Time
Until April 24
Tickets
Temple fair at North Deity Ancient Temple| Until April 24
Venue
Metro
Line 1 to Pingzhou Station (坪洲站), Exit A
Temple fair at North Deity Ancient Temple| Until April 24
Writer: | Editor: Doria Nan | From:
Sanyuesan (三月三), the third day of the third month in Chinese lunar calendar, is a festival during which ancient Chinese people worshipped gods or deities.
This year, Sanyuesan is April 16 and a temple fair will be held in advanced of the holiday this weekend at North Deity Ancient Temple in Bao’an. At 11 a.m. Friday morning, the statue of the North Deity will be moved outside for a parade, where visitors can watch piaose (飘色) and qilin dances (麒麟舞).
Piaose
During piaose, child performers wearing heavy makeup and special costumes stand or sit on the iron shelving fixed on a special decorated, wheeled cart. The artists sometimes perform gestures which help identify the figures they are representing.
Piaose is a traditional festival activity in the village of Yakou, Zhongshan City in Guangdong Province. There are several versions of the origin stories of Yakou Piao-se. The first version is that at one time the village of Yakou suffered from frequent floods because of its coastal location and low altitude. To solve the problem, villagers began to carry a paper-made statue of the Bodhisattva and walk around the village to pray for a good harvest. In the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) people began to use small children dressed up as bodhisattva to replace the paper-made effigy. In 2008, the Chinese Government added Yakou Piaose to the official list of State-level intangible cultural heritage items.
Pun choi feast
At 5 p.m. Friday, a pun choi feast will be served. Pun choi, meaning “basin cuisine,” is a Cantonese dish served in large wooden, porcelain or metal basins to facilitate the communal style of consumption. Pun choi includes ingredients such as pork, beef, lamb, chicken, duck, abalone, ginseng, shark fin, fish maw, prawn, crab, dried mushroom, fish balls, squid, dried eel, dried shrimp, pigskin, bean curd and Chinese white radish.
Puppet show
From April 16 to 24, puppet shows will be held at 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. every day, while Cantonese opera will be performed at 8 p.m. every night from April 17 to 21.
Built during the Ming Dynasty and refurbished in 1828 and 1994, North Deity Ancient Temple in Xixiang was built to worship the North Deity in Chinese religion, one of the cosmological “Five Forms of the Highest Deity.” The North Deity is also identified as Xuanwu or Zhenwu. By virtue of his association with the north he has been identified and revered frequently as a representation of the supreme God of Heaven.
Venue: North Deity Ancient Temple, 24 Zhenli Street, Xixiang, Bao’an District (宝安区西乡真理街24号北帝古庙)
Metro: Line 1 to Pingzhou Station (坪洲站), Exit A