Temple Fair
01 · Historical Records
Some of the large temple fairs had already reached considerable scale in the Tang dynasty and have been passed down without interruption ever since, exerting a wide influence. In China's Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, as well as the Taiwan region, the traditional temple fairs commonly observed by devotees were all introduced from the mainland and remain inseparably tied to their origins. The Wudang Mountain temple fair is a folk activity that evolved from devotees' distinctive pilgrimages to the mountain to offer incense; it is popular in the Wudang Mountain area of Shiyan City, Hubei Province. The Wudang Mountain temple fair began in the late Eastern Han dynasty, flourished in the Song, and reached its height in the Ming and Qing; its main activities include mountain pilgrimage and incense offering, the performance of Daoist zhaijiao (fasting and offering) liturgies, and folk art activities. There are three forms of the mountain pilgrimage and incense offering: first, incense associations offering incense in groups; second, ascetic pilgrimages on foot by Daoist believers; third, scattered individual incense offering. The Wudang Daoist rites are mainly the Lesser Qi-Chao and Greater Qi-Chao ceremonies; the Lesser Qi-Chao takes one day, while the Greater Qi-Chao takes three days. The pattern of two sessions a year is the key to how the Wudang Mountain temple fair differs from the neighboring mountain temple fairs. The session running from the end of the twelfth lunar month to mid-March comes right after the year-end festivals, while the session in early September falls after the Mid-Autumn Festival; each of the two sessions occupies a stretch of spring and autumn respectively, staggered away from the busy farming season. The composition of the pilgrims is also stratified by route: those who come to offer incense in groups organized by incense associations travel together, while those who enter the mountain scattered according to personal devotion are said to offer scattered incense; ascetic pilgrims make the journey on foot as a form of penance, with emphasis on fulfilling vows. The coexistence of these three modes of incense offering shows that the degree of faith-based organization at this mountain temple is not entirely uniform. The hierarchy of the Daoist rites, by contrast, is relatively fixed: the Lesser Qi-Chao is completed in one day, while the Greater Qi-Chao requires three days of fasting and offering liturgies, unfolding around such elements as audience with the Perfected and blessings for the sage; they are the medium through which devotees entrust their wishes to the Daoist temple.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Temple fairs, also known as "temple markets", are a type of folk-belief activity held at regular intervals at temples and in their vicinity, popular throughout the country. Every temple fair has its own prescribed session dates, most of which fall on a traditional lunar festival or on a religious or folk-belief commemorative day. Temple fairs are characterized by concentration, mass participation, and fixity. During a fair, all manner of folk activities and commercial exchanges can be fully displayed in public, and the activities are rich and colorful; processions for welcoming the gods are also one form of temple fair. The fair is held in two sessions each year: from the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month to the sixteenth day of the third month of the following year, and from the first to the tenth day of the ninth lunar month; of these, the fairs on the third day of the third month and the ninth day of the ninth month are the most solemn. During the fair, people can walk the spring greens and climb the mountain, view lanterns and scenery, watch Wudang martial arts arena contests, and enjoy fireworks displays and other performances.
Pilgrimage by incense societies
Organised incense societies travel in formed ranks with stations along the way, the most collective form of pilgrimage on the mountain.
Pilgrimage on foot
Believers climb on foot in silence and abstinence, treating bodily hardship as the earnestness with which a vow is discharged.
Individual pilgrimages
Unattached visitors arrive singly or in small groups, offer incense and withdraw, creating the diffuse daily incense life of the temple.
The minor and great morning rites
Temple rites come in two grades, a one-day minor rite and a three-day major fast, the length marking the weight of the votive wish.
The main terms of the third and ninth months
Of the two annual terms, the third and ninth days of the third and ninth lunar months draw the crowds, with lantern viewing and martial contests.
Martial contests and fireworks
Boxing contests and fireworks supply the secular side of the fair, running alongside the fast and rite to make a scene of worship mixed with pleasure.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Wudang Mountain temple fair is a microcosm of local folk life; it has greatly enriched the cultural life of the local people and has high value for folklore and historical-cultural research. The spatial distribution of the Wudang Mountain temple fair is closely related to the pilgrimage routes: the temples and village grounds below the mountain gate are mostly places for resting and transferring incense, while the market towns along the way supply incense, ritual implements, and daily necessities. The main fairs fall on the third day of the third month and the ninth day of the ninth month, when the flow of people is highly concentrated on the mountain paths and at the cable-car entrances; the martial arts contests, lantern displays, and fireworks are all held on these two days. Geographically, pilgrims from Hubei, Henan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and elsewhere come along the Han River and the old post roads; the villages below the mountain mostly have places for depositing incense and contact points for the incense associations, gathering individual votive intentions into organized pilgrimages.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In overseas Chinese communities, many temple fairs brought from the homeland thrive with burning incense, transmitting the cultural lineage of the Chinese nation in a special way.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Hu Wenxiang 04-1974
- Guan Zhangxun 04-1975
- Cheng Zhongxin 05-3018
- Wang Defeng
- Luo Binggen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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