February 1 1 to 13 of the lunar calendar is the pineapple birthday of Huangpu, Guangzhou.
What is "Poirot's Birthday"
Temple fairs in Nanhai Temple are held from February 1 1 to 13 of the lunar calendar every year, in which 13 is the official birthday, also known as pineapple birthday, which is the birthday of Nanhai God. It is a unique traditional folk festival in Guangzhou and even the Pearl River Delta region, the largest folk temple fair, and the only festival in China to offer sacrifices to Poseidon.
Boluo Birthday Temple Fair is the most influential folk temple fair in the Pearl River Delta region, which contains the most representative folk cultural elements in Guangzhou and has a thousand-year historical and cultural tradition. Liu Kezhuang, a poet in the Song Dynasty, described the grand occasion of the "Birthday of Polo" temple fair in his poem "That's Things". During the pineapple temple fair, villagers, faithful men and women from the Pearl River Delta went to Nanhai Temple in Huangpu from all directions to pray, visit or shop, with hundreds of thousands of tourists. There is a saying in Guangzhou that "the first trip to polo is a mistress", which shows the great influence of the temple fair.
It is difficult to verify when the pineapple temple fair originated. It is said to be the Ming Dynasty, but it is recorded in Liu Kezhuang's poem "That's it" in the Song Dynasty: "Incense is everywhere, and fireworks are in February. Live in an empty lane and go to Saihai Temple. " Temple fairs may have existed at that time. During the annual "Boluo Birthday", villagers around Nanhai Temple continued the ancient folk traditions and customs, offering sacrifices to Nanhai God, praying for peace and prosperity of the country and people, and keeping the sea from being submerged by waves and entering and leaving safely. Therefore, pineapple birthday is a folk festival with a long history of thousands of years, which is rich in Guangzhou local characteristics.
south sea god temple
Nanhai Temple, also known as Boluo Temple, is located in Miaotou Community, Suidong Street, Huangpu District, with an area of 30,000 square meters. It was founded in Sui 14 (AD 594) and has a history of more than 14 10 years. It was built to worship Zhu Rong, the god of the South China Sea. It is the largest and oldest of the four ancient sea temples in China, and it is also the only one that has been preserved intact so far. /kloc-0 was listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in Guangdong province in July, 1962. The palace is magnificent and deep, with the front hall and the back bedroom. 1985, rebuild and repair the main hall, pavilion, head door and instrument door. On the west side of the temple, there is an earthen port called Zhangqiu, which used to be a place to watch the sunrise on the sea. On the top of the mountain, there is a single-eaved bathing pavilion to rest. The beam frame is simple, and the ancient trees beside the pavilion are lush, towering an ancient red bean tree. Nanhai Temple and its adjacent Bathing Pavilion were named "Eight Scenes of Yangcheng" in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Sacrificial ceremonies have been held in all previous dynasties, using the ceremony of princes. This is an important site in the history of China's ancient overseas transportation and trade, and also the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. Many businessmen worship Poseidon here first, then sail out to sea, go to Southeast Asia, India and directly go to West Asia.
Nanhai Temple is the earliest starting point of the Silk Road in the South China Sea and one of the oldest ports in China. The Silk Road in the South China Sea was a sea passage for exchanges, trade and cultural exchanges between ancient China and foreign countries. It is the main channel for exchanges between China and foreign countries after the Tang and Song Dynasties, with the South China Sea as the center and Guangzhou as the starting point. It was formed in the Qin and Han Dynasties, developed in the Three Kingdoms and Sui Dynasties, flourished in the Tang and Song Dynasties and changed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This is the oldest known sea route. Since the 3rd century, Guangzhou has replaced Xuwen and Hepu as the main port of the Maritime Silk Road. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Guangzhou became the largest port in China and a world-famous oriental port city. The route from Guangzhou to the Persian Gulf countries via the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean was the longest route in the world at that time. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Guangzhou was in a "one-stop" situation for a long time. Since ancient times, there have been many routes from Guangzhou on the Maritime Silk Road. At present, there are more than 20 places on the Maritime Silk Road in Guangzhou, such as Nanhai Temple, Huaisheng Temple Lighthouse, Guangxiao Temple, Muslim Tomb, Hualin Temple, Lotus Pagoda and Shamian Western-style buildings, among which Nanhai Temple is the earliest starting point of the South China Sea Silk Road.
The origin of "Poirot's birthday"
According to legend, in the Tang Dynasty, a polo messenger from Tianzhu (India) came to China, but missed his return date for some reason and died in Guangzhou. Later, he was named "Daxi Sikong" and built a temple of the sea. Because it came from the Baltic countries and brought the Baltic tree, it was planted in the South China Sea Temple, also known as the "Baltic Temple" among the people, and the set birthday was also known as the "Baltic Birthday". Therefore, the birthday of Nanhai God is also called "Polo Birthday".
On March 27th, 2007, the 3rd Guangzhou Folk Culture Festival and the Millennium Temple Fair of "Polo's Birthday" in Huangpu opened. Xiang Dongsheng and Pan, vice-chairmen of Guangzhou, and relevant persons in charge of the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Huangpu District attended the opening ceremony. Chen Xiaogang, secretary of Huangpu District Party Committee, said that this year, relying on the brand effect of Huangpu Military Academy and Nanhai Temple, we will speed up the development of revolutionary military education tours, folk cultural relics tours, rural agricultural ecological tours and other tourism projects. We will start the comprehensive development of "farmhouse" rural tourism and ancient dwellings, turn Nanhai Temple into a national 4A-level tourist attraction, and start the work of applying for national cultural relics protection units and declaring national intangible cultural heritage such as "Polo Birthday" and "Polo Chicken".
In 2005, Guangzhou handed over the management and use right of Nanhai Temple to Huangpu, and founded the Guangzhou Folk Culture Festival, which combined folk culture with the traditional festival "Polo Birthday" and became another highlight of Guangzhou citizens' cultural life.