Sacred Space And Daily Needs—The Women In Xunxian Temple Of Henan Province

Throughout the past century, academic research of temple fair, female participants have seldom been studied. Based on the temple fair of Xunxian in Henan province, the author chooses females in the temple fair as research object. By observing their manner and communicating with them, the author finds that the temple fair is a way to realize their own daily demands and to get emotional compensation. People in Xunxian believe in Bixia Goddess, and the temple fair is one of the fairs in northern areas. It shares some similarities with other temple fair, but on the other hand, it has its unique characteristics. The introduction part introduces the selecting source, literature review, research methods, the purpose and the significance of the topic. The main parts of the thesis can be classified into three chapters. The first chapter clarifies that people believe mostly in female goddess and the main participants are middle-aged women. This unique feminine atmosphere of belief helps to make the " circle-layer " phenomenon in local areas. Based on the lives and the temple fair, the second chapter shows that Xunxian temple fair is a way of compensating emotional imbalance caused by martial disharmony and inharmonious relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law under the influence of economic development and "migrant tide" effect. The third chapter cites Xunxian temple fair and public life of females, and explores the emotional compensation of public life of woman in communication outside family, recreation and information-sharing. In conclusion, both the absence of emotional appeals of family life and public life roles are a manifestation of loss of status of woman. Local women make up their emotional loss in family life and public life through temple fair, as well as psychological compensation for their status loss in their family and social status.