Chang'an Wangqu City God Temple Sacrifice and Temple Fair

Shaanxi
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Wangqu City God Temple is the general city god temple of thirteen provinces. It is located in Wangqu Town, Chang'an District. Every year during the Spring Festival, the eighth day of the second lunar month, and the fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month, there are large-scale sacrificial activities in Wangqu City God Temple. At this time, in addition to the scholars, farmers, and merchants from the five northwestern provinces, there are also good men and women from Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei, Mongolia, Tibet, Qi, Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, and Anhui who come in groups to worship. The Wangqu City God Temple enshrines Ji Xin, a general under Liu Bang in the Han Dynasty. Because of the large scale of its worship activities, it gradually formed a large temple fair. There are folk art performances such as drama, acrobatics, gongs and drums from various places, community fire, and martial arts at the temple fair. When worshiping the city god, first select a "sacrificial official" with high moral character to worship the god, and the main priest reads the sacrificial text respectfully. After that, the offerings are placed and the offerings are made according to the ritual. The offerings are generally divided into seven categories (five kinds in each category), which are "soil, animal, divination, fried, sea, dry, and tree". "Tu" means "everything comes from the earth", mostly things produced by the land; "sheng" refers to the five kinds of sacrificial animals; "bu" refers to snacks and other things; "zha" refers to fried noodles; "hai" refers to seafood; "gan" refers to dried fruits; and "shu" refers to other fruits. In addition, there are many forms such as "antique sacrifice" (mainly calligraphy and paintings, antiques), "seaweed sacrifice" (all seafood), and "instrumental sacrifice" (composed of eight musical instruments). "Sacrificial offering" is the focus of the people's attention in the ceremony of worshiping the City God. There is a public case in front of the sacrifice, on which the City God's shrine, seal, four treasures of the study, and a book of inscriptions are displayed. In the front, there are incense burners, candlesticks, and merit boxes for good men and women to worship and pay tribute. There are also several deacons who distribute red silk threads with "spirits" to show that the grace of the gods is widespread. After that, the people who are offering sacrifices bring a sheep and then pour boiling water on the sheep once or twice. If the sheep shakes, it means that the City God has accepted the worship of the people and has ridden a crane to heaven. In May 2007, the sacrifice and temple fair of the Chang'an Wangqu City God Temple were included in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage list of Shaanxi Province; in June 2008, it was identified as the first batch of intangible cultural heritage of Xi'an.

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