*Foshan Ancestral Temple Fair

113.*Foshan Ancestral Temple Fair

Nominating Unit: City of Foshan

Foshan Ancestral Temple Fair is a secular and entertaining folk religious activity of a mass character, which is popular in the Pearl River Delta. The initiation of the temple fair comes from the worship of Beidi and the construction of Foshan Ancestral Temple. Beidi, also named “Xuanwu”,“Zhenwu”, “Xuantian Shangdi”, “Heidi” and so on, who is said to have power over the waters of Guangdong Province. As the carrier of the worship for Beidi, the temple was built in the Song Dynasty during the reign of emperor Yuan Feng (1078~1085). Qu Dajun (a famous litterateur in the Qing Dynasty ) has once said in his work Guangdong Province Xinyu that “There’re so many ‘Zhenwu’temples in Guangdong Province, among which the one in Foshan is the biggest. So we shall name it‘the ancestral temple’ .” From the narration we can see that before the Qing Dynasty, there’re a lot of “Zhenwu” temples in Guangdong Province. The oldest one among them is the Foshan Ancestral Temple, which is the biggest in scope and the most extensive in influence. As the “chief temple” of the all the “Zhenwu” temples, the Foshan Ancestral Temple was chosen by renowned seniors and gentries of the town as the place for “temple meeting”. Thus the Ancestral Temple has become a symbol of regime, clan power and theocracy.

According to the historical records, Foshan Ancestral Temple stages several events throughout the year. On Jan. 6th of the lunar calendar, people “welcome” Beidi to “present” in the ancestral hall. The official Spring Rites is held on Feb. 15th of the lunar calendar. On Mar.3rd of the lunar calendar, Birthday of Beidi is celebrated. On Aug. 15th of the lunar calendar the official Autumn Rite is staged. The last event host in the temple is on the Sep. 9th of the lunar calendar which is the day Beidi becomes immortal. Among all the events, the Birthday of Beidi on Mar. 3rd of the lunar calendar is the most ceremonious and joyous one.

There’re several rituals during the Foshan Ancestral Temple Fair, including the ritual of worshipping, the procession of Beidi’s statue , the “thank god” folk art performance, the fi recrackers show and so on. Among all the rituals , the most solemn one is the procession of Beidi’s statue, which lasts for a day and a night. In the procession, the bronze statue of Beidi is placed in a red sedan chair decorated with golden dragons. With a Drums and Gongs band leading the way, people who hold colorful banners and royal umbrellas follow, coming up with a group of lion dance performers. The procession is warmly welcomed and piously worshipped by the whole neighbourhood. The day after the procession(Mar.4th of the lunar calendar ) goes for the firecracker show, which is to set off a huge firecracker on a gorgeous fl oat. When the firecracker is exploded, an iron ring hidden in it will fl y to the sky. People will scramble for the ring in the hope for an auspicious and fortunate life.(https://www.daowen.com)

As the biggest comprehensive worshipping and entertaining event, Foshan Ancestral Temple Fair is broadly participated by hundreds of thousands of people. It is of great value for the research of Lingnan traditional beliefs. The celebration of the Birthday of Beidi is most eloquent fact of the beliefs in Beidi in South China. To some extent, the ancestral temple is closely related to the history of Foshan. In the course of historical development for thousands of years, Foshan developed from a village lived on farming to an industrialized and commercialized town , which has been witnessed by the temple. Therefore it is a vivid research object for the study of the history, politics, economy, culture, religion and art. Not only that, Foshan Ancestral Temple Fair involves a lot of elements of art, which will never vanish. Such as the various performances and ritual ceremonies, the bronze statue of Beidi, the parade of the statue of Beidi, exquisite copper weapons and wood carvings, firecrackers and the decorations of dragon and phoenix as well as all kinds of autumn food. Besides, the eight tones gongs and drums music, the wooden knocker, Nanyin (a form of music) and other forms of music, as well as the Cantonese opera, ballades, martial arts, acrobatics and Guangdong Province flavor snacks are also of high artistic values. Foshan Ancestral Temple Fair was selected into the list of the second batch of state-level intangible cultural heritage in 2008.

However, due to various reasons, Foshan ancestral temple was once prohibited as feudal superstition, and many historical documents and artifacts were destroyed or lost. The abbot and the missionaries are getting old while there is no worthy successors. Therefore, it is urgent to intensify efforts of the excavation and protection to the ancestral temple.