The Guangong Knife Festival, which has a thousand-year-old cultural heritage, is an important part of the traditional festival customs of the Chinese nation.
There is no clear historical record of when the Guangong Knife Grinding Festival first originated, but there are data to be found that at least during the Two Song Dynasties, the general public worshipped Guan Gong around the thirteenth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar to pray for peace, wind and rain and other activities, which have formed a folk custom.
Zhang Sanfeng, the founder of the Wudang sect who lived in the three dynasties of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, once wrote a poem called "Yong Mo Dao Rain": "Jingzhou sprinkled rain like anointing, and even made a treasure sword for the hero." The most is the water of Wuchang City, and the thunder waves of Qianqiu's throat are rolled. ”
The Great Confucian Hao Jing of the Yuan Dynasty said in the inscription of the "Record of Rebuilding the Temple": "His (Guan Gong)'s heroic spirit and righteousness are all over the world, so the temple where he is located is blessed with good and evil, the gods are mighty, and the people are afraid and respected, and Yan Zhao Jingchu is Youdu." There are temples in the county of Junguozhou and Lujing in the townships, and there are three days in the tenth day of the summer and three days in the tenth of september in the autumn, so that the whole battle is full of ceremonies, the armor is drummed, and the long knife is red, just like Wang Sheng. ”
The Yuan Dynasty literary educator Tong Shu recorded in the Records of the Guanhou Temple in Gongchang Province, volume III of his book "Yu An Collection": "According to legend, Jin Dadingjian, the western soldiers lurked in Kou, and the city was almost undefended, but on the third day of May 20, when he saw Ruo Wu'an, he led his troops out of this mountain, and the thieves retreated in horror. Then it was enshrined. Now all the counties are dedicated to thirteen days, and the only state is used for the day, answering the gods and goddesses. ”
Explaining the Song and Yuan dynasties, the Guangong Knife Grinding Festival has become an important folk activity and festival custom for the people to sacrifice Guan Gong, reward the divine grace, and grand and grand.
Regarding the formation of the folk customs of the Guangong Knife Grinding Festival, it is mainly based on two points: one is the folk worship of the hero of the image of Guan Gong's loyalty and righteousness, and the other is that on the basis of the ancient folk custom of praying for rain, the folk hope that Guangong will be mighty, sharpen the knife, protect the people, and adjust the wind and rain smoothly.
The heroic image of Guan Gongzhong's righteousness and bravery has been recorded in history during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty. During the Two Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Guan Gong had become a model for the brave generals of the world. The "Tang Ping Baekje National Monument" praises Guan Gong: "The enemy of ten thousand people, the voice of the hundred generations".
During the two Song Dynasties, Guan Gong's image of loyalty and courage was further enhanced, and Song Ru praised Guan Gong for practicing the idea of "Spring and Autumn" and highlighting the Great Festival of Loyalty and Righteousness; folk artists excavated the personality shining points of Guan Gong through themes such as "saying three points" and telling the story of the Three Kingdoms, so that the image of Guan Gong's hero was popularized in the folk and known to women and children. Emperor Huizong of Song created Guan Gong "Chongning Zhenjun" in the third year of Chongning and "King of Wu'an" in the fifth year of Xuanhe, expanding Guan Gong's position and influence in the folk religious beliefs of the imperial court.
Beginning with the Northern Song Dynasty, Guan Gong became an important deity in Taoist texts. The main Taoist classic of the Song and Yuan dynasties, the Dao Fa Hui Yuan, states that Guan Gong was "a heroic and heroic spirit, loyal and courageous in life, a god after death, loyal to the sun and the moon, and a dehe Qiankun", and his priesthood was: "LeiBu beheaded evil envoys, Xingfeng plucked clouds, demon generals, protectors of the capital of the united army, Pingzhang political affairs, Chongning Zhenjun Guan Marshal".
Although Guan Gong was only a Thunder Protector Deity at this time, his divine authority already had multiple mana powers that could summon thunder and lightning, pray for wind and rain, lower demons and voldemorts, stop floods and fight droughts, etc. With the image of Guan Gong's loyalty and righteousness, iron-faced selflessness, protecting the country and protecting the people, and moral personality, Guan Gong's future ascension to become Voldemort The Emperor, Guan Sheng Emperor, and Zhongtian Jade Emperor will become increasingly clear.
In the fourteenth year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1187), the "Monument to the King of Jiafeng Yingji" written by Xiao Yi of the Jingmen Army recorded that the Southern Song Dynasty court examined the deeds of Guan Gong's manifest spirit: "The people of the state will be kings, and they will eat and drink, and they will consult in everything." Pray for the Blessing, pray for the Blessing. Rain and rain, yang and yang, the power of the king also. Plague is not done, hunger is not perfect, and the king's grace is also. The thieves held their breath, the fields were safe, and the king's shadow was also praised, confirming from the national level that Guan Gong had the divine personality of protecting the local area from drought and flood disasters, epidemics and famines, and thieves, laying the cornerstone for the formation and popularization of the Guangong Grinding Knife Festival.
The Guangong Knife Grinding Festival has become a major folk festival that the Chinese people like to hear and actively participate in, with rich and colorful contents and diverse forms, and is the cultural heritage and spiritual wealth of the Chinese nation.
The late Qing Dynasty ruler and industrialist Zhang Xiao said in the inscription: "The three mountains are now in the human world, the gods are coming, and the weak waters are thousands of people to greet the festival; every birthday in May, the people have had it, and Qingquan recommends pu flowers." It expresses the people's incomparable joy, love and reverence for the celebration of the Guangong Knife Grinding Festival and the image of the Guangong hero.
The history of the development and formation of the customs of the Guangong Grinding Knife Festival is also the crystallization of wisdom formed by the sons and daughters of China in the long historical years, combining primitive beliefs, nature worship, hero worship, and sacrifice etiquette, integrating traditional Chinese moral thoughts, ways of thinking, values, and spiritual pursuits, and the wisdom crystallization formed by long-term accumulation, which contains profound and rich cultural connotations, and is a unique cultural identity of the Chinese nation that is different from other nationalities.