
Temple fairs are a special social form of Chinese folk religion and customs, derived from the suburban sacrifice system of Zongmiao in ancient times, and most of them were held at the earliest to hold grand sacrifices, just as the "Zuo Chuan" said "the great affairs of the country, in worship and fighting". During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, temple fairs were still an unconscious activity, the Han Dynasty began to diversify, and after the Tang and Song Dynasties, a trend of personification was formed, and with the development of the times, "temple fairs" gradually evolved into entertainment activities during traditional festivals. After the reform and opening up, the temple fair has a more colorful content, forming a boom of "cultural stage and economic singing", attracting flowery market trade, a variety of characteristic local snacks and fascinating opera performances.
This year's temple fair invited the Baoji Yongcheng Qinsheng Troupe, and the morning performance was the Qin-language classic play "Golden Beach", and the veteran actors performed the generous and tragic Yang Jiye image vividly and vividly, which aroused the applause of the audience. As the old saying goes, "it is a madman who acts, and a fool who watches a play", at this moment both the actor and the audience enter the realm of forgetting relics, so that the spirit achieves the most hearty liberation.
At the food stalls around the square in front of the temple, there are local mutton puff buns, mung bean cold powder, hot oil cakes, cold rice dumplings, soup dumplings, crispy twist flowers, rolling dough, and meat dumplings; Moreover, there are Xinjiang's oil sprinkles, Henan's paste and spicy soup, Chongqing's spicy powder, Changsha's stinky tofu, Hangzhou's xiaolongbao, etc., and the famous snacks from all over the world are colorful and fragrant, making people mouthwater, and it is inevitable to taste one or two.
Nowadays, people visit temple fairs, not only to worship the gods, but also to watch local operas, buy daily necessities, taste the special snacks of the south and the north, and get several harvests of sacrifice, shopping, tasting food, and happy mood.
My mother likes to be quiet, and usually rarely goes to other temple fairs, but every year at the Suye Temple Fair, as long as the physical condition allows, she will definitely come, and give an alms to the children and grandchildren who are in a different place, and when we return to our hometown to visit relatives, we personally hand over the red cloth belt we asked for, and instruct us to carry it closely. At this year's temple fair, when I witnessed the devotional scene of my elderly mother praying incense and giving alms, my heart was full of mixed feelings, and I couldn't help but think of the Tang Dynasty Meng Jiao's poem: "The hand of the loving mother is threaded, and the body of the wanderer is clothed." Before leaving, I am afraid that I will be late. Whoever is careless in his words will be rewarded with three chunhui."
The grace of parents, Hao Tian Zhiji! I also silently pray in my heart, may "Su Ye" respond to his requests and bless his mother and all the elderly in the world with health, longevity, happiness and happiness!
March 26 in the ancient city of Fengxiang
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Author: Li Yinqi, pen name Yongren. He has served in the army, served as a division, served as an official, and passed through business. Today, returning to the countryside, it is a wild crane idle cloud.
(Please read it and do not hesitate to enlighten.) ）