Suqian Former Da'an Temple Fair, Enduring Folk Culture
Every year on the eighth day of the first lunar month of the lunar calendar, it is the temple fair day of the former Daan Temple in the Guchu Community of the Suqian Economic and Technological Development Zone. On the day of the meeting, many good men and women came to burn incense and worship the Buddha, praying for good luck. Nearby villages and towns such as Gengche, Shuangzhuang, Sankeshu, Caiji and other small merchants, hawkers, and folk artists also gathered in Qiandaan. People who visit temples, worship gods, watch the scenery, and shop come and go, and it is very lively. The temple fair on the eighth day of the first lunar month in Qianda'an originated in the Qing Dynasty. It is the first choice of the people in surrounding towns to rush to the temple fair on the eighth day of the first lunar month. Yesterday was the annual meeting of the former Da'an Temple. The reporter was searching for the past and present life of the former Da'an Temple Fair.
Before the women's anti-marriage gave birth to Daan Temple
According to relevant records, the Qian Da'an was built in 1750. According to folklore, the former Da'an Temple was born lucky in the emperor's "Jade Words of Golden Mouth". According to legend, in the 27th year of Qianlong, in the first month of 1762, the Emperor Qianlong and the Empress Dowager traveled south together. The mighty vehicles set off from the capital with a magnificent position and style. After many days of traveling and post-station conversion, we arrived in Suqian. Qianlong and the empress dowager were stationed in the palace of Shunheji (Shunhe Town, Suyu District, Suqian City) in Suqian under the placement of the local government.
Qianlong rested in Shunhe Palace for several days. After breakfast in one day, Qianlong, accompanied by local officials, went to Shunheji to inspect the people's conditions. At this moment, the car stopped suddenly, and the attendant ran quickly from the front to the car in front of Qianlong, and knelt: "The emperor Qi, there is a local official leading a young woman to see the emperor." Upon hearing this, Qianlong knew that there must be something to tell, so he delivered an order and stopped to ask. At this time, only a local official brought a young woman to Qianlong, and both knelt down. The official reported: "The emperor, this woman heard that the emperor had arrived, so she came to visit and ask for help." When Qianlong heard this, he motioned to the woman to report the truth. The young woman burst into tears and told Qianlong her experience.
It turned out that this woman was from Lailong and her family was very poor. Due to their advanced age, their parents had no son but this daughter. They lived in poverty and owed a large debt due to illness that could not be repaid. At this time, a rich man in the village took a fancy to the woman and wanted to marry as a daughter-in-law, and asked someone to come forward as a matchmaker. But the young woman knew that the rich man's son was idle and bad, so she didn't want to live or die. Her parents enlightened her and said: "People are rich and powerful, if you marry him, you can ensure that you have a good food and clothing and live a wealthy life for the rest of your life." After hearing this, her daughter still refused. Because the woman's parents wanted to get a gift as soon as possible to repay the debt, they began to threaten her: "Anyway, you must agree to this marriage." The woman swears to her death. So, the cruel parents locked her at home. The woman failed to commit suicide many times, and finally managed to escape from the home. She wanted to find a place to shave her hair and become a nun. However, he was penniless, not entangled, and could not go to find the nun's nunnery. In desperation, I heard that the emperor had come to Suqian, so he filed a complaint halfway with a glimmer of hope and asked the emperor to rescue him.
The woman knelt on the ground while talking and was sad. She had already cried into tears. Seeing this scene was really pitiful. Seeing this, Qianlong couldn't help but feel pity. He ordered the attendant to lift up the young woman, and then asked the local official: "Is there a temple in this place?" The official replied: "No. But not far to the west, there is an abandoned temple." Qianlong heard: "Okay, I'm ordering you to rebuild a nunnery on this abandoned temple, as a settlement for this woman to become a monk." The official listened and quickly obeyed the order. The young woman knelt down in front of Qianlong again, thanking her with great gratitude.
There will be a temple fair with the former big temple
After the local officials took the order, they quickly went to make arrangements. Within half a year, a nunnery was rebuilt on the foundation of the abandoned temple. This nunnery was built quickly and well. It was divided into two courtyards, including a main hall, a nave, a wing, a turret, and dozens of temples before and after. Houses, brick and wood structure, blue brick and small tiles, wooden lattice doors and windows. The roof is equipped with dragon heads, animal horns, flying toads, and bucket arches. There are dozens of various Buddha statues, large and small, on the altars in the main hall and nave of the nunnery. Soon after, the young woman was taken in and officially moved into the nunnery. Later, some nuns were recruited one after another. Since then, a temple called Qianda'an was quietly born in the emperor's "Jade Mouth".
Since then, on the eighth day of the first lunar month, people have been in groups to the Qian Da'an Temple to worship incense and sacrifice to the gods, praying for good weather and good life. Over time, this kind of sacrificial activity gradually formed a fixed custom. The original pure sacrificial activity gradually added the content of commodity trade and cultural exchanges, and the scale became larger and the content became more and more abundant, and the temple fair was naturally inherited from this. .
Folk sacrifices and participation in temple fairs are called "rush meetings". This kind of "catch up meeting" has been established by convention for hundreds of years. In history, the time of temple fairs in various temples is different. For example, the temple fair in Zaohe Dragon King Temple lasts for 3 days, which are the fireworks day on the 8th day of the first lunar month, the festival day on the 9th day of the first lunar month, and the mountain day on the tenth day. The former Da'an is one day, which is the eighth day of the first lunar month.
In order to prepare for the temple fair, before the New Year, the host of the former big temple and the nearby people began to prepare firecrackers and fireworks, which were set off on the square on the west side of the former big temple on the night of the seventh day of the first lunar month. The display of fireworks opened the prelude to the temple fair on the eighth day of the eighth day. The merchants who came to rush to the fair took out their own fireworks and firecrackers, one by one, competing to set off. The entire square becomes a sea of fireworks, and the night scene is extremely spectacular and lively.
In the old days, the temple would have a half-dynasty driving trip
In past temple fairs, there were altars, which were set up in a conspicuous position in the former temple. Place the altar in the middle, and place incense candles and fruits on it. During the sacrificial ceremony, the band played sacrificial music, and the priests came to the stage in order to make sacrifices. The majority of benevolent men and women prayed to the Buddha, worshipped offerings and burned incense and candles. After the sacrifice to the gods, the activity of visiting the temple by the guard of honor of the Banchao Luan driving guard was immediately followed.
Half-dynasty Luanjia is a special ceremony of etiquette bestowed by the Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty to Qiandaan. There are mainly ceremonial instruments such as golden melon, yue axe, chaotian ascend, pen and inkstone grasping, as well as gongs, umbrellas, fans, pipes, flutes, flutes, quietness, and avoidance cards. Whenever there is a major event in the Qianda'an Temple, the guards in the temple will use the half-way Luang to travel. The guards hold yellow umbrellas, Longmen flags, Dalong flags, old class shoots, large and small sand lamps, and fans. Say the name of the Buddha or worship Buddha. Sacrificial activities generally last more than one hour. For hundreds of years, temple fair activities have maintained this tradition and set, and have never been interrupted.
In addition to folk sacrifices, the former Da'an Temple Fair also has cultural exhibition activities. Cultural exhibitions and sacrificial activities are carried out simultaneously, and the venues are divided into internal and external venues. The infield is in the courtyard of the former da'an, and the outfield is in the square in front of the former da'an gate. Among them, there are more than 20 kinds of folk art and acrobatics. Especially in the inner court, elites from all walks of life gathered in the temple to perform various special skills, with climaxes and excitement. The sounds of gongs and drums, firecrackers, laughter, and applause in the inner and outer courts came together one after another. In particular, dragon dance teams, lion dance teams, stilt teams, dry boat teams, and flower convoys from the Qian'an neighborhood committee and surrounding villages gathered to worship the Buddha at the Qian'an Temple. They performed in turn, and the entire Qian'an area was flagged. The gongs and drums are noisy, and the crowds are unprecedented.
Commodity trade is an essential part of temple fairs. People are pacing among the crowds enthusiastically, purchasing their favorite production tools, daily necessities, and arts and crafts. For hundreds of years, merchants in Gengche, Shuangzhuang, Sankeshu, and Caiji have been using the former Daan Temple Fair on the eighth day of the eighth day to engage in commodity trade. According to incomplete statistics, the annual flow of people in temple fairs is between 40,000 and 50,000. In recent years, some manufacturers from other places have also taken advantage of the high concentration of temple fair personnel to come to promote various commodities. During the pre-Da'an temple fair every year, the turnover of commodity trade reached millions of yuan.
The site in front of the former Daan Temple is not only very large, but also very spacious and flat. At present, the existing site is paved with cement. In the past, it was a large piece of muddy ground, which was formed by the many steps of thousands of people. Because of the large site in front of the former Da'an Temple, it provides good conditions for holding temple fairs.
People regard temple fairs as folk culture
According to the old people, the former Da'an Temple Fair is grander, more enthusiastic and unique than other temple fairs, because its content includes half-chamber rides, and this grand and grand ceremony is not available in other temples. The ceremony of "Three Receiving and Three Sending" alone is enough, and it takes more than half an hour before and after. Half-day Luan driving is the first content of the temple fair, and it is also the most regular and popular etiquette. Only after this ceremony is completed can other activities be held. More than 10 young monks were uniformly dressed in yellow robes with prayer beads on their chests, each holding the set of half-faced luang racks high in both hands, and stepped out of the main hall of the former big temple. At this time, the presiding monk in the temple had already bowed down and waited for welcoming outside the main hall. After exiting the main hall door, then going out from the gatehouse of the temple and going up the main road, there is no shortage of procedures for waiting and waiting. The ceremony was officially over until it was delivered to the square outside the temple. The incense of the incense burner in the temple was red, smoke-filled, wafting, and misty. The monks meditated one by one, twisting the beads with their hands, and chanting with their eyes closed. The square outside the temple gate was already surrounded by layers of people watching this grand ceremony.
The scenes of meetings in the past are vividly remembered. The dry boat fleet came over there. Four pairs of young and handsome daughter-in-laws were dressed in flowered cotton jackets and red cotton trousers, with red squares on their heads. They held the dry boat and swayed back and forth, as if sailing in the water. The husband beside him held a paddle board and kept paddling the river back and forth to make the dry boat move slowly. The stilt team came. The village girls in rich costumes, the warriors with the spears and the big swords, the winking Monkey King, the dumb Zhu Bajie, the simple and simple dune and the white-faced scholar Tang Seng came together. The Eight Immortals, Lu Dongbin, Tieguai Li, Uncle Cao Guo, and He Xiangu who crossed the sea are all vivid and lifelike...
Although the current temple fair has lost many traditional entertainment items, the performance of the dragon dance team at the former Da'an also makes people feel the cultural heritage of the ancient temple. Tens of thousands of villagers came to watch the excitement, and the merchandise displayed was colorful and dizzying. The small commodities on the temple fair floor are even more dazzling. Small farm groceries such as buckets, rolling pins, baskets, small tables, small benches, pot racks, dustpans, cutting boards, etc. are for the folks to choose. At the crowded temple fair, there were full of voices and laughter. The people who rushed to the meeting ran from a distance and got together. Everyone had a great time watching the dragon dance, watching the lion, watching the dry boat, and setting off firecrackers.
The people of the former Da'an like this temple fair very much, and the old folks regard the temple fair as a local historical and folk culture to spread, inherit and carry forward. Temple fair is a grand festival of temples, is a festival of temples. As a former big temple with hundreds of years of history, it has been carried forward in its own temple fairs time and time again.
