The Cultural and Historical Value of Temple Fair

Temple fair culture is a part of popular culture in China. It is an extremely complex, ancient and fresh social and cultural phenomenon. It is both religious and secular, which fully reflects the ideology, values, behavior and psychological status of farmers formed for a long time. It has continued, passed down and developed from generation to generation, enduring for a long time and being repeatedly banned. With the reform and opening up and the implementation of ethnic and religious policies, temple fairs have sprung up in urban and rural areas, which is quite large and worth studying.

There are many kinds of temple fairs offering sacrifices to immortals. According to the investigated information:

One is the object of ancestor worship. Such as Huang San, Fuxi and Nu Wa.

The second is the worship of Taoist gods. Jade Emperor, Empress Dowager, Taishang Laojun, Zhenwu Emperor, Wang Lingguan, Heaven, Earth, Water, Vulcan, Wenchang, Kuixing, etc.

The third is the worship of Buddhist gods. Tathagata (Sakyamuni), Maitreya, Guanyin, Manjusri, Pu Xian, Eighteen Arhats, etc.

The fourth is hero worship. The Monkey King (the Monkey King), Guan Yunchang and others.

The fifth is the Qizi Temple Fair. Send the son empress, Lishan mother, Yaoshan Madonna, Shipo, etc.

Sixth, pray for peace and wealth. Huang Cheng, Mazu, Sun Simiao, King of Medicine, God of Wealth, etc.

The cultural connotation of temple fairs embodies primitive beliefs, folk beliefs and religious beliefs. The essence is to pray for life and health. The most fundamental value orientation is "advocating filial piety and promoting goodness, eliminating disasters and avoiding disasters." Farming culture is fundamentally a small producer culture and a backward and weak economic culture. In the face of powerful natural forces, ordinary people pin their hopes on the worship of natural gods, totems and ancestors. Under the domination of the ideas of "harmony between man and nature" and "animism", the worship of gods and rituals constitute primitive beliefs, folk beliefs and religious beliefs. Dominated by the concepts of "healthy life", "advocating filial piety and promoting goodness, eliminating disasters and avoiding evil spirits", the ancestors treated everything well and cared for everything. For example, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a day to advocate kindness in Taoism and filial piety in Buddhism. "Laba Festival" people use Laba porridge not only to worship ancestors, gods, animals and plants, but even a stone in front of their own house. The Chinese nation is a generous and friendly nation, which can be fully reflected in the cultural activities of temple fairs and festivals. Temple fairs are held at temple fairs or on specific dates, usually in or near temples. Later, some people carried the idol out of the temple and visited it. This is the so-called god meeting. It is the product of people's worship of gods and pleasure of body and mind. With the development of economy and the need of people's communication, temple fairs are gradually integrated into market trading activities while maintaining sacrificial activities. At this time, temple fairs, also known as "temple fairs", have become an important form of China market. Temple fairs and fairs are integrated into one and become a comprehensive social activity for people to offer sacrifices to gods, exchange feelings and trade. With people's needs, temple fairs have increased entertainment activities.

In the Han Dynasty, Buddhism was introduced into China, and Taoism was gradually formed. The activities of paying homage to the gods for ethnic groups in folk beliefs have been combined with Buddhism and Taoism, and their activities have gradually shifted from rural communities to Buddhist temples and Taoist temples. When Buddhism and Taoism hold various festivals and celebrations, various non-governmental organizations also take the initiative to hold meetings and entertain. Therefore, temples and Taoist temples have gradually become mass gathering places based on religious activities. In the temple fair activities, Buddhism and Taoism either compete with each other or penetrate each other, enriching the temple fair culture.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, temples and markets had been in contact, but at this time the relationship between temples and markets was not close.

After all, the Tang and Song Dynasties were the most open period in Chinese history, especially with the massive involvement of Hu culture, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism coexisted and entered its heyday. Temple fair activities gradually developed from offering sacrifices and entertaining gods to entertaining people, adding entertainment content, such as dancing and drama. Buddhism and Taoism built a large number of temples and Taoist temples to win over believers and attract the masses, thus promoting the prosperity of temple fairs. At this time, temples, platforms, shrines, palaces, temples and other religious buildings are very dense, and there are countless temples such as Longwang Temple, Tianye Temple, Zushi Temple, Niangniang Temple, Fire Temple, Land Temple, City God Temple, Kannonji, Mountain Temple, River Temple, Wang Yu Temple, Notre Dame Temple and Erlang Temple. These laid the foundation for the future development of temple fairs, which came into being. Although the number and scale of temple fairs in this period have formed a spectacular situation in the whole country, as far as temple fairs are concerned, they still focus on offering sacrifices to gods, but they are relatively weak in folk trade.

The Ming and Qing Dynasties and even modern times were the period when temple fairs were really finalized and perfected. An important feature of temple fairs in the Ming Dynasty is the rise of a large number of "guilds" ("guilds" and "offices"), which made temple fairs more orderly, such as the "mountain and mountain guilds" built by industrial and commercial people in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces all over the country.

Nowadays, temple fairs have once again become an indispensable folk activity for the people. In addition to temples, they are also held in parks, squares and other open places, with cultural, commercial and entertainment activities as the main activities and less religious activities. Temple fairs can be seen everywhere in China. Typical ones are: Beijing ditan temple fair, Shanghai Chenghuang Temple Fair, Nanjing Wang Jiang Temple Fair, Shandong Taishan Dongyue Temple Fair, Tianjin Huang Hui Temple Fair, Fujian Mazu Tempel Temple Fair, etc. Colorful local temple fairs have formed a unique temple fair culture in China.