Fuxi festival of Taihao

The name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Fuxi festival of Taihao

Applicant: Huaiyang County, Henan Province

Item No.: 485

Project No.: Ⅹ - 37

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Henan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Huaiyang County, Henan Province

Protection unit: Huaiyang Cultural Center

A brief introduction to the ceremony of Fuxi in Taihao

Applicant: Huaiyang County, Henan Province

Tianshui City, Gansu Province, is one of the birthplaces of ancient Chinese culture and the birthplace of Fuxi, the ancestor of human civilization. Fuxi was the founder of Chinese civilization. He taught fishing, tools, farming, marriage, family name, book contract, eight trigrams, and led people out of the chaos of civilization, ending the primitive way of life. Fuxi's work of opening heaven and opening the way laid the foundation for the prosperity of Chinese civilization for thousands of years. In order to commemorate and highlight Fuxi's achievements, later generations built Fuxi temple and held annual sacrificial activities.

The sacrificial activities of Fuxi temple in Tianshui started in 1483 of Ming Dynasty, and have continued to this day. There are differences in the specifications and contents of sacrifice in different historical periods. It flourished in the Ming Dynasty. The imperial court issued the sacrificial texts, adopting the Tailao specification, two sacrifices a year and three days a sacrifice. In the Qing Dynasty, the sacrificial procedure was simplified and the ceremony was simple. During the period of the Republic of China, it was more simple, and was presided over by the folk sacrifice organization shangyuanhui. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, the Qing Dynasty's sacrificial norms were gradually restored. The sacrificial date was changed from the 15th to the 17th of the first month, with one sacrifice for three days, one greeting, two ceremonies and three gifts.

The sacrificial activities in Fuxi temple have formed the following basic characteristics: 1. The dependence on folk customs formed with the emergence and development of folk activities; 2. The relatively fixed procedural characteristics according to different historical periods; 3. The characteristics of combining the regional folk sacrificial tradition with the emperor's sacrificial rites; 4. The characteristics of vigorously promoting the dragon culture and Fuxi Culture in the sacrificial content; 5 It has the characteristics of mass cultural activities.

In recent years, Gansu provincial Party committee and government attach great importance to Fuxi sacrificial activities. Since 2005, the annual ceremony has been hosted by Gansu provincial government. Fuxi Festival has played a positive role in enhancing the cohesion of the Chinese nation and building a harmonious society.

Fuxi's Mausoleum Temple of Taihao is located 1.5km north of Huaiyang County, Henan Province. Because it is the mausoleum Temple of the "cultural ancestor" of the Chinese nation, it is called "the first mausoleum in the world".

Every year from February 2 to March 3 of the lunar calendar, a pilgrimage ceremony is held in Taihao mausoleum. During the festival, temple fairs were also held, which lasted for more than a month. However, the most lively days were from the 10th of February to the 20th of February, and the three days from the 14th to the 16th of February, which could be said to be the peak of the festival. The crowds gathered one after another, reaching more than 200000 people a day.

As for the origin of temple fair, according to the book general situation of temple fair in taihaoling of Chenzhou, it should begin after Zhao Zong. In addition to Henan, the temple fair has also extended to dozens of counties (cities) in Anhui, Shandong, Hebei and other provinces. The venue, covering an area of about one square kilometer, is full of various trades and professions, with ancestor worship as the core content. Mud toys such as "mud dog" and "tiger" sold at the temple fair are praised as "real totem" and "living fossil" by some experts and scholars at home and abroad.

In the long-term historical evolution, the broad masses of working people have transformed their wishes, ideals and aesthetic interests into considerable and sensible cultural forms, integrated into temple fair activities, and formed specific rituals. It includes sacrificial and folk music and dance, "Shougong rap" with the meaning of "persuading goodness", folk arts and crafts that retain the consciousness of human childhood, etc., which create the profound cultural connotation and rich and colorful forms of expression of the ancestral temple.

In recent years, many experts and scholars at home and abroad have come to temple fairs to explore the ancient Chinese culture and study the oriental culture of ancient China. Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan compatriots have returned to the mainland for sightseeing, participated in the ceremony of Taihao mausoleum, and sought their roots to show that they do not forget their ancestors and that they are descendants of the dragon.