The temple fair is approaching, and the old village chief and several respected old people in the two villages are so busy that their feet do not touch the ground, turning like a spinning top to arrange people to build sheds, contact Taoist priests, tick bands, etc., and nervously prepare for the size of the temple fair.

The temple fair, also called "temple market" or "festival field", has a close relationship with the religious activities of Buddhist temples and Taoist temples, and develops, perfects and popularizes with folk belief activities, and adds dance, comedy, patrol, agricultural products to buy and buy in its religious ceremonies, integrates entertainment, bazaars, trade, eating, drinking and playing, etc., and is one of the most lively events for the New Year in many rural areas.

The temple fairs in each village are held at a fixed time every year, most of them are held during the agricultural slack, and they have their own characteristics due to different spring, summer, autumn and winter, and different places.

Generally speaking, the temple fairs held in the first month and February are mainly held to burn incense, play with lanterns, and pray for blessings; in March and April, they are mainly held to sell farming tools and exchange agricultural and sideline products; and after the autumn harvest, the temple fairs held after the autumn harvest are mainly to celebrate the harvest and pray for good fortune and disasters, that is, various sacrificial activities staged by farmers to thank the gods for bringing about a year's harvest and pray for good weather and abundant crops in the coming year.

The festival lasts from one day to a week, and most of them last three to five days.

Once a village holds a temple fair, vendors from all walks of life gather from all directions, and the venue is full of all kinds of stalls: tricksters, monkeys, circles, shaved heads, singing, shoe repairers, red and shiny rock sugar gourds, fragrant fried buns in the oil pot, and golden and shiny cannabis flowers......

Eating, drinking and having fun are all there at the temple fair, the sound of gongs and drums is ticking and selling one after another, and the crowds of people are surging in the incense flames, which is very lively. The charm of the temple fair can be seen.

Temple fairs are held in villages in Huangshi Township for two or three days to a few days, usually after the autumn harvest or during the Chinese New Year. There is farmland that can be vacated as a venue, farmers have leisure, and heaven is beautiful, which can be said to be the most suitable period for holding a temple fair.

And this year, the temple fair held in Huishui Village for the New Year can be said to have encountered "time, place, and people", with the strong support of Zhangjiazhai and Zhang Fan and other financial owners, it is also the "population money" is saved, and the famous floating color performance troupe in the next town is directly invited, and the big pomp is lively and lively for three days.

"Your temple fair here is a little different from other places! it seems to be more sacred!" Chen Baoli said.

In rural areas, temple fairs have an important place in the hearts of the villagers, not only as a rare entertainment, but also as an important part of their faith. Everyone's culture is limited, there is not much faith, and it is naturally easy to have some sustenance on the Bodhisattva and gods in the temple, and they like to worship the gods and Buddhas when they have nothing to do, pray for the blessing of the Bodhisattva, and ask for peace of mind.

Judging from the rituals of the temple fair and the serious expressions of the villagers, we can feel some spiritual sustenance in their hearts and the awe of their faith. In fact, the place that can give people spiritual sustenance can be understood as faith.

Belief is a psychological phenomenon unique to human beings, and it is an individual's conscious behavior, which refers to people's belief in and respect for a certain theory, doctrine, and ism, and regards it as their own code of conduct and activity guide. To put it simply, it is the underlying norms and attitudes of what a person does and does not do, which is part of the belief.

"It's burning incense and kowtowing or something, isn't it superstition?" said a tourist who was watching the temple fair next to him.

In fact, the content of faith is diverse and strange, and religious belief can be said to be one of them.

What you see in front of you is not necessarily the same as superstitious gods and ghosts, but more of the villagers' dependence and trust on material or spiritual things outside of themselves, hoping to get rid of the hardships and confusion in real life and obtain spiritual tranquility.

Therefore, even if you are poor, as long as the temple fair is held, it will be as grand as possible, and it will pay great attention to the ceremony and be very sacred.

"Haha, the temple fair here is original and interesting. Unlike other places, as soon as the temple fair is held, it is filled with a strong commercial atmosphere, and there is no energy. I heard that there was a temple fair in Zhangjiazhai, and Du Lao, who came to join in the fun, said with a smile. He is well-informed, and he has a special feeling for these customs and human feelings.

"In many places, as long as there is a temple fair, they will set up a stage to sing a big opera, I don't know what kind of drama will be prepared for the temple fair these days?" asked Manager Liang.

Like those big cities of the City God Temple Fair, Dongyue Temple Fair, Ancestral Temple Fair, etc., not only have wonderful singing performances, but even the government has set aside a special section of the road for the travel procession, and the vehicles that usually travel will also need to make way for it, which is quite grand.

As far as he knows, the name of the temple fair jointly organized by Zhangjiazhai and Huishui Village did not invite an opera troupe, so what can be seen?

"Nowadays, there are very few temple fairs with such a primitive ecology and a local atmosphere. It's also good to have time to join in the excitement and feast your eyes!" Du Lao said to the young people with a smile.

Needless to say, this kind of thing will be done. Anyway, the Chinese New Year is leisurely, all kinds of food stalls or something are very tempting, even if it is not because of faith, it is not worth the trip for the sake of "mouth"!

Of course, there are more villagers and elders from ten miles and eight towns who are busy in the fields on weekdays because of two meals, and it is difficult to get together. By virtue of the rare leisure of the year, gather at the temple fair, greet each other, chat with joy, you and I are intertwined with enthusiastic eyes, laughter and laughter are like silk and bamboo, refreshing people's hearts, and it is also a beautiful scenery.

"Hehe, although there is no big drama in this temple fair, there is a more exciting and bigger performance than that!" Zhang Fan said to everyone.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, brother, you should be talking about going up the knife mountain and going down the sea of fire that can make people's hearts jump just by looking at it, right?" Chen Baoli said his guess.

"Haha, that's half right! Zhang Fan said with a smile.

Seeing that there was not much time left on the phone, Zhang Fan and the others quickened their pace and went to the White Horse Temple. Zhang Fan was specially explained by the old village chief, and there must be no mistake in going to the temple to help, although he didn't know what to do, but he still had to arrive a little earlier to avoid delay.

Now, the villagers of both villages are all mobilized and busy, and I am afraid that the idlers are left with the little ones and the tourists who come to visit.

Along the way, there are a lot of colorful flags on both sides of the road fluttering, and there are also a lot of red banners with the words "wishing the success of the temple fair" rippling in the wind, and the town also sent people to send the banners, which is very magnificent.

The most eye-catching, but also the most speechless, is a huge poster at the scene, indicating that this temple fair is sponsored by ****** tourism company, which makes people complain.

The largest field in the center of Huishui Village is the main activity venue of the temple fair, and there are large and small sheds temporarily built by the villagers, some of which are used to worship gods and bodhisattvas, some are the workplaces of Taoist priests, some are the foothold of the performance team, some are the service points of the temple fair staff, some are resting tourists, some are eating fasting and so on.

The women of the village are busy washing all kinds of ingredients, lighting a fire to cook, wiping tables, setting up stools, etc. Most of the men helped to share the affairs of the various sacrificial ceremonies in the temple and the venue under the guidance of the temple and the venue.

When everything was almost ready, there were bursts of artillery battles on the side of the White Horse Temple, and the wisps of incense were constantly ringing gongs and drums, slowly opening the prelude to the temple fair.