Fenggang Village is close to Haojiang River, and there is a chicken-like hill, which is a settlement barrier. In the mid-Yuan Dynasty, Zheng Jia came here to fish and settle down, and became a township, later renamed Fenggang Village. Fenggang village is surrounded by mountains and waters, and there are industries such as agriculture, fishery and salt industry. "Thin shell" is its specialty. Fenggang Village is also famous for the folk custom of "Chicken Ma Gang".
The theme of "Jigangma" folk custom is to worship "Pearl Empress". On the17th day of the first month every year, thousands of foreign tourists go to attend it. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that "Jigang Ma is a foreigner".
On the 17th day of the first month, the celebration of worshipping the "Pearl Empress" in Fenggang is a folk activity with local characteristics in Dahao area and even in eastern Guangdong. "Fenggang Ma" is commonly known as "Pearl Empress". Because of its spiritual embodiment, on the 17th day of the first month every year, besides the villagers, thousands of foreign good men and women come to make a pilgrimage.
When did the "Sacrifice to Heaven on the 17th day of the first month" begin? According to the legend of the old people in the village, there are different opinions since ancient times; Second, the Ming and Qing Dynasties; The third statement is unclear, but it has not been verified so far, so this question is still a mystery? It is said that in the old society, the worship activities on the seventeenth day of the first month were not like this. On the 17th day of the first month, worship activities were held in two ancestral halls, namely Yongsi and Baoben. Every two years, a ancestral hall gets a sacred incense burner, and each of them invites the "Pearl Empress" to worship in their ancestral hall. The war and the Cultural Revolution were interrupted. After the Cultural Revolution, the sacrificial activities of Fenggang horse were resumed, and the tradition of holding the upper and lower ancestral halls separately was broken, and it was held in the present Pearl Niangniang Temple. Every year, there are thousands of worshippers, and the gods give whatever they want (this is a bit superstitious), and outsiders come. Under the correct guidance of the new era and new religious and folk policies, the worship of "Fenggang Horse" has become a folk activity with local characteristics. The "Pearl Niangniang Temple" is located on the north side of the mountainside of Jigang, facing the Haojiang River (it is impossible to verify when the ancient temple was built), surrounded by Woods, with a pool in front and a well on the left and right, which is very beautiful in geomantic omen. As the saying goes, "the mountain is not high, and the fairy is famous." The characteristics of this folk activity are:
1. Living table mat: During the sacrificial activities, there are various offerings in front of the shrine of the Pearl Queen. This kind of scene is not uncommon in superstitious activities in other parts of Chaoshan. What is unique is that there are several live chickens, ducks and geese in the sacrificial activities of "Fenggangma". These guys, undaunted by the crowd and the roar of firecrackers, are still walking leisurely on the table. Some people will ask whether these live chickens, ducks and geese have been specially trained and what is their function? Are raised by ordinary families. They are only ordered by the Pearl Queen before attending the banquet and returned to their owners after the pilgrimage. They are not only the decorations on the dining table, but their main mission is to be a health inspector for the Pearl Queen. There are hundreds of offerings on the table, and if you find unclean offerings, you will walk around the table and turn them over. There are rules in the village. After the pilgrimage, the offerings that will not be overturned will be distributed to every household in the village, which is safe to eat! The offerings carried by live chickens and ducks will appear in one way or another. Once, a flower needle was found in a cake, and the hair was left on a "base plate" (this cake).
2. Fireworks in the sky: Before the government banned fireworks and firecrackers, firecrackers kept ringing in Fenggang on the 17th day of the first month. You will know its characteristics after staying at the scene for an hour or two. Many admirers have the habit of setting off firecrackers, which is a good sign-it is booming. When worshipping, present a string of firecrackers to see if their firecrackers are ringing on the gun rack of firecrackers stone. Do you play continuously or intermittently? In this way, firecrackers rang all day and sighed spectacularly! What a pity! There is no such style now!
3. Crispy sugar tower: There are also crisp sugar towers on the table of sacrificial activities. Crispy sugar tower is made of crisp sugar and looks like a tower. Crispy sugar towers are mostly customized by village collectives, "Hui" (a small group of Han people) and foreign units. In the past, there was competition between meetings, and every year they competed with each other for whose crisp candy tower was high. Crispy sugar tower once developed to 5 or 6 meters high. This is also rare in Chaoshan area.
4. The first incense: The so-called "first incense" is the first incense given by Fenggang villagers on the auspicious day of the seventeenth day of the first month. It is said that because the "first fragrance" can bring good luck to perfumers, thousands of people compete to insert the "first fragrance" every year for good luck in the New Year. The board of directors should ban the planting of incense in the village. When the ceremony of offering incense to the villagers is over, people will flock to compete for the first incense, and the scene is amazing.
5. Squeeze the stone gate: Anyone who has been to worship God will remember that you have to squeeze through a stone gate in the crowd to enter the worship venue. This stone gate is formed by two natural stones sandwiched together, and only two people can pass through it at the same time. On the 17th day of the first month, thousands of people crowded past this gate during the worship of Fenggangma. There are many legends about this Shimen village. The stone on the left is called "tortoise stone"; The stone on the right is called "crab stone", which is named after it looks like a turtle and a crab. Turtles are considered as a symbol of longevity; Crab is considered as a symbol of health, so this stone gate has the metaphor of longevity.
There are many legends and contents in the sacrificial activities of "Fenggang Horse", such as begging for Queena Ding, worshiping the red peach shell and so on.