Baishui Cangjie Temple Fair

Shaanxi
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There is a Cangjie Temple in Baishui County, where a temple fair is held every year during the Grain Rain season, which lasts for seven to ten days. In the past, hundreds of villages north of the Luo River in Baishui County established special temple fair organizations, called the Ten Great Societies. The annual temple fair is hosted by the Ten Great Societies in turn. Half a month before the temple fair is the Qingming Festival, and the presidents of the Ten Great Societies come to the Cangjie Temple to burn incense and worship, and sweep the tomb of Cangshen. Then, a meeting is held to discuss the affairs of the temple fair this year. On this day, major businesses, drama groups, musicians, and paper and cannon merchants rushed to report to the temple. And decided to invite drama troupes, orchestras and other matters. A few days before the temple fair, the president and the monks living in the temple cleaned the inside and outside of the temple, washed the stone tablets, brick carvings, column couplets, etc., and invited local famous literati to write new couplets for various places in the temple. The village head who presided over the temple fair went to the temple two days before the Grain Rain to bring back the clay statue of Cangjie, the shrine and all the deacons, and placed them in a prominent place in the village. He also invited a troupe to perform a big play for Cangjie God for one day and two nights. This was called "Pianzhai", which meant that the villagers of the village gave priority to worshiping Cangjie. On the day of Grain Rain, the temple fair officially began. After daybreak, the deacons entered the temple. 16 ancient three-eyed guns were fired first to clear the way; 10 dragon and phoenix flags and 12 colorful flags followed; 8 gongs and a pair of "辶避避" and "肃静" cards followed; then there were various instruments such as dragon heads, golden melons, axes, halberds, cloud cards, broadswords, spears, etc. in pairs; followed by a high-raised umbrella for all people; behind the umbrella was the Cangsheng Temple with a golden roof and red cover, and 24 temple protection sticks were arranged in two rows below; 5 nanmu tables were loaded with incense burners, sacrificial utensils, incense paper cannons and various offerings; the ten major club leaders followed, and two groups of musicians played music, and three-eyed guns and swastika-shaped firecrackers followed. Ten thousand spectators watched. The scene was very solemn and solemn. The deacon team entered the mountain gate, and the three-eyed guns fired at the sky above the two theaters in the east and west. Two big plays started at the same time, which was called "welcoming the gods". The plays cannot be sung randomly, and there are certain repertoires and sets. The deacon team entered the offering hall and worshipped the gods amid the sounds of ritual instruments, musical instruments, bells, drums and firecrackers. The president led the presidents of the ten major societies and the leading figures from all walks of life to hold plates and present the statues of the Eighteen Arhats and the Eight Immortals, offering boards and offerings on the offering table, burn incense and offer wine, kowtow three times and nine times. Then, teachers and students from various schools lined up in front of the hall to pay tribute, took off their hats and bowed three times, and sang a song praising Cang Sheng: "In the past, he created characters to preserve benefits. Great is Cang Sheng, how majestic; he initiated civilization, and his great achievements have been passed down to the temple. To survive and govern the world for eternity." Then, the people paid tribute, presented various flowery buns with patterns made specifically for Cang Jie, burned incense and kowtowed. There are many rules for singing operas in Cang Sheng Temple. The masses summarized it as: "From the east to the west, first hit and then connect, one circle three folds, and sing until the cock crows." The east stage starts the play first, and the west stage stops the play early, which is called "from the east to the west". In the evening performance, the martial arts play is performed first, and then the literary play takes over. After each play, a book with three folds is sung, which is called "one book with three folds". The play starts before dawn and continues day and night. It is still sung when the cock crows, which is called "dawn play". Two plays are performed against each other, and the quality of the play is judged by the number of people. This is called "opposite stage play". If the play is good, the president will lead the faithful men and women to hold up a red lacquered wooden plate with a big red congratulatory card, wine, meat and dishes inside, and walk through the crowd of people watching the play to the sound of the trumpeter and drummer, and send the things in the plate to the stage as a reward. For the loser, a warning shot is fired to let him change the play. Therefore, during the performance, the troupe will make up two plays at the same time. One play will be rejected and the other one will be performed immediately. After the fourth day of the play, the play can be stopped for dinner, and the actors and the audience will have a chance to breathe. During the temple fair, there are many commercial outlets and sufficient goods. Each society will select 10 young and middle-aged people to maintain the security of the temple fair. After the temple fair, the merchants were escorted back to the Changning River in Chengcheng in the east, across the Luohe Slope in the south, and outside Huanglong Mountain in the north to prevent bandits from robbing and ruining the reputation of the temple fair. It often rained on the third or fourth day of the temple fair, which was called "washing the temple rain". After liberation, the temple fair was held from time to time. In recent years, the main activity of the temple fair is the exchange of materials.

Intangible culture related to the heritage

China tourist attractions related to the heritage