Zhenxian’s Birthday

121.Zhenxian’s Birthday

Nominating Unit: City of Zhaoqing

Zhenxian (the goddess of chastity) is the model of chastity, diligence, frugality and filial obedience for the Chinese women. She is also one of the Three Goddesses of Lingnan, i.e. Longmu in Deqing of the Qin Dynasty, Tianhou in Quanzhou of the Song Dynasty and Zhenxian in Sihui of The Song Dynasty respectively. Longmu is the goddess of rivers and lakes; Tianhou is the goddess of the sea; while Zhenxian is the goddess of land who bless the land and people living on it, and is deeply loved by people. According to Sihui Xian Zhi of the Qing Dynasty, on the Double Ninth Festival of the 17th year of the Zhenyuan period of the Tang Dynasty (902) , a woman living in Songfupu at the foot of Guangzheng Mountain, whose family name is Wen became immortal, honoured as Zhenxian, while the mountain was renamed Zhen Mountain. Zhenxian did lots of good deeds for people, blessing the villagers, making lots of prominent achievements, and was granted “Huize” (means blessing) by the emperor in the second year of Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty (1863) .

(https://www.daowen.com)

Since the Tang Dynasty, Zhenxian’s Birthday was celebrated on Sep. 9th of the lunar calendar each year. Celebrations were held by both the government and common people, which aimed at promoting the virtues and passing the cultures of Zhenxian. In addition to local villagers, tens of thousands of people from the Pearl River Delta as well as overseas Chinese, compatriots in Hong Kong and Macao also took part in Zhenxian’s Birthday.

The procedures of the rituals of Zhenxian’s Birthday include: 1. Yingxian (welcoming the goddess). Accompanied by the guards of honor, music of gongs and drums, virgin boys and girls, the Eight Immortals, as well as Shanxin and Taoists, Zhenxian was invited out of the ancestral hall to the sedan chair carried by eight men. After that, the procession will start for the altar; 2. Lishi (the ceremony stars), Mingpao (burning firecrackers); 3. Presenting the Golden Pig, tea and fruit, as well as other offerings; 4. Burning incense and worshipping; 5. Reading orations and congratulatory articles by respected elders; 6. Representatives of believers praying for fortune; 7. Presenting handsels from the Eight Immortals; 8. Licheng (the ceremony finishes), Mingpao; 9. Escorting Zhenxian back to the ancestral hall; 10. Performances.

Zhenxian Birthday was criticized as a feudal and superstitious activity and stopped during the “Cultural Revolution”. With the thousand-year old pine tree cut, the Zhenxian Ancestral Hall was also destroyed. After reform and opening-up, Zhenxian Ancestral Hall was reconstructed and Zhenxian’s Birthday was resumed which is generally welcomed by citizens of Zhaoqing.