Suide Dingxianyan Niangniang Temple Flower Fair

Shaanxi
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Dingxianyan Town is located in Yankou, west of Dingxianling Road, 50 kilometers southeast of Suide County, Shaanxi Province. It is connected to Wubao County in the north, Qingjian County in the south, and the Yellow River in the east. It is the most remote town in Suide County. It was named after Zhang Guolao, one of the Eight Immortals, who came to rest in the fairyland. The Niangniang Temple is located on the earthen platform at the east end of Hejiajian in Dingxianyan Town. The Niangniang Temple was originally located in Yaoyamao and was relocated here during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty. Legend has it that on March 18th of one year, a thousand-year-old fox ran into the Niangniang Temple in Yaoyamao and brought the tablet of the Niangniang Temple to the earthen platform at the east end of Hejiajian in Dingxianyan. People found that the tablet was not on the platform, so they looked for it everywhere. In Hejiajian, they saw the tablet standing upright on the earthen platform. Everyone hurriedly burned incense and kowtowed, and took the divination stick to ask the reason. It turned out to be the will of the Niangniang. So, a large-scale construction was carried out to build a new Niangniang Temple here. The Dingxianyan Niangniang Temple Flower Fair involves 64 villages in six towns and villages, namely Hedi, Dingxianyan, Shipan, Cuijiawan, Sujiaya, and Zaolinping in Qingjian and Suide counties. The 64 villages are divided into six major shrines, namely Wangjiagou, Zhaishan, Angou, Haojiagou, Qianlijiayan, and -. The flower fair is divided into large and small. The large one refers to the activities held at the Niangniang Temple sponsored by the general association, and the small one refers to the activities held in the village by the village that takes turns to hold the flower fair. The Niangniang Temple Flower Fair is held once a year for three days, on March 17, 18, and 19 of the lunar calendar. The 18th is the main day, and the main activity is to offer paper flower trees to the gods. The flower trees are offered in turn by the six major societies, two major societies every year, and the flower fair is held on the 18th and 19th. The flower trees on the 17th are fixedly offered by the He surnamed people in Dingxian Tuyan Village. Later, due to financial difficulties and other reasons, the He family changed the offering of flower trees to offering only sheep. The village society to be held on the 18th day is decided by asking for divination. Procedures and folk activities of the flower fair 1. Receiving the god tablet After the date of the fair is determined, the head of the club and the president will take the god tablet back to the village and place it on the altar in the middle of the meeting kiln. After the sacrificial ceremony is over, red triangular colored flags with the words "wish for everything" and "god bless" are inserted on the skylight, and the meeting kiln is locked. On the first and fifteenth day of each month, the head of the club will go to the meeting kiln to burn incense and kowtow, and set off firecrackers. If there are people in the village who pray to the gods and make wishes, they will also go to burn incense and kowtow on this day. 2. Set up the god shed On the 15th day of the third month of the lunar calendar, the shrine that runs the meeting will start to set up the god shed. The god shed is made of wooden rafters and colored cloth to the size of two houses, and is hung with colored paper hangings and couplets around it. The more exquisite god shed has a certain degree of artistry. People imitate the shape of the temple and have eaves, ridge beasts, corners, cat-head drips, etc. There are also rental shrines. The main frame of this type of shrine is welded with steel pipes, which is easy to disassemble and install, and the decorative colored paper is temporarily hung. 3. Dingshen Sheep There are 5 sacred sheep in total, two for each of the two major societies of the association, and one for Dingxiantu Yanhe. The selection of sacred sheep is quite particular. Not only must the physique be strong, the wool must be pure white, and the horns and face of the sheep must be good-looking. Once confirmed, a small signboard with "Offering to the Goddess" written on it should be hung on the sheep's neck. The sacred sheep with the signboard is regarded as a god by people. It eats well and drinks well. It cannot be beaten or scolded. Even if it eats crops and rice flour from the mill, it cannot be chased away until the sheep is full and walks away on its own. There are two ways to raise the sacred sheep. One is that the sheep owner continues to feed it, and the society is responsible for the sheep's food and drink for a year. After the sacrifice, it returns to the original owner; the other is to buy the confirmed sheep and designate a special person to feed it. The society is responsible for the sheep's food and drink. After the sacrifice, the sheep returns to the shrine, or sells it on the spot, or slaughters it and divides it according to the share. 4. Making flower trees There are 5 flower trees in total, with 9 layers of flowers on the first tree, 8 layers on the second tree, 7 layers on the third tree, 6 layers on the fourth tree, and 5 layers on the fifth tree. The first tree is about 5 meters high, and the fifth tree is also higher than 3 meters. There are also five strings of music drum flowers, a string of eight-foot-high paper towers, and a set of paper gourds, axes, stirrups, and broadswords for the emperor's travel. In ancient times, flower trees were made by the village's skilled men and women at flower fairs. Now, paper artists are mostly hired to make them in the village. The material for making flowers is hemp paper, and the tools include scissors, axes, saws, pliers, brushes, etc. After the flowers are folded, the leaves and stamens are cut out with scissors. According to the colors of various flowers, they are painted with brushes. Each flower tree has 105 flowers, 8 inches in size. After the flowers are made, the flower tree is made. The main stem of the flower tree is cut into branches as thick as a hoe handle, and the leaves are removed. The main stem is tied with hay, and the flowers are tied on the hay handle. The top is tied with branches and flowers. From a distance, it looks like a flower tree with flowers in full bloom. The flowers on the flower tree are mostly peonies, lotus flowers, and sunflowers, all of which are auspicious and joyful, and rich and prosperous for many years. 5. Grain sacrifice Grain sacrifice is carried out on March 16th of the lunar calendar. On this morning, the flower artist must dress up the sacred sheep, comb the wool smoothly with a large wooden comb, wrap red paper on the sheep's horns, clean the plaque, wrap it with silver paper, write "offering to the goddess", and hang it on the sheep's neck. Leading the way in front of the drums and music, play roughly and carefully, and go to the Dingxianyan Niangniang Temple. At the temple, the sheep is tied in front of the hall. After the five sacred sheep are gathered, the grain sacrifice begins. The order of the grain sacrifice village is to hold the village on the 18th day first, the flower meeting village on the 19th, and the He family. During the sacrifice, the chairman of each community must offer sacrifices, burn incense, and kowtow in front of the goddess's shrine. After the kowtow, the god sheep of his village is pulled to the front gate, and wine is poured or poured into the sheep's body and ears. If the sheep shakes all over, it means the god has received it. If it does not shake, the god is repeatedly poured and poured until it shakes greatly. After the sacrifice, the god sheep is returned to the original owner, sold, or slaughtered and divided. The god sheep of Dingxian Yan He's family is a true offering to the god. After the sacrifice, the sheep is slaughtered, and the heart, liver, lung, head meat, and a small piece of meat are fried in a plate. Together with the skinned whole sheep, it is carried to the goddess temple again to offer the sacrifice. The five flavors and flour offering rolls are offered in front of the god. A knife is inserted into the whole sheep's body, and the sheep's head is covered with sheep belly fat. After the chief and the He clan members burn incense and kowtow, the sheep's face is uncovered and the knife is removed from the sheep's body. It is said that the knife is inserted into the sheep's body for the goddess to cut meat for eating. 6. Invite the gods and receive the gods On March 17th of the lunar calendar, all the presidents and leaders of the association washed their faces and hands in front of the goddess temple, offered sacrifices, burned incense, and kowtowed, inviting all the goddesses to return to the gods and enjoy the incense of good men and women. And hang god paper towers on the side walls of each hall. The paper towers are made in odd numbers but not in even numbers. They are cut with five layers and five scissors. They are commonly known as "hidden walls". It is said that this is prepared for the gods who pass by to see the prosperity. One god can live in a corner, and hundreds of gods can live in a string of hidden walls. Then the village community holding the flower fair on the main day burned incense and kowtowed to respectfully invite the goddess back to the village. The carved sedan chair in front of the altar where the wooden goddess sat was carried outside the hall amid the sound of drums, music and firecrackers. The devout leaders tied two sedan poles to the sedan chair, and four sedan bearers lifted the sedan chair. Suddenly, the drums and music started again, the firecrackers roared, and the colorful flag team, drums and music, and sedan chairs walked in turn and carried it back to the village. Now, as soon as the sedan leaves the village, the drums and music stop, and the sedan is lifted onto a tricycle. The rest of the people take motorcycles, tricycles, and cars back to the village. The procession of inviting the gods stops at the edge of the village and continues in the original order, winding down to the sound of drums and music. When arriving at the entrance of the village, the men wrap a white sheep belly towel with flowers around their waists, and the women tie pillow towels or waist cloths around their waists, kneeling on both sides of the road. When the sedan arrives, they kowtow and worship. When the sedan arrives in front of the shrine, the sedan poles are removed and the sedan is placed in the middle of the shrine. After a short rest, the goddess is offered and the small flower tree is offered. When offering, the drum band must go to the kiln to welcome the offerings and flowers. The offerings include eight bowls, food boxes, noodles, and scrolls. The food boxes contain colorful pine moss, birds, unicorns, etc. made of dough and melon seeds. After the offerings are placed, the chairman of the association burns incense and kowtows first, and then all the men and women in the village rush to the shrine, throw the whole bunch of incense and the yellow paper into the incense basin, kneel on the ground and kowtow, the scene is extremely spectacular. In the evening, the village holds activities such as Yangko and Errenzhuan. Before the activities, the activities start after singing the divine songs. The community that holds the flower fair on the 19th will invite the goddess back to the village after the flower competition ceremony is completed and the flowers are burned on the 18th. The activities are the same. 7. Kneeling in the temple, buying flowers for children, praying for medicine, and sweeping the temple. On the night of March 17th of the lunar calendar, the believers who want children must follow their husbands and wives to the main hall of the goddess temple and kneel in the temple. They must kneel until the people who nod their heads and incense enter the temple before the rooster crows. 8. Go out to welcome the flowers. Before dawn on the 18th of the lunar calendar, all the people in the village holding the flower fair will gather in the courtyard, eat the river lao sauerkraut noodles, come to the shrine, burn incense and kowtow, and do their own things. The vehicles, motorcycles, colorful flags and yangko teams have already been arranged in order. All the strong young men carrying flowers and the band come to the place where the flowers are placed, take the flowers from the kiln, gather together to burn incense and offer wine, and under the guidance of drums and music, come to the front of the shrine. The flower trees are placed on a high table. Because the flower trees are tall, one tree of flowers needs three strong young men to carry it, and a person carrying a stone-bottomed round plate of the flower tree follows up to protect the tree, one to prevent the flowers from being snatched, and two to prevent damage.

Intangible culture related to the heritage

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