A summary of the activities of Erxian Temple Association

The temple fair of Erxian Temple was interrupted during the Cultural Revolution and gradually resumed in the mid-1980s. Since 2000, Erxian Temple has been listed as a Taoist religious place, and temple fairs have flourished. The traditional temple fair of Erxian Temple is held once a month. However, with the development of society and the change of people's lifestyle, there are only three large-scale temple fairs on the eighth day of the first month, February 15th and March 15th. However, people usually come to worship and pray on the first and fifteenth morning of each month. The eighth day of the first month is a sacrifice to Vulcan. The reason why the temple fair dedicated to Erxian is divided into February 15 and March 15, and February 15 is more important, because when Erxian helped the Tang King, it was my sister who went to the front of the army to help, so my sister's birthday-February 15 was set as the first date of the temple fair.

Although today's main temple fairs are held on February 15 and March 15, in fact, pilgrims from Shanxi Province arrived two days before the day of the temple fair and began to burn incense one after another until they reached their climax on February 15 and March 15. On February 15, Erxian Temple was crowded with people from 5 am to 7 pm. The tourists in Erxian Temple are basically pilgrims, and only a few tourists visit. Most pilgrims bring offerings, and some people kowtow before God without offerings. Most pilgrims come from rural areas, and now some live in county towns and urban areas, most of them are retirees, and most of them come to Taoist temples for middle-aged and elderly women. After the temple fair, there were traces of burning incense and paper on the memorial tablets rebuilt on both sides of the Zhenze Hall of Erxian Temple.

The main activities of pilgrim worship are:

(1) Buy incense

Incense usually includes incense, burning paper, ingots, etc. During the temple fair, there has always been a booth in front of the mountain gate, and the same incense will be more expensive than usual 1/3. Pilgrims who buy Kundao incense at a high price think the incense in the temple is more effective. Most local people in Wu Wen bring their own incense or buy incense from vendors. Shanxi pilgrims from afar mostly buy incense from Kundao, and less than all pilgrims bring their own incense 1/3.

(2) Providing confessions

Zhenze Baotang is the most important place for Taoist priests and pilgrims to worship the gods, so it is the most exquisite place to place offerings. Before the pilgrims arrived, there was a temple to arrange sacrifices. * * * There are 6 rows of offerings, with 5 bowls in each row and 3 offerings in each bowl. The first line of the offering is a round steamed bread with red dots, symbolizing good luck and complete success; The second line is neatly arranged with rectangular sesame candy, which symbolizes that there are no rules to make Fiona Fang, and things are in good order; The third row of meat dishes means that the people are all the best and the country is safe; The fourth line is apples, bananas and other fruits, symbolizing peace, happiness, prosperity and wealth; The fifth line, the disc is fried with burnt flowers, indicating that the people are grateful for the realization of their wishes made in front of the two fairies; The sixth line is candy, which means that life is sweet. These six lines represent great harmony, the realization of wishes and the psychological sustenance of the people.

(3) Burning incense

A neat pile of burning paper is not conducive to burning, and it needs to be unscrewed to form the best shape of lotus. The gold ingots and silver ingots you bring are usually stacked together. You have to take a breath, open them, light incense in the incense burner, and then chant or meditate in front of the gods. Usually say what you want, but also say how many offerings and burning paper you have brought. Some pilgrims have to worship in all directions before putting incense in the incense burner. A pilgrim asked Song Daochang to help him see if the incense was burning well before the incense stall.

(4) Tie cloth strips

After the worship, most pilgrims tied red stripes on the "Cypress Sisters". Sister Sibo is located in the right front of Zhenze Treasure Museum. This cypress is a tree with three branches. Originally, it was two branches, representing two sisters, and later it was sent out to represent Uncle Erxian. It is said that when Erxian suffered a lot, their uncle tried his best to protect and rescue them. When they became immortals, they also turned their uncle into a fairy. However, people still call this tree Sister Cypress, and think that it is the most sacred tree among all the trees in this temple, and tying cloth strips on it can also achieve a responsive effect. According to the inquiry, in fact, the sister cypress we see now was planted by/kloc-0 when the temple was rebuilt in 994, which continued the folk legend and psychological sustenance.