100 Pigs and 100 Sheep: The Most Spectacular "Bai Tiangong" in Zhangzhou

🧨 On the ninth day of the first lunar month, people in southern Fujian hold a grand ceremony to celebrate the birthday of the Jade Emperor, also known as "Bai Tiangong." - In many places, people hold the grandest ceremony on this day to worship the Jade Emperor with three animals and fruits, praying for good weather and a good harvest in the coming year. - Among the various Bai Tiangong customs, the one in southern Fujian is the grandest, and the one in Yuzun Palace in Tianbao Town, Zhangzhou City, is the most representative. - 📍: Yuzun Palace, Zhuli Village, Tianbao Town, Xiangcheng District, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province 📅: The event in Yuzun Palace is held from late at night on the eighth day of the first lunar month to the early morning of the ninth day, while other villages hold the ceremony on the night of the ninth day. - 🧨: The Bai Tiangong ceremony requires a pair of fresh flowers, a pair of candles, and three teacups filled with tea in front of the incense burner. The vegetarian offerings include three bundles of noodles wrapped in red paper, and five fruits (such as oranges, apples, melons, sugarcane, and bananas). There are also six vegetarian dishes (such as daylily, fungus, mushrooms, vermicelli, potatoes, and red dates, representing the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth). In addition to the six vegetarian dishes, some people also add dried ingredients such as cabbage, peas, mung beans, bean wheels, gluten, and sesame, making up twelve, twenty-four, or thirty-six bowls of dishes, as well as sugar towers and sugar lamps. The meat offerings include five animals (such as whole chicken, whole duck, whole fish, whole pig, and whole sheep, or fish roe, pork, or pig stomach, which only need to be cooked; in addition, there are red turtle cakes and sweet ingredients (such as rice dates and sweet cakes). - As a traditional folk custom shared by both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Taiwanese people come to participate in the ceremony every year. People from both sides of the Taiwan Strait pray for good weather, family harmony, prosperity, and national peace. If you travel to southern Fujian, don't miss this grand and traditional ceremony!