Temple Fair of Baoding Mountain Grottoes

Introduction

The tale says that Guanyin Bodhisattva was born on 19th. of Feburary in Lunar Calendar. There is a Temple Fair held to celebrate this day every year at Baoding Mountain Grottoes. In order to protect the grottoes, joss sticks burning is moved to the place 1 kilometer away from carvings and sculptures.

During the temple fair, visitors can go to Baoding Mountain to pray for happiness and good luch. Visitors can also watch lantern dance played by 500 people, firework display Zigong Lantern Exhibition and Chinese Buddhist Culture Exhibition.

Tips

The temple fair is a kind of social activity in China. Legend has it that it originated in ancient times when people offered sacrifices to the village god, which later gradually evolved into a marketplace for people to exchange products and a place for cultural performance.

The temple fair, usually on the open ground in or near a temple, is held on festive or specified days. Some are held only during the Spring Festival. Although different places hold their temple fair at various dates, the contents are similar. Farmers and merchants sell their farm produce, local specialties, and antiques, jade articles, flowers, birds and fish; craftsmen set up their stalls to show and sell their handicrafts and specialty snacks; folk artists establish a stage for singing, dance, and quyi (Chinese folk art forms, including ballad singing, story telling, comic dialogues, clapper talk, cross talk, etc.) performance. Ordinary people come to the temple fair to buy and sell goods, watch the performances, and sample snacks, giving the temple fair a bustling atmosphere.

Many goods sold in the temple fair have typical northern features, such as toys like diabolo, pinwheel, knife, spear, sword and halberd; big sugarcoated haws on a stick and gruel of millet flour and sugar are widely popular among common people.