Cultural Connotation and Customs of Temple Fairs

Cultural Connotation of Temple Fairs

In ancient times, temple fairs represented not only assemblies, but also the concentration of ancient economy, social organization and ancient stream of consciousness.

Folk temple fair has its own core features, namely, in the economic and technological aspects of the trade of goods; in the social organization of the "society" or "will"; in the formation of consciousness is the rite of the gods to entertain the gods. This is the economic foundation and folk customary system that our temple fair can be inherited for a long time.

The temple fair is to turn the temple festivals into local festivals, and the religious festivals into secular festivals. Therefore, those unique local god-seeking activities, non-religious entertainment and rest activities and market activities can be naturally integrated into the temple fair. Therefore, instead of saying that temple fairs are religious activities, it is better to say that temple fairs are local people's festivals, which can more accurately reflect the essential attributes of temple fairs. Therefore, it is more accurate to say that this kind of multi-connotation temple fair can be called festival-type temple fair.

The temple fair is also a comprehensive folklore activities, related to religious beliefs, commercial folklore, arts and entertainment and many other aspects. This is determined by the historical and geographic material conditions, folk traditions and people's aesthetic standards. The temple fair in each place has its own characteristics, in several aspects of each focus, which formed a variety of temple fair is not the same as the beauty of life, but are respectively expressed the local conditions at that time, people think is the most beautiful 'way of life.

With the changes of the times, the old temple fair also added a lot of new content, such as the temple fair time to negotiate business, etc., but the display of folklore has always been the main feature of the temple fair. There are lion dances, traditional folk flower show, modern dances, Beijing folk character modeling, traditional commercial "front" exhibition, old Beijing old photo exhibition, folk handicrafts exhibition, special book market and Peking Opera, Wushu, acrobatics and so on. The temple fair integrates tourism, leisure and entertainment, shopping and dining, with distinctive traditional ethnic characteristics.

Customs of the Temple Fair

In the temple fair, there are a number of folk activities, such as: touching the stone monkeys, the Vofeng Bridge to play the money eye. In the Baiyun Guan temple door in the arc of the stone carving below, there is a stone monkey relief, the people think that touch the stone monkey can be eliminated, prolonged life, and so the competition to touch; Wo Feng Bridge under the bridge hole hanging in a large copper, copper hole in a small copper bell, on the book, "bell Zhao Fu" four words, you can use the hands of the coins in the copper bell, you can If you can hit the bell with the coins in your hand, you will be able to get what you want. The following two are the most lively activities in the temple fair.

Ceremony

Temple customs and Buddhist monasteries and Taoist temples have a close relationship with the religious activities of the temple, often need to hold ceremonies. For example, the activity of "traveling image". "Row like" is the statue of God and Buddha mounted on a colorful car, in the city and countryside tour of a religious ceremony, so also known as "line city", "tour of the city" and so on. Northern Wei Xiaowen Emperor Taihe nine years (485 AD) after moving the capital to Luoyang, the Buddha, every year Shakyamuni birthday to be held on the Buddha traveling General Assembly. The day before the Buddha traveled, Luoyang City, all the temples will be sent to the statue of Buddha Jingming Temple. More often than not, there are more than a thousand statues of Buddha. Traveling in the procession to avoid the evil lion as the leader, the treasure cover streamers and other subsequent, music and drama, all kinds of juggling, lively and extraordinary. After the Tang and Song dynasties, the temple fair to welcome the gods, most of the patrol is this period of the activities of the line and the development of the statue. And gradually spread to Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Xixia all over. Yuan, after the Ming Dynasty, the wind of the line like the decline, rarely seen in the record.

Prayer activities

Once the temple is open, the eight parties to worship, worship God incense, pray for home. This is centered around the "temple" and "will" sacrifice to the gods and activities, is the theme of the traditional temple fair. Among them, the activities of praying for children with the meaning of witchcraft most typically reflect the core of traditional Chinese culture, which is determined by the nature of China's agricultural society. For thousands of years of feudal society, people's living environment basically has not changed, and the reproduction of future generations has become the top priority for thousands of years. Therefore, this ancient form of witchcraft, praying for children, will be attached to various forms of assembly to show.

The Ancestor of Man Temple in Huaiyang, where Nvwa and Taihao Fuxi are worshipped, can be said to be the most primitive religious and witchcraft temple fair. The Temple of the Ancestors of Man in the north of Huaiyang city is the place where the skulls of Taihao and Fuxi are buried in legend, so it is also called Taihao Mausoleum. Every year, a month-long human ancestor temple fair is held from February 2 to March 2 of the lunar calendar, and its main activities are worshiping human ancestors and "hitching up dolls". Married women who have not yet had children are required to dig out the "Zisun kiln", which symbolizes the door of fertility, and buy back some local clay toys, "mud dogs", in order to get a child as soon as possible. These clay toys made of loess, there are different shapes of "human face monkey", locally known as "human ancestor monkey", there are also a variety of strange and interesting animal toys, such as pocket monkeys, monkeys, swallows, double-headed tigers, cows, pigs, horses, goats and so on. In addition to using them to offer human ancestors, women will also take them home to the children as toys.

Introduction to the Temple

Temple, also known as the "temple market" or "festival tide. It is a Han Chinese folk religion and customs of the year, generally held in the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival and other festivals. Is also one of China's fair trade form, its formation and development and the religious activities of the temple, in the temple of the festival or the date of the provisions of the temple, mostly located in the temple and its vicinity, for the gods, entertainment and shopping and other activities. Temple fairs are popular in a wide area of the country.

Temple fair is a traditional folklore activity widely spread in Chinese folklore. Folklore is a country or nation created by the general public, enjoy and inheritance of life culture, temple fair is an integral part of this life culture, its generation, existence and evolution are closely related to the life of the people.

The temple fair originated around the temple, so called "temple"; and because the vendors see more incense worshipers, set up a variety of stalls outside the temple to make money, and gradually become a regular activity, so called "will". Over time, the "temple fair" evolved into today's people during the holiday season, especially during the Spring Festival entertainment activities.

The temple fair is the Han folk religion and customs of the year. It is also one of the forms of market trade in China, its formation and development and the religious activities of the temple, the temple festival or the date of the provisions of the temple, more in the temple and its neighborhood, so the name of the temple fair. Popular in the vast areas of the country. In ancient times, "the middle of the day for the market", market trade. To the North and South Dynasties, the rulers believe in Buddhism, the great building of temples, bodhisattva birthdays, such as the Buddha's enlightenment event was born, vendors for the supply of visitors to the believers, the goods gathered, so into the temple market. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Kaifeng Daxiangguo Temple Temple Fair is extremely famous, with "the first talent of the ages," known as the female lyricist Li Qingzhao has been accompanied by her husband, Zhao Mingcheng to the temple fair!