Taihao Mausoleum Temple Fair

    In the north of Huaiyang county stands the Taihao Fuxi Mausoleum, which is called the “ Ancestor Temple” by the locals. It is proved in archeology that the Taihao Mausoleum of Fuxi was first built in the Spring and Autumn Period and then developed in the Han Dynasty with a temple built in front of the mausoleum. Covering over 36 hectares, the Taihao Mausoleum of Fuxi is admired for its huge scale and splendid buildings. In the area of Central China, there is no other temple fair which can rival Taihao Mausoleum Fair in its overwhelming influence and long duration. Lasting a month, the fair, according to the lunar calendar, begins on the second day of the second lunar month and ends on the third day of the third lunar month every year.  

Burning incense and worshipping the ancestor Fuxi is the basic content of the fair. It is said that February 15^th in the lunar calendar is the birthday of ancestor Fuxi, who laid the foundation of the original Chinese civilization with Nvwa, by creating human being out of clay, producing the Eight Trigrams and setting up the rules on marriage. With incense sticks in hands and baskets on shoulders, the pious men and women, who compose the organization of burning incense and worshipping ancestors, hold high the blue-green dragon flags with yellow strips, kneel down solemnly and burn the incense in front of the statue of the ancestor Fuxi, with the instrumental music on, in order to express their greatest veneration to the ancestor. Generally speaking, those who come to worship the ancestor will carry with them a handful of soil from their hometown and add it to the Fuxi Mausoleum after lighting incense, which would bless their descendants to be prosperous.