1, the embryonic form of ancient sacrificial blessing

Temple fair, also known as "temple fair" or "festival field". It is one of the forms of market trade in China, and its formation is related to the development of temples and religious activities. It is held in temples on festivals or specific dates, mainly in or near temples, and used for activities such as offering sacrifices to gods, entertainment and shopping.

In ancient times, sacrifice was a major event that often happened in people's lives. In the process of offering sacrifices to ancestors and natural gods, people get together and collectively carry out some activities, such as offering offerings, playing music and holding ceremonies. This kind of gathering to worship the gods can be regarded as the embryonic form of folk temple fairs in later generations. In fact, this can also be seen from the two Chinese characters "temple fair". "Temple" originally refers to a building dedicated to gods, especially ancestors.

2. Festival fair trade

Temple fairs originated around temples, so they are called "temples". Also, because the vendors saw many people burning incense and worshiping Buddha, they set up stalls outside the temple to make money, which gradually became a routine activity, so they were called "meetings". Over time, the "temple fair" has evolved into an entertainment activity during people's festivals, especially during the Spring Festival.

Now, in the Spring Festival temple fair, in addition to displaying local specialties and delicacies, you can also see all kinds of folk toys that are difficult to reach at ordinary times. At the Spring Festival Temple Fair, there are masks, theatrical wooden figures, trolleys, swords and spears and bamboo dragons. There are many kinds of folk toys at the temple fair, which are beautifully made and can be called handicrafts.

3. The influence of religious multiculturalism

Temple Fair has a strong religious culture since its establishment. After Qin and Han dynasties, with the spread of Taoism and Buddhism, the form of temple fairs has also changed, and its influence has become more and more far-reaching.

In addition to offering sacrifices to the gods, the religious ceremonies at the Spring Festival temple fair also added entertainment content to impress people, such as dancing, drama and outing. In this way, not only good men and women are eager to enjoy it, but also many ordinary people are willing to use it to add fun. In order to win over the masses, Buddhism and Taoism often expand their influence by stepping out of the temple view.

At present, the most popular temple fair culture also includes the culture of praying for children. Every year from February 2nd to March 2nd, the Terran Temple Fair is held for one month. Its main activities are ancestor worship and "tying dolls". Married and childless women should dig out the "children's kiln" symbolizing the door of fertility during the temple fair and buy back some local mud toys "mud dogs" in order to give birth as soon as possible. These clay toys made of loess have different shapes of "human-faced monkeys", which are called "ancestor monkeys" by locals, as well as all kinds of weird and interesting animal toys, such as monkeys with bellies, monkeys with heads and swallows, two-headed tigers, cows, pigs, horses and sheep. Besides offering them to their ancestors, women also take them home as children's toys.

4. Long-term mass activities

After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Spring Festival temple fair gradually became a popular folk activity. Special temple fairs have also appeared in various places. They worshipped Guan Yu and built temples, especially theaters and other places of worship, which further expanded the influence and role of temple fairs.

Now, the main contents of the Spring Festival temple fair are to show folk customs, such as lion dance, traditional national flower show, modern dance, Beijing folk figure modeling, traditional commercial "cover" exhibition, old Beijing photo exhibition, folk arts and crafts exhibition, special book exhibition and special performances of Beijing opera, martial arts and acrobatics. Temple fair integrates tourism, leisure and entertainment, shopping and catering, and has distinctive traditional ethnic characteristics.

In addition, there are many festivals related to culture and entertainment in the Spring Festival Temple Fair, such as Shaanxi opera, the puppet show, cross talk, double reed, magic (called "magic" in ancient China, commonly known as "magic"), counting treasures, playing banners, yangko and stilts. The Spring Festival temple fair is also the most important moment for these folk cultures to enter the people.

Necessary items for Spring Festival temple fair

1, paper fish. Weave a white thread with bamboo strips, which is easy to carry and use; There are also gold and silver ingots made of clay tires and gold and silver foil, which are also tied to bamboo pieces.

2. windmill. There is a noisy windmill. This kind of windmill is made of thin bamboo strips and colored paper strips and pasted into wind wheels, which are installed on the grass frame. Each wind wheel has a pair of small drum legs tied with white lines, beating a small drum covered with mud paper. When the wind blows, it keeps ringing. This kind of windmill is single, with four or even a dozen connected together.

3. Visit the temple fair. The official activities of "Wuxian God of Wealth Temple" are counted from the second day of the first month. In the early morning of the second day of the New Year's Day, except for the rich and dignitaries, the vast majority of people who go to the Temple of Wealth to burn incense are riding bicycles. Most of them wear various satin cotton gowns, coats or vests and thin felt hats.

Famous temple fairs during the Spring Festival.

Hakka's "Walking Over"

Hakka people in luofang town, Liancheng County, Longyan City, Fujian Province hold a grand "Walk Over" activity every year on the 15th day of the first month. "Li Gu" is a specialty of the north, but it was introduced by luofang town people who often suffered from droughts and floods in the Ming Dynasty to pray for good weather, peace and prosperity, and was called "Mountain Carnival".

On the fifteenth day of the first month, several young men, aged about 10, stood on the sedan chair in Chinese opera, carried by young adults, surrounded by colorful flags and drum bands, first ran on the dry land, and then ran to the river at the head of the village. Whoever reaches the finish line first wins, and will be blessed again and again in the coming year.

Baofeng Majie Book Club

Majie, located in the southwest of Henan, is a small village under the Funiu Mountains. Every year in the first month, folk artists from Anhui, Hebei, Shandong and other places gather here to participate in the Majie Book Fair held in the fields in the east of the village.

The eleventh and twelfth days of the first month are the prelude to the book fair, and the thirteenth day of the first month is the formal meeting. On this day, artists will go to the Vulcan Temple to worship Vulcan, and then choose their own venues, stake, register horns, take the piano, clear their voices and sing. Every year, Majie Book Fair will select the artist with the best reputation, the highest price and the most popular as the annual "book champion". Here, although there is no publicity of western carnival, it has become a unique carnival interpreted by traditional culture.

Yan 'an Qin Ding Temple Fair

Yan 'an has the custom of betrothal. The engagement temple fair is usually held twice a year, the first time on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month and the second time on the 22nd of the seventh lunar month.

When rushing to the temple fair, both men and women are invited to the temple fair by the matchmaker, and the man's family should bring gifts such as watermelons and apples. The two families sat on the floor, and the food brought by the man's family was put out for the woman's family to taste. Adults talk a lot. If young men and women fall in love, they will find another quiet place to fall in love. When the talk is over, parents of both sides will invite the matchmaker to come forward and discuss the engagement.