The evolution of urban villages has closely followed the pace of urban development. The progress has been solid but also caused waves of confusion in the hearts of residents. Especially after coming from that era, they still miss the things they had in the past. The older generation laments the rapid changes in the world and tries their best to adapt to the overwhelming changes, while still retaining their psychological attachment to the "pure land of the soul".
Xijiao Village, located in the western suburbs of Shishi City, had more than 200 households when it was first liberated, but now it has grown to more than 600 households and more than 3,000 people. It can be regarded as a large village in the large manor of Shishi. (near Houdaogou to the north, Xinxing Road to the south, Shijiazhuang-Taiwan Railway to the east, and Liuying Village to the west), the current layout is similar to the previous one, except that the earthen walls and tiled houses have been removed, and high-rise buildings have been built. Walking into this village, it is long from east to west and narrow from north to south. A "Xijiao Street" runs through the whole village.
According to the old people in the village, although the village was small in the past, there were many temples. Every household in the village had an image of "Lord of the Earth" on the screen wall, saying that it was used to guard the door and ward off evil spirits. In addition to "Lord of Earth", there were also There are five gods, namely heaven and earth, old mother, god of wealth, kitchen king and Buddha. If the courtyard opens directly onto a street, a large brick should be inlaid on the wall with the inscription "Taishan Stone Dare to Block". There are also people who make a shrine on the wall facing the street to offer to Laojun, saying that the street facing him is a place where demons shoot. The incoming arrows will be suppressed by Taishan and Laojun.
Going west along the street, there are Dragon King Temple, Guanyin Bodhisattva Temple, Lu Family Ancestral Hall, Zhenwu Temple, Songzi Laomu Temple, Guandi Temple, Wudao Temple, Quan Temple, and Laojun Temple on both sides of the road. There are more than ten temples of different sizes, such as Laozu Hall, Huanggu Temple, Wuxian Hall, Sanguan Temple, etc. It can be said that all kinds of gods come to dominate life, old age, sickness, death, food, clothing, housing and transportation. For example, praying to the Dragon King will bring down rain to alleviate the drought; Guanyin Bodhisattva saves the suffering and saves all living beings; when you give birth to children, you will send your children to your mother; when a person dies, his soul will go to another world, and there are five local gods in charge of the underworld. Master, so filial sons must report to the Fifth Dao Master first, and go to the Wudao Temple every night to burn paper and kowtow. If they don't report to the temple and the Fifth Dao Master doesn't care, the souls of the dead will turn into wild ghosts and wander around and suffer. These are all assumptions. There are not only a large number of temples in Xijiao, but some of them are also quite high in scale and modeling craftsmanship. For example, Longwang Temple and Sanguan Temple have historical records in Huolu County. (Dragon King Temple Records say: In Xijiao Village, thirty miles away from Zhengdong Road, Huolu County, there used to be a Dragon King Temple, which dates back to its establishment and has a long history! ------
The temple is located in the west At the east entrance of Jiao Village, there is a courtyard around a temple. The main building is a three-bay east hall with tiled roofs and cornices. There are reliefs of flying dragons on the roof and four walls, and paintings with "Kowloon Water Control", "Good Weather" ------ and other colorful paintings. Picture. There are wooden dragon kings of different shapes enshrined on the altar. Each statue is about three feet high. The temple door faces west, and a screen wall is built in front of the door. Every year when the villagers get a good harvest, they make a large offering to the dragon king. , burn incense and pay homage to express gratitude and fulfill vows. In a drought year, villagers will burn incense and kowtow to pray for rain from the Dragon King. A ninety-six-year-old man in the village told us that 1942 was a severe drought year, and there was no rain for more than half a year. The crops were all dried up, and people came eagerly to pray for rain. After many requests for rain failed, the young people got angry and simply moved the Dragon Prince out of the palace to be exposed to the sun and paraded in the streets, which meant that the aloof Dragon Prince I also heard what the elders said: Whenever there is a drought year, the Dragon King becomes busy. Not only do people in the village burn incense and worship, but villagers who don’t have a Dragon King temple in the surrounding area will come to Xijiao to “steal the Dragon King” and bring them with them. He went back to the village to pay homage, and later took the initiative to bring him back, so no one in the village was in a hurry to find the Dragon King. The Dragon King Temple and the Sanguan Temple were in the east and the west, but Mr. Feng Shui made a nonsense. If the screen wall in front of the Longwang Temple is higher than the screen wall in front of the Sanguan Temple, people in the west end of the village will suffer. On the contrary, the screen wall of Sanguan Temple at the west entrance of the village is higher than the screen wall in front of the Longwang Temple. People in the east end of the village will be poor. People who want to be rich are afraid of poverty, which triggered a long-lasting battle in the history of Xijiao Village. People from the east of the village went to the west of the village to steal the tiles from the screen wall of Sanguan Temple. People went to the east entrance to steal the tiles from the screen wall in front of the Dragon King Temple. You and I would do the same. Eventually, the screen walls in front of the two temples were reduced to ruins until they were flattened and stripped bare. Nowadays, there are no shadow walls in front of the Longwang Temple and Sanguan Temple.
The temples in Xijiao Village were all eradicated during the "Destroying the Four Olds" movement after liberation. The temples have become history. With the continuous development of urban villages, its remains are gradually blurred and difficult to trace. However, "careful" people still care about the lost "spiritual territory".
Every traditional festival, men, women and children dress up in costumes and go to nearby villages with temples to attend temple fairs, burn incense and worship, praying for a good harvest, peace and prosperity for the country and the people.