Do you know how to tie dolls in Mount Tai?

The custom of finding children in Mount Tai has a long history. Every year, more than one million pilgrims climb Mount Tai to worship Bi Xia Yuan Jun and pray for God's blessing, especially for children.

Going up the mountain to beg for children is called "tying dolls" or "stealing children" The procedures for entering incense are "starting, burning incense along the road, catching fire, staying overnight, climbing, counting off (counting off in front of Taishan Temple), facing the top, protecting the frame, offering incense, entering incense, going down the mountain, returning incense, returning home, driving safely and thanking the mountain." There are three main kinds of incense burning paper on the mountain: one is yellow grass paper (locally called fire paper); The second is a large denomination Mingbi with Jade Emperor as the president and Dongyue Emperor as the vice president; The third kind is gold ingot, with tin foil, paste paper, gold and silver. There is a "Bi Xia Guo Xi" in the temple of Bi Xia. In order to increase the effectiveness, the rich can ask the Taoist priest to stamp the paper. After entering the incense, you can "prick the doll". In Bi Xia Yuan Jun Temple, there are many gold-plated clay dolls in front of the shrine for people to play with. If the boy survives, tie a golden boy; A girl who survived was tied to a golden couple. Anyone who comes to "tie the doll" has to pay money to the temple, which is called "happiness for money". In the future, if you get a child with God's help, you have to put the clay doll in red and put it back in its original place, which is called "returning the child", and you have to make a wish for the Taishan empress. "The tied clay doll still needs to be fed every day." It also records a folklore in the north: there was a family where the housewife locked the door and went out to visit relatives. At noon, she was left for dinner and didn't come back. The neighbor suddenly heard a child crying in her room, but there were no children at home. Later she learned that it was a tied doll crying.

There has always been a saying among the people that "the mind knows the gods." There are also some people who don't worship Mount Tai in advance when they ask for a child, but hold a pious and grand ceremony to ask for a child in the local area. First of all, my wife came forward and asked the local "supermom Zi" to choose an auspicious day with a gift, and arranged a ceremony for begging children. The second step is to buy incense sticks, fire paper, red cloth strips and offerings. Among them, there must be two kinds of food, jujube and chestnut, which are homonyms of "early birth". The address of the child seeker and the name of her husband are written on the red cloth strip. Step 3: The woman who asks for a son lights nine incense sticks, kneels in front of the altar with "supermom Zi", prays for her son to Taishan's grandmother, and then burns red cloth strips. Women begging for children each take a jujube and a chestnut to eat after offering incense, and kneel down with "supermom Zi" until all the incense is burned.

Of course, once you have children in the future, you must make a wish at Bi Xia Yuan Jun Temple in Mount Tai. If the child is not successful, try again, but "the child is not three years old." There are many ways to make a wish, such as offering sacrifices, hanging robes and sending plaques, donating money to repair temples, planting trees and so on. At present, there is a bronze incense burner of rhubarb in Yuan Jun Temple in Bi Xia, which is more than one meter high, with three feet of ears and carved dragons, with exquisite craftsmanship. It was donated by a loyal Mr. Chen Yingjie in Taiwan Province to thank God for his kindness.

One thing to note is that begging children are not allowed to climb Mount Tai for life, otherwise they may be taken back by their grandmothers.