The Spring Festival is full of joy. Big red lanterns are hung high, auspicious spring festival household stickers, and every household is full of the atmosphere of the New Year. Modern people's festivals are so lively, so what activities did the ancients have for the New Year? It should be said that the temple fair is a more important activity for the ancients to celebrate the Spring Festival. Rich or poor, the ancients liked to participate in temple fairs during the Spring Festival.
So, what is a temple fair?
Above_ The soundscape of the temple fair in old Beijing
Temple, refers to the temple. Generally, the location of the temple fair is near a temple or temple, which makes the temple fair activities have the background of certain religious activities. Hui, which has the meaning of assembly, also refers to the collective activity of incense to reward the gods in a religious context. What do people usually do in temple fairs? It can be summed up in three words: worship, entertainment, and trade.
The ancients held temple fairs, the earliest for sacrifice. In agrarian societies where productivity has not yet reached development, people with limited knowledge of nature worship non-human mysterious forces, which are breeding grounds for faith. For example, in the early days, the people would worship the City God Temple, which evolved from the water god, believing that the City God Temple could guard the peace on one side. Later, "using ancestors as gods" became a habit of belief, and people began to worship ancestors who carried the collective memory of a place in temple fairs. In the Han Dynasty, hero worship arose, such as the Ningbo Mingshan Temple, which revered the generals who had quelled the chaos as temple gods to pray for peace.
From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, China was in a state of chaos for a long time, people pinned their hopes for life on religion, and Buddhism and Taoism began to flourish. During temple fairs, people in troubled worlds put idols on floats for religious ceremonies, and entertainment such as song and dance is interspersed to temper the mood.
Above_ Ancient sacrifice scenes
The Tang and Song dynasties were an important period in the development of temple fairs. The number of Buddhist temples and Taoist temples has increased significantly, providing a venue for the temple fair to be carried out. According to research, the Tang Dynasty had about 5,000 large and medium-sized monasteries, 40,000 small temples, and more than 1,000 Taoist temples. Take the temple fair in Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty as an example. Chang'an has 17 temples such as Famen Temple and Yuhua Temple, which mainly include theatrical performances, master lectures, and material trade. Tang Wuzong ordered the "Seven Temples on the Left and Right Streets" to be held, and the lineup of lecturers was very luxurious, including Master Dade Coast, Master Dade Body, Master Qigao of Dade, etc.
In the Tang Dynasty, the fangshi system was implemented, and the temple fairs were mostly concentrated in the fang. The Song Dynasty did not have a fang city system, and there were temple fairs in prosperous cities and remote villages. Compared with the Tang Dynasty, the entertainment of the temple fairs in the Song Dynasty was significantly enhanced. You can feel the entertainment of the Song Dynasty temple fair by understanding Wang Dechen's account in the "History of the Dragon": "Tricks, hundreds of works, no collection, four treasures, all in one place." Wonderful performances, a variety of goods, so it is not difficult to understand why noble villagers, adult children like to participate in the temple fair.
Above_ The flower market of the ancient Spring Festival
During the Yuan Dynasty, because Lamaism was the state religion, other religions were suppressed, so the temple fair was more obviously turned to the function of market and entertainment.
Taking the Ningbo Temple Fair as an example, the Ningbo Shenggu Temple Festival drama is so popular that the temple has to erect a "forbidden monument to watch the drama", probably the content is to let the villagers keep quiet when watching the play, and then the acting time is at most until the ugly time. In addition to drama, ningbo's temple fairs also include cultural entertainment activities such as smoking horses and fireworks and magic.
In terms of trade, the Ningbo Temple Fair sells local specialties such as taro and kelp, and vendors who can write and paint will also sell handicrafts such as calligraphy and painting. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the trade of temple fairs was more prosperous and the entertainment was more prominent.
Above_ Qing Dynasty temple fair market
So what kind of activities will the temple fair generally have? Here I take the temple fair activities of the Tang and Song dynasties as an example.
First of all, people held temple fairs, the earliest for sacrifice. The Tang and Song dynasty temple fairs of Buddhism and Taoism were very prosperous.
1. Buddhist temple festivals
The fasting festival is a typical Buddhist sacrifice activity of the temple fair, and it is a festival that casts the law equally and gives wealth regardless of the noble and the lowly. The most famous of the Tang Dynasty's Jaihui is the Wushahui. The wusha would "compete for the monks", erect Buddha statues, supplemented by songs and dances, so as not to be lively. The scale of the Song Dynasty temple jaihui is large, compared with the Tang Dynasty jaihui time and place, there are many names. During the Spring Festival, the Southern Song Dynasty Lin'an Worship Buddha's fasting meeting, the gathering of men and women to satirize and listen to the Fa and other people were crowded.
Above_ The White Cloud Temple in the temple fair
2． Taoist temple festivals
In some places, Taoist fasting ceremonies are performed at the Spring Festival temple fair. Jai-jong can be regarded as a Taoist jai-society. Wu Zimu's "Record of Dream Liang" says that on the ninth day of the first lunar month, the birthday of the Jade Emperor God, the rich people of Hangzhou's Taoist religion gathered at the "ChengtianGuan Pavilion to build a meeting".
The Song Dynasty often held Taoist sacrifices to drive away evil spirits, for example, when Song Shenzong found that many of the generals in the army were sick, he ordered that "zhongshi incense" be built and a prayer dojo be built. At the Spring Festival temple fair, there are many such exorcism rituals. In addition, the people can also buy willows, rice dumplings, five-colored plague paper and other evil things at the temple fair.
Above_ Jiuqu Yellow River Array The performance activities of the ancient temple fair
Secondly, the cultural and entertainment activities of the temple fair are very rich.
1． Temple drama
Temple drama gradually developed due to the prosperity of worship activities. For example, the Tang Dynasty Chang'an Ci'en Temple is the most famous theater, and there are special performers, clothes are clean, and "each holds an instrument such as a turtle". Folk drama is an important part of temple drama. Hundreds of plays include juggling, song and dance and many other literary and artistic forms, which are strange and eye-catching.
In the Tang Dynasty's Hundred Plays, there were ten-year-old children dancing on poles, there were gods who "fell from their arms and feet fell off their shins", and some people hit the ball and demonstrated sword dance. The content of the Northern Song Dynasty is even more colorful, such as bear somersaults, poles on ropes, and raw swallowing iron swords. No wonder a shed, a few entertainers, attracted empty alleys.
Liu Kezhuang's "Wen Xiangying Temple Excellent Drama Is Very Victorious" has clouds, because the play is very attractive, so "no one in the empty alley is playing", an old man has just woken up and missed the play, so "the kings on the shed are unknown", some regrets, and finally the pen feng turned to the temple drama scene "Wu Zhu said that the years are detailed, and the Cong Ancestral Hall is busy with drums".
Above_ Dongyue Temple, Dongyang Village, Linfen City, has no stage
2. Social fire
Shehuo is also an important form of cultural entertainment activities at the temple fair, and its most famous performance method is the shehuo face mask, that is, the performers wear a mask or decorate it with a face color to perform. The "Tokyo Dream Record" records a variety of social fire faces, such as "painted with green face" and "painted with yellow and white powder".
In the Spring Festival temple fair, the stove performers start performing in the big city, in the countryside, in the wisps of cigarettes, in the crowds, in the festive drum music, to create unlimited fun for those who participate in the temple fair.
Above_ Lantern City
3. Rap
As the saying goes, it is a folk singing literary and artistic form in which monks take advantage of the gathering of good men and women to tell Buddhist scriptures or secular stories to men and women, promote Buddhism, and promote men and women to donate. According to the "Notes on the Order of the Visiting Ceremony of Entering the Tang Dynasty", during the reign of Emperor Wuzong of Tang, there was a practice of "opening the customs of the temples" on the first day of the first lunar month. Of course, the people are definitely more fond of listening to wonderful secular stories, so the secular talk is slowly beginning to secularize.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, folklore was divided into a variety of speaking techniques, such as telling history and novels. During the Southern Song Dynasty, according to the "Record of Dream Liang", there were these speakers in the Song Dynasty: the talkers talked about Buddhist books, the counselors talked about the Zen Enlightenment Path and other things, "those who said the scriptures, Dai Xin'an", said that the historians talked about the transmission of books and literature, the rise and fall of wars, and the business enigmas guessed the mysteries.
Above_ The scene of the temple fair in the market town in the early Republic of China
Finally, temple fairs also had a trading function. Generally speaking, buyers will buy food and daily necessities at the temple fair, and will also spend money to calculate the fortune.
1. Diet
At temple fairs, many people go to the temple to burn incense and worship the gods, so some monasteries will consider providing food for worshippers. However, due to the fact that there are too many people attending the temple fair, the temple cannot meet everyone's need to obtain food, at this time, the vendors outside the temple smell business opportunities. At the temple fair, the vendors who sold flowers and fruits and other foods were boiling, and there were vegetarian shops selling "vegetarian sticks, head soup, river carp" and so on around the temples where the temple fairs were held in the Southern Song Dynasty, and the business was very good.
Above_ Itinerant vendors at the temple fair
2． Daily necessities
After filling their stomachs, the ancients thought about how to shop. The ancients did not have the convenience of transportation now, so if they saw the goods they needed at the temple fair, they had a high enthusiasm for spending money. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the temple fair used to open the Shuzhong Silkworm Market from the beginning to the third month of each year. Although it is called a silkworm market, the goods traded are not only silkworms, but actually "silkworm farmers' tools and flowers, wood, fruits, herbs, and things".
The goods of the Northern Song Dynasty temple fair are even more abundant. There are rare birds and strange beasts, mu xi ping shuai, saddle bow sword, shiguo la preserved, calligraphy and painting antiques, embroidered zhucui and so on. Interestingly, the temple trade of the Song Dynasty was still very international. During the Song Dynasty, Jiang Shaoyu attended the temple fair and saw that there were Japanese fans for sale, but Jiang Shaoyu was very poor and could not afford to buy them. Later, when I participated in the temple fair, the Japanese fan had already been sold, so Jiang Shaoyu "hated everything.".
Above_ Prints of the Ancient Spring Festival
３． Ask for a sign for divination
At temple fairs, good men and women often go to monks and Taoist priests to ask for divination and borrow "divine power". For example, in the Southern Song Dynasty, monks would make a sign in advance, and the sign would have items and pictures on it. When it comes to the temple fair, men and women will pay for signatures, divining whether the future is fierce or auspicious.
Author: Xia Zhen Correction/Editor: Lilith
Resources:
[1] "The Maintenance and Change of the Collective Memory of the Ningbo Spring Festival Temple Fair", Yan Zining, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, 2018
[2] "Research on Temple Fairs in the Tang and Song Dynasties", Niu Xiaodan, Henan University, 2012
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author