Temple Fair

Temple fair was originally a showing activity entertaining the people by the Buddhism and Taoism organizations in order to transmit the tenet and increase votary, with the attractive recreation performance such as dances, drama and inspection tour, etc. Later some worship activities of the folk beliefs such as the worship to the mammon and Kitchen God were transmitted to the Buddhist temples and Taoist temples. When the festival ceremonies were held by the Buddhism and Taoism, various kinds of the folk organizations came there to add to the fun. In this way, the Buddhist temples and the Taoist temples were gradually becoming the sites for mass gathering for the religions activities. Owing to the development of the economy and the need of goods circulation for the people, the business activities during the temple fair had increased. As time passed, temple fair has become the main trading market for the people to purchase daily necessities, and has become an important kind of Chinese fair.

With the secularization of the religious activities, the temple fair activities have been popularized and become active. The custom of holding regular temple fair can be found everywhere. And the contents of the temple fairs are slightly different in different places with their own features. Many large temple fairs are uncommonly busy, and there are many local operas playing besides the trading activities. Even in some small scaled temple fairs there are small drama shows such as shadow play and storytelling. Especially during the Spring Festival, the temple fairs in some important temples are hugely crowed with people who take the opportunity to burn incense and worship the Buddha and wish a good luck in a new year.