Zhongyue
Temple is located at the foot of
Huanggai
Peak on the southeast of
Taishi
Mountain,
4 km away from
Dengfeng
City of
Henan
Province. The temple fair is held on the 10th of the third lunar month and the 10th
of the tenth lunar month every year. It originates from the fete of
offering sacrifices to the Mountain by the ancient rulers. In the Song
dynasty, the regime and the Taoism were integrated, thus the temple fair
entered its prime times, and gradually, it became an important fair for
trade.
The
Temple
Fair lasts as long as 10 days, and
attendants could be as many as 200,000 per day. Many ancient customs are
kept till now at the fair, such as “Shuanwawa”, literally “tying down a
baby”, an activity of tying a rope on the neck of a clay baby in the
temple, “Baigandie”, literally means “worshiping a nominally adoptive
father”; “touching iron figures” (a legend has it that one who touches
the iron figure could be as strong as the iron figure), etc. At the
fair, one can also watch many local performances such as lion dancing,
land-boat dancing, stilt walking, fire dragon dancing, and so on. There
are also many souvenirs or “mascots”, which are provided with a strong
religious belief, for example, longevity lock, jade scepter, precious
calabash, sachet, lucky sword, animal sign stone, etc.
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