Research On Panzi Fair Of Liulin,Shanxi

The temple fair of “Panzi”(a highly condensed temple and magnified shrine),representing a unique local fair culture of Liulin,Shanxi,was incorporated into the state-level Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2008 thanks to its strong culture and aesthetic value.The fair,centering on the miniature temple-shaped Panzi,blends human-deity interactive sacrificial and entertaining activities.Panzi,is an exquisite temple,meticulously carved and lustrously painted by artisans according to a reduced ratio of temple to deity.The temple fair of Panzi,displayed around Liulin County and Mucun Town,is to be held during the Lantern Festival(its climax)and Barn-replenishing Festival.The present article,focused from the perspective of local folklore with application of theories of folklore culture study and ritual,plus methods of a combination of literature study and field survey and that of diachronic analysis and synchronic analysis,conducts a relatively systematic research on the temple fair of Panzi with field study materials.The temple fair of Panzi takes its root in the soil of Liulin,Shanxi.The undulating landscape and arid natural environment,the age-old farming-nomadic history,the resplendent commercial tradition of Jin merchants,coupled with the integration of diverse religion like Buddhism,Taoism and Confucianism – all have given rise to Panzi culture.Panzi,essentially a divine attic,was evolved from a primitive and shabby godly shack.It had experienced four historical stages,namely,development,maturity,decline and prosperity before it became as colorful as it is today.In terms of shapes,Panzi is characterized by two types-the traditional single-stored and single-faceted one or the modern multi-layered and multi-dimensional one.Yet each and every Panzi features differently.The traditional one is generally four meters high,three meters long and deep,reminiscent of a temple with three houses,while the modern one is larger in scale with more stories and angles than the former.And many deities that are popular among the general public are all enshrined in panzi.The shrines,the core of Panzi,are ranked in each Panzi.Each Panzi is preserved for only one dominant shrine and its relevant memorial tablet.Researches find that main shrines in the overwhelming majority of Panzi are mostly for heavenly gods.Those worshipped deities are in forms of pictures and statues.They belong to,by religious standard,Taoism,Buddhism,folk religious belief,and Confucianism.With respect to functions of the deities,there are four kinds:(1)gods for ensuring population including the two Immortals in charge of marriage,Son-delivering Goddess and Zhang Xian both in charge of childbirth,and Goddess of Vision in charge of health;(2)gods governing individual fate including the mascot in charge of good luck,Nanjixianweng(an immortal greybeard)in charge of longevity,Wen Chang and Kui Xing both in chargeof official career and Liu Haichan in charge of wealth,;(3)the mass gods in charge of protection,mainly,San Guan(Heavenly god,Earth god and Water god);(4)mighty gods,mainly the Jade Emperor.The deities in Panzi have met the common folks’ praying and aspiration for a better life.The function of Panzi is to deliver good luck to the people,gift children to them and realize their each and every wish.Panzi Fair,a bustling temple fair,boasts rich religious rituals.The ritual has three phases: preparation,god-worship and god-pleasing.The preparation will begin from the twelfth lunar month to the coming year when the Panzi is to be presented;during the period,the organizing hosts and other organizers will start to collect capital,build Panzi and arrange locations.The second phase includes inviting gods,kowtowing to gods,and praying gods.Inviting gods,used to be known as “chupan”–a ceremony of inviting gods into Panzi through an array of worshipping behaviors by the hosts and other organizers,unfold the prelude to Panzi Fair.God-worship refers to such ritual behaviors as supplying sacrifices,burning incense,burning symbolic paper,kowtowing,and praying.The third phase emphasizes the son-praying ritual featured prominently by stealing “jiji”and other behaviors like revealing “gaigai”,pinching“huahua”and stealing “dagong”(“jiji”,“gaigai”,“huahua”,“dagong”are all dough modeling offerings).In addition to solemn human-deity interactions,the temple fair of Panzi presents many entertaining activities to please both men and gods such as Tanchang(a kind of rap art),Yangko(a popular rural folk dance),songs and dances which all aim to make wishes into a reality by amusing gods.The temple fair of Panzi,with specified structures and functions,symbolizes a cultural system framed at a specific time in a certain space where substance,men,gods and behaviors are at play.Perceived from the pattern,the temple fair of Panzi rituals include eight elements: ritual place,time,item,participant,organizer,role,and sound.In terms of the ritual structure,it can be divided into the overall Panzi ritual and the individual participants.The fair,from the period of presenting Panzi to withdrawing them,is in the stage of Faxian(a threshold).Individual participants enter the stage when he or she engages in the fair;when he or she retreats from the fair and returns home,he or she will enter the post-threshold stage and resume the normal daily life.In terms of relation,there are the human-human one and the human-deity one: vertical relation in which the host family leads the fair while other organizers are in a subordinate position and horizontal relation in which the hosts are juxtaposed with other organizers;the fair is both for men to offer sacrifices to gods and for gods to offer a spiritual solace to men.As far as its cultural function is concerned,the fair is to educate,discipline,unite and regulate the public.The article is composed of four chapters,an introduction,a conclusion,the bibliography,as well as the appendix,totaling more than 86,000 words.