In the hearts of many people of higher age, rushing to the temple fair is a very interesting thing and carries many good memories. Young people, especially in cities, may be less likely to participate in or experience temple fairs.
China is a large agricultural country with a long history, in the past, most people worked at sunrise and rested at sunset, and the whole family was busy on the land all year round, and it was difficult to have time for leisure and entertainment. Therefore, in the eyes of the people, the temple fair is a good time for leisure and entertainment.
Happy people at the temple fair
As the carrier of Chinese national customs, the temple fair embodies the vast sea of folk culture, condensing the thoughts and feelings, moral customs and aesthetic tastes of people in a certain area, so the cultural factors, commercial factors, and religious factors of the temple fair are worth exploring carefully.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > what the temple will be</h1>
The temple fair has a long history, the exact origin, and there is no clear record, it is generally believed that the temple fair originated from the sacrifice of ancient times. Early sacrifices were mainly dedicated to ancestral gods or natural gods, and in the process of sacrifice, people collectively carried out some activities, such as offering tribute, playing music, holding ceremonies, etc. This kind of assembly for the sacrifice of gods can probably be seen as the prototype of the folk temple fair.
So how is the temple fair defined? In fact, from the literal meaning of the words "temple" and "meeting", we can see the general meaning of the temple fair.
"Temple", people will associate with what is now called a Taoist temple. In fact, the original "temple" refers to the building dedicated to the gods, especially the ancestral gods. Later, with the introduction of Buddhism to China, "temple" in Chinese mainly refers to Buddhist temples and later Taoist Taoist temples native to China and other religious places. In the early days, "hui" meant a meeting between the Son of Heaven and the princes, or between the princes and the princes, and later referred to a gathering held to participate in Buddhist and Taoist religious ceremonies.
Dongyue Temple Fair
So literally, "temple fair" originally referred to gatherings near Jongmyo Temple, either to worship the gods, or to participate in religious events held on a special day. But then entertainment and shopping were added.
And the "Ci Hai" is explained in this way: the temple fair is also called the temple market. One of the market forms in China. The Tang Dynasty already existed. Held on temple festivals or on set dates. It is generally located in or near the temple, so it is called a temple fair.
It can be seen that the temple fair has long been a traditional festival feast in China and a part of China's mass culture, which is both ancient and fresh, both religious and secular social and cultural phenomenon, which fully reflects the ideological consciousness, values and behaviors that people have accumulated for a long time. It continues from generation to generation, inherits and develops, and endures for a long time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > classification of temple fairs</h1>
Temple fairs are formed and developed in accordance with the religious activities of specific religious sites, and due to the diversity of Chinese folk beliefs, Chinese temple fairs are also of a wide variety.
For example, when Da Yu made meritorious contributions to the management of water, people built the Temple of The King of Yu; When Bao Gong asked for the people's orders, people built the Bao Gong Ancestral Hall; Yue Feijing was loyal to the country, and in order to avenge his grievances, people put the Qin servants who framed him in the temple and knelt for thousands of years; when the peasants had land, they built a temple on the ground to thank him; fishermen went out to sea to fish to avoid the wind and waves, so they went to worship the Mazu Temple, and so on. Around these different ancestral temples, different temple fairs have been formed.
The temple fair is also a mass activity that integrates religious sacrifices, entertainment and trade transactions, and it is reasonable to say that only those functions can be called a temple fair. However, due to different times and regions, customs and customs are different, and the forms and types of temple fairs in various places are not consistent.
Temple Fair
From the perspective of cultural types, temple fairs can basically be divided into two categories: secular and religious. Secular temple festivals include natural worship temple fairs such as land temple fairs, mountain temple fairs, and water temples; ancestral temples (Fuxi Temple, Nüwa Temple, Pangu Temple) temple fairs, Yellow Emperor Temple Festivals, Yuwang Temple Festivals and other mythological ancestral temple festivals; Confucius Temple, Luban Temple, Guandi Temple, Yue Fei Temple and other temple fairs for ancestor worship and hero worship.
There are two main kinds of temple fairs with religious significance, one is the Taoist temple society and the other is the Buddhist temple society. Both developed to varying degrees on the basis of secular temple festivals. To some extent, the temple fair of this religious belief has raised the cultural significance of the secular temple festival to a new level.
In the Taoist temple society, most of the gods are absorbed and used by The Taoist culture on the basis of indigenous growth, and their local colors are extremely strong. When Taoism propagated its own beliefs, it actively absorbed the beliefs of secular gods, and on this basis, with the help of myths, adopted the ancient tradition of god-making in royal politics and crowned gods everywhere, and temples named "Jade Emperor", "Immortals", "Lao jun", "Hou" and "Ancestor" were scattered in the folk for a while.
Among the Buddhist temple societies, the most prominent cultural feature is the sinification of Buddhist culture. For example, the Buddha largely absorbed the Chinese ancestor worship; Guanyin Bodhisattva absorbed more Chinese goddess worship, fertility worship, especially the worship of faith in the sense of heirs; and the protective significance of Wei Tuo and Guan Yu was to absorb and transform China's secular culture. Many of the stories derived from the idols of Buddhist temples rationally use the traditional Chinese legends of customs and characters to express unique religious significance.
Canton Temple Fair
From the nature of the temple fair, there are two types of entertainment activities and commercial activities. The temple fairs, which are mainly based on entertainment activities, are mainly borrowed from the temple fairs to travel in the spring, such temple fairs are mainly based on amusement, religious and commercial activities are secondary, and the people who participate in the amusement are mainly women. For example, on the nineteenth day of the first month of the old calendar, the temple fair of the Baiyun Temple, also known as the "Feast Nine Festival" or "Yan Nine Festival", the ladies went to the Baiyun Temple to feast, there is this wind; for example, in the first three days of March, the Peach Palace, the ladies mostly walked in the shade of the willow in the Dongbian Gate to shoot arrows, called "stepping on the green"; and also, every year, the 27th day of the third month of the lunar calendar is the legendary birthday of the Queen of Heaven, when the Tianhou Temple will hold a grand temple fair, and people will organize various folk art flower parties to perform. According to legend, the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty once came to Tianjin to admire the Tianhou Palace Flower Festival and gave it the flag, so later the Tianhou Palace Flower Society was renamed "Imperial Society".
The temple fair, which is mainly based on commercial activities, sets up a regular market in the temple and trades hundreds of things, so it is also called "temple market". The main connotation of this type of temple fair is "city", and the decisive factor is also "city". These temple fairs open for the opening of the market, the opening of the temple is the opening of the market, the date of opening the temple is determined according to the needs of trade, not linked to religious festivals, during the temple fair, merchants worship the gods to seek profit from the city, believers enter the temple to burn incense and kowtow, are small-scale, attached to the city. For example, in the old Days, Shanghai's Longhua Temple Fair was a festival event to visit Longhua Temple and enjoy peach blossoms in the third month of the lunar calendar, as early as the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, the folk had the saying of "March 3rd, On Longhua", tourists and pilgrims flocked to the temple fair, and the temple fair sold more agricultural and sideline products, such as bamboo and rattan, incense candles, melons, fruits, vegetables and vegetables and net vegetarian flavor snacks.
Temple fair blowing sugar man
From the time of the temple fair, it can be divided into two types: regular temple fairs and temporary temple fairs. The timing of regular temple fairs is relatively fixed, and the cultural activities of temple fairs are generally arranged during religious festivals or folk festivals, such as during the Dragon Boat Festival, Qingming Festival, and Lantern Festival. Some metropolises, due to the large population and economic prosperity, in addition to festivals and temple fairs, will also open temple fairs on a certain day, such as Beijing in the Qing Dynasty, some temples open every single and double days (that is, temple fairs), and some open markets every three days. Some temple fairs do not need to be carried out regularly, but only temporarily supplemented when needed, that is, temporary temple fairs.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > why people like to "catch the temple fair"</h1>
Temple fairs are different from ordinary bazaars, more reflect a psychological complex, so the temple fairs are purposeful, have a certain purpose, people in accordance with certain organizational procedures and activity models, the various gods or beliefs of the image and the spirit of the masses are mixed together. This mixture is spontaneous and voluntary, the participants have no prescribed obligations and responsibilities, and the rich and the poor are free to participate in temple fairs wherever there is.
Temple fair drama
Usually people's lives are relatively boring, and the colorful activities in the temple fair just enrich everyone's amateur life. Acting in the temple fair's god-welcoming activities and temple fair entertainment activities are often indispensable, in the old days, the countryside had the saying of "setting up a high stage to pass the temple fair", and the temple fair with strong economic strength would invite the most famous local drama classes and the most famous horns. Whenever the temple fair opens the temple and sets up a stage to sing a big drama, many people will flock here from all directions, and the process of coming to participate in the temple fair is commonly known as "catching the meeting" or "catching the temple fair" in the folk. Here, whether you believe in God or not, you will do your own thing. Therefore, the people who come to the temple fair are not necessarily for the worship of the gods, but more for the purpose of relaxing and feeling the lively atmosphere, and the purpose of everyone coming is to see the liveliness and have fun.
Not only do ordinary people like to come to the temple fair, but the general large-scale temple fair is also a gathering place for all kinds of people, such as fortune tellers, jianghu langzhong, singing opera, acrobatics, monks and Taoists, etc., of which merchants and hawkers and jianghu artists are the most active and most eye-catching. The merchants in the temple fair are mainly small traders and hawkers, among whom there are those who sharpen scissors, those who weld buckets to make pots, those who nail bowls and plates, and those who collect rags. Many freighters pick up department stores on their shoulders, and sell needle and thread grease powder with the drums of the freighters. You Fanglang is also a striking figure, they either put medicine in the city, a white cloth written on the disease can be cured, or travel the streets and alleys to practice medicine.
Temple fair juggling
Small traders and hawkers, sitting on the Jia xingshang are the central figures of the temple fair market. They usually run between urban and rural areas to circulate goods and spread information, and the mobility and openness of merchants have injected vitality into rural life, and also led to the spread and change of cultural customs. But it is also selling things, and selling at temple fairs is somewhat different from trading on weekdays. There are many people at the temple fair, but it is not a simple matter to attract people to buy things, and many sellers are trying their best to change the fa'er's shouting and selling.
In particular, the kind of small traders who play "guerrilla" in various temple fairs often perform a rather wonderful program first, attracting the audience to gather around, and then transforming them into their own customers. As a result, the temple fair often shouts and sells one after another, and it is very lively, which has become a major feature of the temple fair business.
Another important role in the crowd of people who rush to the temple fair is the jianghu artists, who perform acrobatics, martial arts and folk tricks, and some artists are forced to make a living, often learning mathematics, and can also see people and tell fortunes. Some martial arts artists also work as bodyguards for ticket merchants and receive apprenticeships to pass on their skills. The jianghu artists in the temple fair usually perform outside, and will arrange a schedule for themselves, record the time of the temple fair within a radius of 100 miles, and then run in the order of time to various temple fair venues.
Temple fair snacks
In the "Beiping Temple Fair Investigation Report", it is recorded that in 1937, there were as many as 20 juggling venues at the Beijing Land Temple Fair and the Protectorate Temple, and there were also five juggling venues in Haiwang Village and Longfu Temple. The juggling field is generally simple to set up, and the better one is surrounded by a cloth curtain, leaving only one place, and there are tables and stools in it; almost only the table is placed in the open space, the artist stands in front of the table to perform, and the audience watches on three sides; the most important, drawing a circle on the ground can be counted as a field.
At the temple fair, these folk artists will also make a big splash because of their extraordinary skills, and even rise to fame, and they are worth a hundred times. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, very famous music artists who were active in the temple fair included Cang'er, Wang Mazi, who spoke cross-talk, and Wang Mazi, who sang Taiping lyrics. Artists from the beginning of the Republic of China to the 1930s included Hua Ziyuan, Xiao Zhang Mazi, Chen Datou, Luo Rongshou and so on. When the Shandong Daimiao Temple Festival was flourishing, it attracted many rap artists to attend the festival. Yu Xiaobao (Yu Chuanbin), who is famous in fast books, often performed in tea houses near the Dai Temple, and was therefore very popular at that time.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
All kinds of temples are spread throughout the country, and at the time of the birth of the gods, the spring prayer and autumn news, and the festival of returning the gods to the gods, all kinds of people who ask for children, pray for life, pray for the gods to eliminate disasters and avoid diseases, and make wishes are gathered in the temples. In addition to praying to the gods and worshipping the Buddha, burning incense and prostrating one's head, there are also many people who come to see the liveliness, play and other purposes. The gathering of people provided the necessity for the production of catering services, the worship of the gods and Buddhas created a market for the sale of incense paper, and the nearby residents took the opportunity to sell their agricultural and sideline products, and merchants from near and far also came with goods to trade.
Therefore, the content of the temple fair became more and more abundant, and played an irreplaceable role in the society and people's life at that time. Up to now, the temple fair is a good place for us to experience traditional culture, taste local snacks, and feel different customs and habits.
Therefore, we hope that the traditional gathering method of the temple fair can be better passed on and provide more and better supplements for people's spiritual and cultural life.
Let's talk about the temple fair: the perfect combination of faith and worldliness. Today's topic is here, thank you!