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The Festival History of Shi Gandang Customs in Mount Tai
The custom of Shi Gandang originated from the worship of Lingshi in ancient times. The earliest record of Shi Gandang in the history books is the first aid article of the Western Han Dynasty: "Learn from the tiger, Shi Gandang, and the dragon will not invade." In the Song Dynasty, a five-year-old stone carving in the Tang Dynasty was unearthed in Putian, Fujian Province. It was engraved with the words "Shi Gandang, ghost town, disaster suppression, official happiness, people's health, common education and prosperity, rites and music." Wang Yuyang recorded in "Notes from the Tea Room": "The custom of Qilu is mostly based on the stone at the entrance of the village, and the words Taishan and Shi Gandang are engraved."

Shi Gandang has gone through three stages: the germination stage of early Shi Gandang, the variation stage of Shi Gandang and the prosperity stage. After the Ming Dynasty, Shi Gandang's belief was closely combined with the worship of Mount Tai in Dongyue, which developed from "Shi Gandang" to "Mount Tai Shi Gandang", and its functions also changed from the earliest "house-keeping" and "evil spirits" to "healing", "door-keeping", "evil spirits" and "wind protection". Mount Tai has been regarded as a "town with a sky" since ancient times, and Dongyue Emperor in Dongyue Temple has the title of "a town". Moreover, Taishan Town is different from other mountains, and its strength is incomparable. The town is Gankun, so there is a saying that "Mount Tai is safe and the world is safe". Because Mount Tai has the power to dry up a town, taking a small stone from Mount Tai to settle down in the town, of course, ghosts and evil spirits will escape. Shi Gandang is associated with Mount Tai because of this. In the process of historical evolution, fairy tales about Shi Gandang have been interpreted into various versions in various places.

According to legend, in a village at the foot of Mount Tai, there lived a strong man, surnamed Shi, named bold. He is brave and not afraid of anything. He is famous in Taishan area. Some people were bullied, so they turned to Shi Gandang to defend them. One day, Shi Gandang went into town to sell firewood, and saw a notice posted outside Mr. Wang's door: Who can exorcise the house and give his daughter to him as his wife? It turned out that there was a lovely girl outside Mr. Wang who was "kept in the inner room and nobody knew her", but unfortunately she was possessed. Mr. Wang asked Mr. Niu Nose to set up an altar to catch the demon, and he was kicked off the altar by the demon, and his head was broken. Helpless to post for help. Shi Gandang is brave and determined to exterminate pests. He hid the sword in the young lady's room. The demon came in, raised his sword and shouted, "Taishan Shi Gandang is here!" Hearing this, the leprechaun turned on the demon wind in fear and fled in confusion. Afterwards, Mr. Wang personally sent the young lady to Mount Tai and married Shi Gandang. The young couple lived happily. Who knows that after the goblin escaped, he went to other villages to harm. The villagers heard that Shi Gandang could exorcise demons, so they invited him. But when Shi Gan arrived at this village, the goblin went to that village to commit crimes. Shi Gandang is not a doppelganger. What shall we do? Later, the clever wife said to him, "Why don't you carve your name on the stone tablet and stick it on the wall of the house to kill the devil?" As a result, people have carved the words "Taishan Shi Gandang" on the stone and stood at the foot of the wall, on the street, at the bridge head and at the crossroads to ensure the safety of the village house.