Folk Beliefs and Customs

Ⅹ-85Folk CustomsLuoyang, HenanBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

From the Eastern Han to the Five Dynasties, Guan Gong was worshipped with reference to the ancient rites for the deities of soil and grain and the sacrificial rites for Confucius; in the Northern Song dynasty the ceremony was performed with the tai-lao (great sacrificial) rites. During the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty, elements such as "welcoming the god," "entertaining the god," and "sending off the god" were added. In the Qing dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor officially designated the thirteenth day of the fifth month as the day for the birthday sacrifice to Guan Gong. The sacrificial ceremony held at the Guanlin in Luoyang consists of stages such as inspecting the sacrificial animals, arranging the offerings, washing the hands, the first offering, bowing to the four directions, paying homage, the final offering, and circling the tomb, presided over by the county magistrate of Luoyang. The Jiezhou Guandi Ancestral Temple is the largest Guan temple in the country; it was built by imperial order in the ninth year of the Kaihuang reign of the Sui dynasty (589), with a front court and rear halls, and it holds the highest rank among the tens of thousands of Guandi temples in China and abroad. The temple worship arose because Guan Yu's head was buried there; in the twentieth year of the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty (1592), on the original site of the Han dynasty temple of Guan, the basic scale of today's temple fair took shape.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Folk beliefs, also called "popular beliefs," are conventional traditional ideas formed by people in the long course of production and daily life; under the domination of such ideas, the populace develops psychological and behavioral identification with certain folk phenomena. In Chinese popular belief, Guan Gong is ranked alongside Confucius and is honored as the "Sage of War." The worship of Guan Gong in temples is an important component of traditional Chinese culture; its influence extends overseas and continues unbroken to this day. The belief in Guan Gong gradually assumed a relatively fixed pattern with the development of history. Jiezhou Town, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, is the hometown of Guan Gong, and the folk beliefs of the Guandi ancestral temple formed around Guan Gong are extremely rich in content. From ancient times to the present, temple fairs have been held here every year on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth lunar month, the birthday of Emperor Guan, as well as on the eighth day of the fourth month and the ninth day of the ninth month; over time this became a custom that has been followed ever since. The Guanlin in Luoyang, Henan, is the only ancient architectural complex in China that unites the tomb, the temple, and the grove in one sacrificial site; it has a history of more than a thousand years. The Guanlin temple fair is held on the three sacrifice days of spring, birthday, and autumn—namely the thirteenth day of the first, fifth, and ninth lunar months. The sacrificial ceremony gathers Luoyang local folk arts such as lion dances, drum dances, martial arts, acrobatics, dough figurines, haishen (sea-god) performances, and gaoqiao quzi (stilt tunes), all merged with various folk belief legends.

The spring sacrifice

The thirteenth of the first lunar month opens the three ritual dates, the first major offering after the new year.

The birthday sacrifice

The birthday on the thirteenth of the fifth month, fixed by imperial decree, draws the largest rite and the fullest crowds.

The autumn sacrifice

The thirteenth of the ninth month completes the three rites, drawing pilgrims back in the clear weather of autumn.

Inspecting the sacrifice and purification

The rite moves through inspecting the offerings, arranging them, purification, three presents, saluting the four quarters and entombment.

The magistrate as celebrant

A county magistrate presides, placing the local official at the ritual centre — the mark of Luoyang's official rite.

Lion dance and local tunes

Lion dances, drumming, martial displays, acrobatics, dough modelling and tall-stilt tunes blend with the cult's stories.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Guan Gong folk beliefs of the Luoyang area center on the Guanlin. The Guanlin is the only ancient architectural complex in China that unites the tomb, the temple, and the grove in one sacrificial site; it has a history of more than a thousand years, with the tomb, the shrine, and the woods all in one place, so pilgrims who come here both worship at the tomb and stroll through the grove. Unlike the official regulations of the Jiezhou ancestral temple, the Guanlin temple fair relies on the local arts of Luoyang: the three sacrifice days of spring, birthday, and autumn—namely the thirteenth day of the first, fifth, and ninth lunar months—when lion dances, drum dances, martial arts, and acrobatics appear together with dough figurines, haishen (sea-god) performances, and gaoqiao quzi (stilt tunes), all merged with various folk belief legends. The movements of believers in the Luoyang area also have their own pattern: the Guanlin lies south of Luoyang city; to the north are the smaller beliefs of the city god and the various Guan Di temples, while to the south are the townships and villages of the Yi and Luo river valleys. Villagers of the Heluo area who attend gatherings and fairs mostly first burn incense at nearby small temples, then choose the three sacrifice days to go to the Guanlin for the great ceremony. The old rule that the official sacrifice is presided over by the county magistrate of Luoyang has also given the worship of Guan Gong in Luoyang a distinctly official character from the start.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The deities worshipped in traditional folk belief are an important source of the genesis of folk beliefs; praying for blessings and avoiding harm is the inner reason why traditional folk beliefs continue to be transmitted; and the aggregation of various folk cultural expressive forms constitutes the cultural space of folk beliefs. The core content of the folk beliefs of Guan Gong is the traditional concept of taking good faith as the foundation and loyalty as the highest value; this idea has won wide recognition among Chinese both at home and abroad and has become an important element of the values of the Chinese world. At present, very few people are familiar with forms such as dough figurines, court music, haishen performances, and gaoqiao quzi in the activities of the Guan Gong folk beliefs, which are in danger of being lost and urgently need rescue and protection.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

Wu Jishan 05-3019
Xu Shunwei 05-3020
Huang Guanghui 05-3021
Chen Jikun 05-3022
Sinapinchu 05-3023
Liu Shimei 05-3024
Zhang Qingming 05-3025
Zheng Quanguang 05-3026
Ye Da 05-3027
Li Yaohui
Luo Shengzong

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Folk Beliefs and Customs (Luoyang, Henan) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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