Folk customs-Temple fairs

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2012-05-21

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In Hengshan Mountain, there was Baiyun Nunnery, enshrining Goddess Doumu and Wanglaoye. In each lunar March, a three-day temple fair would be held. People living in the townships nearby would attend the fair.

The countryside gentlemen would organize "Parade of God". Marching ahead of the parade is a local "Xiaoqing Troupe". They played the silk and bamboo ensemble famous music while walking. Following them were Goddess Doumu and Wanglaoye carried by the people.

After them came emulative young men with iron anchors, copper hammers or incense burners hung on their arms. Some religious believers closely followed the team. In the temple fair, hawkers put up stands along the street to sell mountain products and groceries.

There were also wonton stands, malt sugar stands and more. It was a hubbub of voices. In the temple fair, people also played wire walking, walking on stilts and other acrobatic performances.

In addition to the temple fair in Hengshan Mountain, there was also Guangfulin Temple Fair, on a same scale of the temple fair in Hengshan Mountain. These were the two grandest festive activities of the area of nine peaks in a year. Temple fairs were also held in Red Temple and Shixianggong Temple near Sheshan Mountain each year, but they were smaller. In middle and late 1950s, the temple fairs died out.

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