The thousand-year-old Zhoukou Taihao Tomb Ancestral Association (also known as the February 2nd Temple Festival) was inaugurated on march 4, the second day of the first month of the lunar calendar. On the morning of the opening day, the reporter went to the interview and saw that the tourists were very hot and the scene was orderly. With the emergence of sky-high net red stalls in the past two years, the local specialty compressed steamed bun has become a temple festival snack that tourists rush to buy.
Net red compression steamed bun into this year's chaozu meeting "popular snacks"
On March 4, before dawn, the Taihaoling Scenic Area was already open to welcome guests. Tourists flocked to Huaiyang from all directions in order to catch a thousand-year-old ancestral meeting. Although no large-scale activities have been arranged due to the needs of epidemic prevention and control, there are still folk art teams that dance cheerfully in the scenic spot to help entertain. Due to the large number of tourists, security personnel can be seen almost in three or five steps, maintaining order at any time. "I came from the countryside of Huaiyang, and I got up early in the morning to drink porridge and rushed to Taihaoling, and I basically came every February and two every year, and it became a habit." A big lady from Zhuji Township in Huaiyang District said happily.
▲Tourists happily eat compressed steamed buns
The reporter observed that in addition to the spontaneous worship activities of the people in the scenic spot, various handicrafts and snack stalls outside the scenic spot are also very popular. Among them, the most popular is the compression steamed bun stall. "Since last year, this compression steamed bun stall has become popular because of the sky-high price." Zhang Changqing, a local resident of Huaiyang, said that during the 2021 Ancestral Meeting, Zhang Yu, a Huaiyang resident, bid for a stall of about 10 square meters at a price of 272,000 yuan to sell compressed steamed buns, and this year, Zhang Jianhuai, a Huaiyang resident, bid for the best stalls at a price of 980,000 yuan, and the sky-high price effect for two consecutive years made the compressed steamed buns become Internet red snacks.
▲ Compressed steamed buns sold by 980,000 net red stalls
The reporter saw that at this year's ancestral meeting, Zhang Yu, the "Biaowang" of last year, and Zhang Jianhuai, the "Biaowang" of this year, both set up stalls in the Xihuang Cultural Square of Taihao Ling, and they were all surrounded by water. "Preliminary estimates, today can sell at least 100,000 compressed steamed buns, although it is not yet known whether it can return the cost, but it is worth it to call out the brand of this compressed steamed bun." 980,000 internet celebrity stalls advocate Jianhuai said.
At the same time, some stalls selling cloth tigers, mud dogs and other handicrafts are also very popular. Many girls and children gathered around these stalls to choose their favorite goods. "This year is the Year of the Tiger, buying a cloth tiger to go home, it means that the tiger is mighty, very good." Mr. Zhao, a tourist from Zhengzhou, said.
How popular will the thousand-year-old temple be?
According to reports, the origin of the TaihaoLing Temple Fair can be traced back to more than 6,000 years ago, according to historical records, the ancestor of the Chinese nation's humanities, Taihao Fuxi, once fixed the capital Wanqiu (now Huaiyang), which opened the prelude to Chinese civilization. He invented the net poppy and taught the people to fish, hunt and livestock; he founded bagua, ended the knotted rope chronicle, and opened up the wisdom of mankind..." It can be said that Fuxi's series of inventions illuminated China's history for thousands of years. Zhang Guangqi, executive deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Huaiyang District Cpc Committee, introduced that fuxi also became an epoch-making figure and was respected by later generations as the head of the three emperors and the ancestor of humanities.
▲ Crafts at the Taihaoling Temple Festival: Mud Dogs
▲ Tourists who rush to the temple fair, buy cloth tigers
According to the "Overview of the Temple Festival of TaiwuLing in Chenzhou", during the feudal dynasty, only in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial court successively sent 52 ministers to the Taihao Tomb to pay homage. According to a joint survey of the Huaiyang Provincial Normal School in the 23rd year of the Republic of China, that is, in 1934 AD, the number of people who rushed to the February Mausoleum in this year reached more than 2 million, and a total of 52 kinds of paving for the conference and commerce were 1476; 40 classes of volunteer entertainment, such as dragon lanterns, stilts, lions, and songs; 23 classes of business entertainment: such as zizi opera, circus, movies, etc., men and women, old and young, rubbing shoulders, very lively.
▲ Tourists rushing to the temple fair
▲ Compressed steamed buns can be seen everywhere in the crowd
Today's Taihaoling Ancestral Association is even larger. In 2008, this folk culture event was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records by the Guinness Headquarters of Shanghai Great World as "the temple fair with the largest number of worshippers in a single day (about 825,000)", and the TaihaoLing Temple Fair became the largest and oldest folk temple fair in China, and the TaihaoLing Ancestral Festival was also included in the national intangible cultural heritage list.
As in previous years, this year's ancestral meeting will remain one month and end on the third day of the third lunar month.
Source: Henan Mobile News https://www.hnsjb.cn/content/fenkangaojian/20220304/1078061.html