Temple Fair (Wudang Mountain Temple Fair)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Temple Fair (Wudang Mountain Temple Fair)

Applicant: Shiyan City, Hubei Province

Item No.: 991

Project No.: Ⅹ - 84

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Hubei Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Shiyan City, Hubei Province

Protection unit: cultural center of Wudang Mountain Tourism Special Economic Zone

Temple Fair (Wudang Mountain Temple Fair)

Applicant: Shiyan City, Hubei Province

Temple fair, also known as "Temple market", is a kind of folk belief activities held regularly in and around temples, which is popular all over the country. Some large temple fairs had a considerable scale in the Tang Dynasty, and they are still handed down and have a wide influence. All kinds of temple fairs have their own time, most of them are a traditional Lunar Festival or a religious and folk belief day. Temple Fair has the characteristics of concentration, group and fixation. During the temple fair, all kinds of folk activities and technical trade activities can be fully displayed in public, and the activities are rich and colorful. The God greeting competition is also a form of temple fair. In Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, traditional temple fairs, which are popular among believers, are all introduced from the mainland and have a close relationship with the mother. In the overseas Chinese residential areas, many temple fairs brought from the motherland are full of incense, inheriting the cultural blood of the Chinese nation in a special way.

Wudang Mountain Temple Fair is a folk activity evolved from the pilgrimage activities of believers, which is popular in Wudang Mountain Area of Shiyan City, Hubei Province. There are two periods of temple fairs every year, from the 23rd of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar to the 16th of March, the first day of September to the 10th of September in the second year, among which the temple fairs on the 3rd of March and the 9th of September are the most grand.

Wudang Mountain Temple Fair began in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Its main activities include pilgrimage to the mountains, making religious ceremonies, holding folk art activities and so on. There are three forms of pilgrimage to the mountains, one is the pilgrimage to the society, the other is the pilgrimage to the ascetic Taoism, and the third is the pilgrimage to the scattered. Wudang Daochang is mainly engaged in the ritual of Xiaoqi Dynasty and Daqi Dynasty. It takes one day for Xiaoqi Dynasty and three days for Daqi Dynasty. During the temple fair, people can go hiking, watch lanterns, watch Wudang martial arts competition, enjoy fireworks and other performances.

Wudang Mountain Temple Fair is the epitome of local folk life, which greatly enriches the cultural life of the local people, and has high folklore and historical and cultural research value.