Folk belief and custom

The name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: folk belief and custom

Applicant: Jingchuan County, Gansu Province

Item No.: 992

Project No.: Ⅹ - 85

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Gansu Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Jingchuan County, Gansu Province

Protection unit: Jingchuan County Cultural Center

A brief introduction to folk belief custom (West Queen Mother belief custom)

Applicant: Jingchuan County, Gansu Province

Faithfulness, also known as "popular belief", is a conventional traditional idea formed in the process of people's long-term production and life. Under the domination of this idea, people will have psychological and behavioral identification with some folk phenomenon. The deities worshipped by traditional folk beliefs are an important source of belief and custom. Praying for blessings and avoiding harm is the internal reason for the continuous inheritance of traditional belief and custom. The collection of various forms of folk culture forms the cultural space of folk belief and custom.

The belief custom of the queen mother of the west is a popular folk culture in Jingchuan County, Pingliang City, Gansu Province. The belief custom formed in the long farming life takes the queen mother of the west culture as the carrier, with the main characteristics of entertaining gods, including history, religion, folk customs, etiquette, festivals, crafts, skills and many other cultural contents, showing the distinctive characteristics of the northwest.

The worship of Queen Mother of the West began in the Song Dynasty. On March 20 of the lunar calendar in the first year of Kaibao (968) of the Northern Song Dynasty, a grand sacrificial ceremony was held in the ancestral temple of Queen Mother of the West in Huishan of Jingchuan. Tao Gu, the academician of the Han Dynasty, wrote a stele named "Ode to the rebuilding of the palace of Queen Mother of the west", which recorded in detail the history of the ancient tribe of Queen Mother of the West and the grand sacrificial ceremony of Queen Mother of the West in Jingchuan. Since then, the West Queen Mother ceremony has been continuous in the local area for more than a thousand years. It has been passed on for 1039 times and deeply rooted in the hearts of the general public.

On the 20th of the third month of the lunar calendar, people in Jingchuan almost go out to the ancestral temple to burn incense. At about 7 a.m., people from all villages and towns rushed to the ancestral temple to burn incense and watch, or prayed for God's blessing of children, pain, good luck and peace, or prayed for good weather and peace of the country. Believers from Shaanxi, Ningxia, Henan and other provinces, Qingyang, Xifeng, Ningxian, Zhenyuan and other cities and counties, regardless of the distance, also came to the sacrifice with various offerings.

The belief and custom of Queen Mother of the West reflects the people's desire for a better life of harmonious reunion, which helps to enhance the cohesion of the Chinese nation, promote national unity, and further promote the construction of a harmonious society.