Xieshen: thanking the gods at the year’s end
The year-end thanksgiving is mostly one village, one day. Here the days are collected at village level, by city, district and town: 168 places in Chaoyang, Chaonan and Haojiang in Shantou, five in Jieyang, one in Chaozhou. The lunar dates are copied from the sources; the Gregorian is converted for 2026 only.
Feeding the unclaimed dead in the seventh month is shigu; giving thanks to the gods of the territory at the year’s end is xieshen. Both are held at the village temple, both have their day chosen by the village itself, and so both are set out as tables, one village to a cell. After the thanksgiving comes the sending of the gods up to heaven on the twenty-fourth of the twelfth month, and then the new year.
1. How to read this table
Xieshen belongs to the year’s end: each village invites the gods of its temples to one place, sets out offerings, stages opera, and gives thanks for a year of divine favour. The day is kept by the lunar calendar and fixed by each village; most villages keep the same day year after year, a few have the committee “look at the day” and post a red notice, and a few go by the winter solstice or arrange it themselves.
The unit differs too: most places are one village, one day, the whole village joining in one session, though some keep it up for eight or ten days together; Gangtou township in Lugang is one temple, one day, twenty temples in one township each keeping its own. Those two can be tabulated. There is also one household, one day, each household picking its own, with no village-level day, and that cannot go in a table — see the end of the Shantou section.
The table does two things only: copies the lunar day down, and converts it to this round of Gregorian dates (the tenth month to the twelfth, running into January 2027). The Gregorian column holds for this round only; a year later it has to be worked out again.
Some whole stretches of villages do not keep to the old day. In the same batch of villages in Xiashan subdistrict, Chaonan, the yisi year (2025) and bingwu year (2026) lists do not agree: Zhaiwailin moves from the twelfth of the tenth month to the eighteenth, Dongshan from the seventeenth to the twenty-third, Xigang from the fifth to the twenty-first, Taochen from the twenty-first to the eighteenth, and Yiying’s village-wide day from the eighth of the twelfth month to the sixth. The gaps run from two days to a fortnight. So with villages of this kind you have to go by that year’s list and cannot push an old one forward.
The thanksgiving stops at the twenty-fourth of the twelfth month, when the gods go up to heaven. The days in these tables run from the middle of the ninth month to the twelfth of the twelfth, pressed into the tenth and eleventh months, with only a few villages left in the twelfth. One thing is easily misremembered: the saying goes that “once the eleventh month comes, the thanksgiving begins”, and that is the general rule; in fact the three temples at Gangtou hold theirs on the eighteenth of the ninth month, Shangpeng at Guiyu on the third of the tenth, and all twenty-seven villages of Guanbu are pressed into the eleventh — nearly three months apart end to end.
The table is laid out by city, district and town, and answers “which day for a given village”. For the reverse question, what is on these days, see the year-end thanksgiving in the procession calendar: there the same material is spread out by lunar day, and the busiest single day is the eighteenth of the tenth month.
2. By city, district and town
| City | District | Town | Places | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shantou | Chaoyang | Tongyu | 30 | densest across the tenth and eleventh months |
| Shantou | Chaoyang | Gurao | 23 | one at the winter solstice, one self-arranged |
| Shantou | Chaoyang | Jinzao | 1 | Guangmei, by village notice |
| Shantou | Chaoyang | Xilu | 14 | fourteen townships, yisi-year list |
| Shantou | Chaoyang | Guiyu | 18 | twelve villages with dates, five unset |
| Shantou | Chaoyang | Guanbu | 27 | all twenty-seven in the eleventh month |
| Shantou | Chaonan | Xiashan subdistrict | 33 | days set year by year; go by that year’s list |
| Shantou | Chaonan | Gangtou township, Lugang | 20 | listed by temple, not by village |
| Shantou | Chaonan | Xiangang, Simapu | 1 | ten days together, from the village gazetteer |
| Shantou | Haojiang | Zhupu township | 1 | the round-year thanks, its day fixed by the Lord of Heaven |
| Jieyang | Jiedong / Jiexi | Longsha township, Tankou old temple | 2 | no whole-town list found |
| Jieyang | Huilai | Donglong, Longjiang | 3 | single-village posts, called “finishing the year” |
| Chaozhou | Chao’an | Anbu | 1 | one temple only |
3. Shantou
Chaoyang · Tongyu
Thirty natural villages and quarters, the days gathered in the tenth and eleventh months. The list comes from a table circulating online, whose compiler wrote in the middle of it “each village differs, for reference only” and listed the villages still missing at the end, asking for them. This site copies the village names and days without checking them village by village.
| Village | Lunar day | Gregorian (end 2026 – early 2027) | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tongpan | 9th of the 11th month | 17 December 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Butou | 9th of the 11th month | 17 December 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Shengqian | 9th of the 11th month | 17 December 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Caowei (Mei) | 12th of the 10th month | 20 November 2026, Friday | fixed |
| Xinqiao (Chen clan) | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Xinqiao (Lin clan) | 4th of the 11th month | 12 December 2026, Saturday | fixed |
| Jixing (Shenxianli) | 30th of the 10th month | 8 December 2026, Tuesday | fixed |
| Zhaiwei (Mei) | 15th of the 10th month | 23 November 2026, Monday | fixed |
| Xiaqiwei (Mei) | 12th of the 11th month | 20 December 2026, Sunday | fixed |
| Xixi | 30th of the 10th month | 8 December 2026, Tuesday | fixed |
| Xidong (upper village) | 30th of the 10th month | 8 December 2026, Tuesday | fixed |
| Shenling | 4th of the 11th month | 12 December 2026, Saturday | fixed |
| Xiaodu | 21st of the 10th month | 29 November 2026, Sunday | fixed |
| Lizhe | 17th of the 10th month | 25 November 2026, Wednesday | fixed |
| Xibian | 30th of the 10th month | 8 December 2026, Tuesday | fixed |
| Shishang | 30th of the 10th month | 8 December 2026, Tuesday | fixed |
| Helong | 26th of the 10th month | 4 December 2026, Friday | fixed |
| Fengqi (Houqi) | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Xianzhu | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Qinan | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Fengtian (Houtian) | 11th of the 11th month | 19 December 2026, Saturday | fixed |
| Xidong (lower village) | 4th of the 11th month | 12 December 2026, Saturday | fixed |
| Duxian | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Hudou | 9th of the 11th month | 17 December 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Yunan | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Gangkou | 20th of the 10th month | 28 November 2026, Saturday | fixed |
| Yubei | 30th of the 10th month | 8 December 2026, Tuesday | fixed |
| Yujiao | 14th of the 11th month | 22 December 2026, Tuesday | fixed |
| Xinqi (Xincuo) | 21st of the 8th month | 1 October 2026, Thursday | already kept in the 8th month |
| Tongboyu | — | — | picks its own day |
For Tongboyu the original says “picks its own day”, meaning no fixed date. Xinqi (Xincuo) is given as the twenty-first of the eighth month, “already kept”, more than a season before the others; that is what the original says and it is copied unchanged. Another account lists the same town in two columns, lunar and Gregorian, and agrees line for line except Xiaqiwei (Mei), which it gives as the eighth of the eleventh month, four days off this one’s twelfth; both readings stand, and in the field the red notice at the village gate decides. A few village names (Hudou, Lizhe, Shenling, Xiaodu) were transcribed from an image and may be a character out.
Chaoyang · Gurao
Twenty-three villages and quarters. This list was compiled by a local Gurao account and is tidier than the last, and it too ends with “to be continued — corrections welcome”.
| Village | Lunar day | Gregorian (end 2026 – early 2027) | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Huali township | 12th of the 11th month | 20 December 2026, Sunday | fixed |
| Toupu | 16th of the 11th month | 24 December 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Dongming | 16th of the 11th month | 24 December 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Dongxing | 11th of the 11th month | 19 December 2026, Saturday | fixed |
| Wujiao | 14th of the 11th month | 22 December 2026, Tuesday | fixed |
| Hengshan | 17th of the 11th month | 25 December 2026, Friday | fixed |
| Dakeng township | 5th of the 11th month | 13 December 2026, Sunday | fixed |
| Xinxing | 5th of the 11th month | 13 December 2026, Sunday | fixed |
| Shifo | — | — | winter solstice |
| Mudankeng | — | — | winter solstice |
| Xianbo | — | — | freely within the 11th month |
| Maoguang 1 | 2nd of the 11th month | 10 December 2026, Thursday | fixed |
| Maoguang 2, Huangcuo (teams 1–2) | 24th of the 11th month | 1 January 2027, Friday | fixed |
| Maoguang 2, Lincuo (teams 3–6) | 7th of the 12th month | 14 January 2027, Thursday | fixed |
| Maoguang 3 | 25th of the 11th month | 2 January 2027, Saturday | fixed |
| Shangbao 1 | 24th of the 11th month | 1 January 2027, Friday | fixed |
| Shangbao 2 | 5th of the 11th month | 13 December 2026, Sunday | fixed |
| Shangbao 3 | 12th of the 11th month | 20 December 2026, Sunday | fixed |
| Shangbao 4 | 4th of the 12th month | 11 January 2027, Monday | fixed |
| Shangbao 5 | 18th of the 11th month | 26 December 2026, Saturday | fixed |
| Shangbao 6 | 12th of the 11th month | 20 December 2026, Sunday | fixed |
| Shangbao 7 | 14th of the 11th month | 22 December 2026, Tuesday | fixed |
| Shangbao 8 | 12th of the 11th month | 20 December 2026, Sunday | fixed |
Shifo and Mudankeng go by the winter solstice; Xianbo is given as “freely within the eleventh month”; Maoguang 2 keeps two days by branch of the lineage — Huangcuo (teams 1–2) on the twenty-fourth of the eleventh, Lincuo (teams 3–6) on the seventh of the twelfth.
Chaoyang · Guangmei, Jinzao
This one is the village’s own notice: the bingwu-year thanksgiving is set for the twenty-fourth of the eleventh month, with three matinees and three evening performances booked. It was issued by the Guangmei public welfare committee and is more dependable than the circulating whole-town tables — it was set this year, not copied from an earlier one. No other village in Jinzao was found; this is the only entry.
The twenty-fourth of the eleventh month falls on 1 January 2027, a Friday.
Chaoyang · Xilu
Fourteen townships, the days crowded into the second half of the tenth month, with a run of them on the twenty-fourth. This list was issued in the yisi year (2025); it gives the lunar day only, no Gregorian, and does not say whether the days move from year to year.
| Village | Lunar day | Gregorian (end 2026 – early 2027) | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bomei township | 2nd of the 10th month | 10 November 2026, Tuesday | yisi-year list |
| Nanfeng township | 8th of the 10th month | 16 November 2026, Monday | yisi-year list |
| Xifeng township | 17th of the 10th month | 25 November 2026, Wednesday | yisi-year list |
| Quantang township | 22nd of the 10th month | 30 November 2026, Monday | yisi-year list |
| Dongfeng township | 24th of the 10th month | 2 December 2026, Wednesday | yisi-year list |
| Haitian township | 24th of the 10th month | 2 December 2026, Wednesday | yisi-year list |
| Longxi township | 24th of the 10th month | 2 December 2026, Wednesday | yisi-year list |
| Lixi township | 24th of the 10th month | 2 December 2026, Wednesday | yisi-year list |
| Jianshan township | 24th of the 10th month | 2 December 2026, Wednesday | yisi-year list |
| Neishe township | 24th of the 10th month | 2 December 2026, Wednesday | yisi-year list |
| Wuyan township | 24th of the 10th month | 2 December 2026, Wednesday | yisi-year list |
| Xiyi township | 28th of the 10th month | 6 December 2026, Sunday | yisi-year list |
| Xier township | 28th of the 10th month | 6 December 2026, Sunday | yisi-year list |
| Waishe township | 29th of the 10th month | 7 December 2026, Monday | yisi-year list |
Neishe in the same town has two readings: this list gives the twenty-fourth of the tenth month, another post from the jihai year says the clan elders threw the blocks before the king that year and it fell on the eighteenth of the eleventh. A village that sets its day by the blocks differs every year, so both stand. The township names Jianshan, Wuyan, Lixi and Waishe were transcribed from an image and may be a character out.
Chaoyang · Guiyu
Seventeen villages and quarters, plus one old temple, Nanyang. What marks this town is how early it starts: Shangpeng keeps it on the third of the tenth month, while elsewhere people are still waiting for the eleventh. The list is compiled year by year by a local account called “Guiyu shehui”, and underneath it still says “other villages: leave the lunar date in a comment”, so the villages are added a few a year.
| Village | Lunar day | Gregorian (end 2026 – early 2027) | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shangpeng | 3rd of the 10th month | 11 November 2026, Wednesday | yisi-year list |
| Xianma | 20th of the 10th month | 28 November 2026, Saturday | yisi-year list |
| Dutou | 21st of the 10th month | 29 November 2026, Sunday | yisi-year list |
| Nan’an | 21st of the 10th month | 29 November 2026, Sunday | yisi-year list |
| Xianpeng | 22nd of the 10th month | 30 November 2026, Monday | yisi-year list |
| Longgang | 24th of the 10th month | 2 December 2026, Wednesday | yisi-year list |
| Beilin | 24th of the 10th month | 2 December 2026, Wednesday | yisi-year list |
| Fenggang | 28th of the 10th month | 6 December 2026, Sunday | yisi-year list |
| Hualidong | 10th of the 11th month | 18 December 2026, Friday | yisi-year list |
| Meizhou | 22nd of the 11th month | 30 December 2026, Wednesday | yisi-year list |
| Jia’an | 24th of the 11th month | 1 January 2027, Friday | yisi-year list |
| Yujiao | 9th of the 12th month | 16 January 2027, Saturday | yisi-year list |
| Nanyang old temple (three palaces) | 1st of the 12th month | 8 January 2027, Friday | set by the three palaces |
| Huamei | — | — | day not set |
| Xincuo | — | — | day not set |
| Houwang | — | — | day not set |
| Fengxin | — | — | day not set |
| Simei | — | — | day not set |
The five villages without a day have not given up the thanksgiving; the day was simply not yet set that year. For Xianpeng this text gives the twenty-second of the tenth month while another account’s list for the same year gives the twenty-first — one day apart, and both are kept. The Nanyang row is a temple, not a village: that year its three palaces — the Great Palace, the Mazu Palace and the Rear Palace — set the first of the twelfth month for the closing thanks to heaven and earth and the gods of blessing; the villages under the temple (Nanyang, Dongyang, Liandi, Ximei, Kengzai, Shanlian, Shanli, Shanqian, Xinxiang, Xialong and others) each brought incense from the palace on their own days, in three batches — the first of the tenth month, the fifteenth of the tenth, and the worship of the old ancestor in the twelfth — and do not follow the temple’s day.
The Guiyu list is the yisi year’s (2025). What sets it apart from Tongyu and Gurao is this: those two report “the same day every year”, while Guiyu shehui posts it afresh each year and is still collecting, which suggests the days in this town are not all nailed down. Use it as a guide to past years; before going, look at that year’s list.
Chaoyang · Guanbu
Twenty-seven villages, all of them in the eleventh month, not one exception, running from the ninth to the twenty-seventh. This town is unlike Guiyu and Xilu: most villages in those two are done by the tenth month, while here it waits for the eleventh, a whole month later. In the same district the days are that far apart, so a village list cannot be pushed out from one town to the next.
| Village | Lunar day | Gregorian (end 2026 – early 2027) | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yushan | 9th of the 11th month | 17 December 2026, Thursday | jiachen-year list |
| Yangxin | 10th of the 11th month | 18 December 2026, Friday | jiachen-year list |
| Yangbei | 10th of the 11th month | 18 December 2026, Friday | jiachen-year list |
| Xitou | 10th of the 11th month | 18 December 2026, Friday | jiachen-year list |
| Xiadi | 10th of the 11th month | 18 December 2026, Friday | jiachen-year list |
| Tanghou | 10th of the 11th month | 18 December 2026, Friday | jiachen-year list |
| Pushang | 10th of the 11th month | 18 December 2026, Friday | jiachen-year list |
| Zhaimei | 13th of the 11th month | 21 December 2026, Monday | jiachen-year list |
| Qiaotou | 13th of the 11th month | 21 December 2026, Monday | jiachen-year list |
| Shangdi | 13th of the 11th month | 21 December 2026, Monday | jiachen-year list |
| Oucuo | 13th of the 11th month | 21 December 2026, Monday | jiachen-year list |
| Xixi | 13th of the 11th month | 21 December 2026, Monday | jiachen-year list |
| Yuyi | 14th of the 11th month | 22 December 2026, Tuesday | jiachen-year list |
| Yuer | 15th of the 11th month | 23 December 2026, Wednesday | jiachen-year list |
| Tiandong | 15th of the 11th month | 23 December 2026, Wednesday | jiachen-year list |
| Lunei | 16th of the 11th month | 24 December 2026, Thursday | jiachen-year list |
| Sanlian | 16th of the 11th month | 24 December 2026, Thursday | jiachen-year list |
| Shuxia | 16th of the 11th month | 24 December 2026, Thursday | jiachen-year list |
| Xiaxiang | 17th of the 11th month | 25 December 2026, Friday | jiachen-year list |
| Donghu | 17th of the 11th month | 25 December 2026, Friday | jiachen-year list |
| Gangdi | 18th of the 11th month | 26 December 2026, Saturday | jiachen-year list |
| Mianyuan | 18th of the 11th month | 26 December 2026, Saturday | jiachen-year list |
| Qiaodong | 18th of the 11th month | 26 December 2026, Saturday | jiachen-year list |
| Fucang | 19th of the 11th month | 27 December 2026, Sunday | jiachen-year list |
| Luwai | 21st of the 11th month | 29 December 2026, Tuesday | jiachen-year list |
| Xiangnei | 27th of the 11th month | 4 January 2027, Monday | jiachen-year list |
| Xiping | 27th of the 11th month | 4 January 2027, Monday | jiachen-year list |
This list was compiled by a local Guanbu account at the end of the jiachen year (2024), and ends with “leave a comment to correct a mistake, leave a comment to add one we missed”. The days bunch badly: seven villages on the tenth, five on the thirteenth, three each on the sixteenth and eighteenth. Yuyi is elsewhere given as “the twenty-third of the twelfth month, chosen as auspicious”; if that round was indeed the twenty-third of the twelfth, the village is not fixed on the fourteenth of the eleventh, and the red notice for the year is the safer guide.
Chaonan · Xiashan subdistrict
Thirty-three villages and communities, the third whole-subdistrict list this site has received and newer than the Tongyu and Gurao ones — it was published with the bingwu year (2026) dates. This part of the region keeps it later than Chaoyang, most of them around the eighteenth of the tenth month, with only a few in the eleventh.
| Village / community | Lunar day | Gregorian (end 2026 – early 2027) | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zhaiwailin | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | current-year list |
| Yuxia eight she | 6th of the 10th month (households) / 1st of the 12th (the whole) | 14 November 2026, Saturday (households) / 8 January 2027, Friday (the whole) | households / village |
| Dongshan | 23rd of the 10th month | 1 December 2026, Tuesday | current-year list |
| Shanwei | 8th of the 10th month | 16 November 2026, Monday | current-year list |
| Taoxi | 17th of the 10th month | 25 November 2026, Wednesday | current-year list |
| Xigang | 21st of the 10th month | 29 November 2026, Sunday | current-year list |
| Shaxi | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | current-year list |
| Dazhai | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | current-year list |
| Jiudou | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | current-year list |
| Shangdongpu | 21st of the 10th month | 29 November 2026, Sunday | current-year list |
| Xiadongpu | 16th of the 10th month | 24 November 2026, Tuesday | current-year list |
| Xiaqiao | 17th of the 10th month | 25 November 2026, Wednesday | current-year list |
| Gangtouzi | 30th of the 10th month | 8 December 2026, Tuesday | current-year list |
| Gongshang | 6th of the 10th month | 14 November 2026, Saturday | current-year list |
| Liantang | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | current-year list |
| Gongqiao | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | current-year list |
| Taochen | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | current-year list |
| Dongxi | 20th of the 10th month | 28 November 2026, Saturday | current-year list |
| Xinan | 21st of the 10th month | 29 November 2026, Sunday | current-year list |
| Chenhepo | 9th of the 11th month | 17 December 2026, Thursday | current-year list |
| Dachao | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | current-year list |
| Xiaqiao Putou | 9th of the 10th month | 17 November 2026, Tuesday | current-year list |
| Xixin | 30th of the 10th month | 8 December 2026, Tuesday | current-year list |
| Yangfenlin | 30th of the 10th month | 8 December 2026, Tuesday | current-year list |
| Shangjia | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | current-year list |
| Liannan Shiweiqi | 5th of the 11th month | 13 December 2026, Sunday | current-year list |
| Shangxigou | 10th of the 11th month | 18 December 2026, Friday | current-year list |
| Qiaotouli | 18th of the 10th month | 26 November 2026, Thursday | current-year list |
| Yingdapu | 30th of the 10th month | 8 December 2026, Tuesday | current-year list |
| Nanli | 2nd of the 12th month | 9 January 2027, Saturday | current-year list |
| Caofang | 3rd of the 11th month | 11 December 2026, Friday | current-year list |
| Silian Dongzhai | 15th of the 10th month | 23 November 2026, Monday | current-year list |
| Yiying | 6th of the 10th month (households) / 6th of the 12th (the whole) | 14 November 2026, Saturday (households) / 13 January 2027, Wednesday (the whole) | households / village |
“Current-year list” in the state column means the village’s day moves from year to year, so only that year’s list counts and an old one cannot be pushed forward. The two marked “households / village” keep two rounds: each household worships on its own day and the village together on another, and the two are not even in the same month. Gangtouzi, Xixin, Yangfenlin and Yingdapu are all given the thirtieth of the tenth month; this year the tenth month is a long month of thirty days, so it falls on 8 December. In a year when the tenth month has only twenty-nine, those villages’ days must move earlier or be chosen afresh.
Nor is there only one list for a given year. On 27 October another local account posted a “year-end thanksgiving dates”, and set beside this one: Shanwei’s eighth of the tenth and Xigang’s twenty-first agree; Zhaiwailin is given as the eighteenth in one and the twenty-first in the other, three days apart; and that one also has “Xitou Xiacuo, eighth of the tenth” and “Xianxin, twenty-third of the tenth”, neither of which appears here. Which is right is finally a question for the village.
A third list, “Yuxia memory”, posted on 3 November 2025, is finer-grained than either. Its days match the yisi-year list almost line for line — Zhaiwailin the twelfth of the tenth, Dongshan the seventeenth, Xigang the fifth, Taochen the twenty-first, not one out. Which shows that the two yisi-year lists are not copying errors: the difference really lies in the year — the same batch of villages kept one set in 2025 and another in 2026. That piece also carries names this site’s table lacks — Dongtang, Goutou, Longmei, Nangang, Donggou, Yangfenchen — more than the thirty-three here, which shows how incomplete every list of Xiashan’s villages is.
There are also places where no village table can be made at all. Miancheng and around it do not keep it in common; each household picks its own auspicious night to “worship the Lord of Heaven” — a red table in the hall, red celebratory hangings, paper-cut flowers on the offerings, a Chaozhou opera disc playing while they worship, and the better-off households engaging an eight-instrument band. One household, one day: asking “which day does your village keep” has no answer. The town has another institution, the “offering-table contest”, held by the wards in the ninth and tenth months, judging offerings, divine robes and lantern screens, and paper-cut flowers; it comes from the same root as the thanksgiving.
Chaonan · Gangtou township, Lugang
This township is different: it does not go by village but by temple. Gangtou takes in four villages — Xinlian, Xinzhong, Xinmin and Shanglong — yet the thanksgiving is spread over twenty temples in the township, one temple a day, running from the eighteenth of the ninth month to the twelfth of the twelfth. People of one village may worship at this Earth-god temple for a few days and then at that Heaven-and-Earth temple a few days later.
| Temple | Lunar day | Gregorian (end 2026 – early 2027) | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yingxiangyuan Xian Buddha temple (anniversary) | 18th of the 9th month | 27 October 2026, Tuesday | set |
| Chiquantou Earth-god temple (Xincuo lane ward) | 23rd of the 9th month | 1 November 2026, Sunday | granted |
| Dafu old temple (Houqiao Earth god) | 30th of the 9th month | 8 November 2026, Sunday | granted |
| Liujiaoting Earth-god temple | 3rd of the 10th month | 11 November 2026, Wednesday | granted |
| Qiling Earth-god temple (Wuling) | 5th of the 10th month | 13 November 2026, Friday | set |
| Xibeidi Earth-god temple (Hongmenzai) | 6th of the 10th month | 14 November 2026, Saturday | granted |
| Holy Mother temple (Huazhai ward) | 7th of the 10th month | 15 November 2026, Sunday | granted |
| Zhenwu temple (Great Palace, Upper Palace) | 10th of the 10th month | 18 November 2026, Wednesday | granted |
| Zhenjun temple (Huama palace, Lower palace) | 10th of the 10th month | 18 November 2026, Wednesday | granted |
| Liancuoxiang Earth-god temple (Shuixiang ward) | 11th of the 10th month | 19 November 2026, Thursday | granted |
| Houyang Heaven-and-Earth temple (Xinhe ward) | 16th of the 10th month | 24 November 2026, Tuesday | granted |
| Qianyang Heaven-and-Earth temple (Gong’an foot) | 17th of the 10th month | 25 November 2026, Wednesday | granted |
| Dagongqian Earth-god temple | 22nd of the 10th month | 30 November 2026, Monday | granted |
| Tongde chengshan hall (the patriarch’s birthday) | 29th of the 10th month | 7 December 2026, Monday | set |
| Gongziding Earth-god temple (Xiwei ward) | 12th of the 11th month | 20 December 2026, Sunday | set |
| Fengwei Earth-god temple (Weinei ward) | 12th of the 11th month | 20 December 2026, Sunday | set |
| Jinjibu Earth-god temple | 7th of the 12th month | 14 January 2027, Thursday | granted |
| Yingxiangyuan Xian Buddha temple | 8th of the 12th month | 15 January 2027, Friday | set |
| Zhuyuan Earth-god temple (Xinlian fourth quarter) | 12th of the 12th month | 19 January 2027, Tuesday | set |
| Niuguling Earth-god temple | 12th of the 12th month | 19 January 2027, Tuesday | set |
“Granted” and “set” are two words used by the temples’ committees; the originals do not explain the difference. What matters is that the days move every year: the same account posted a list the year before (jiachen) as well, and almost every temple whose name can be matched has moved — the Zhenwu temple from the twenty-eighth of the ninth to the tenth of the tenth, the Holy Mother temple from the first of the tenth to the seventh, Chiquantou from the ninth of the tenth to the twenty-third of the ninth, Dagongqian from the eighth of the tenth to the twenty-second, and the Gong’an foot temple from the second of the eleventh to the seventeenth of the tenth. So this township cannot be worked out from an old year; go by the current list. The first three temples fall in the ninth month, which in this round of 2026 means late October, more than a month ahead of everywhere else; Yingxiangyuan Xian Buddha temple appears twice, and the original marks the eighteenth-of-the-ninth occurrence “anniversary”. The list covers only “some” of the temples and still ends by asking for more.
Chaonan · Xiangang, Simapu
Xiangang is not one day but ten days together. The village gazetteer says: “every year from the tenth to the twentieth of the eleventh month we worship and give thanks for the harvest, welcoming the Lugang Mazu — that is the Holy Mother of Heaven — and the Yanniang of Shenxi into Xiangang township to receive the worship of the congregation, when opera is staged for ten days, every household kills pigs and sheep, and with the five raw and five fruit offerings we give thanks in all sincerity.”
The tenth to the twentieth of the eleventh month falls in this round of 2026 from 18 to 28 December. Xiangang is divided into eight wards: Xinyuan, Qiaotou, Xinzhainei, Xinzhaiwai, Shangfang, Nanmen, Zhaizhong and Dongmen. Nor are the gods invited all local: the Lugang Mazu is the Holy Mother of Heaven from Lugang and the Yanniang comes from Shenxi, both images brought in from outside the township to be worshipped, a layer not seen elsewhere in these tables.
Haojiang · Zhupu township
In Haojiang the year-end session is called the round-year thanks, also the flourishing-year thanks or the thanks to the Lord of Heaven, and what is repaid is the Lord of Heaven, not the ordinary gods of the village. Almost every village in the district keeps it, and Zhupu is the grandest: over twenty thousand people in five quarters, each laying out its own “contest table” on the same day, comparing dishes, workmanship and decoration — a hundred and eight vegetarian dishes and a hundred and eight meat dishes, with a whole pig and a whole sheep besides.
No table could be found for this township, because it does not set the day by lunar month and day at all: on the twenty-sixth of the second month the year before, the birthday of the three mountain kings, the elders go before the temple to “press” the Lord of Heaven and press out this year’s session in advance. For the 2026 round it was settled as early as the twenty-sixth of the second month (13 April 2026), only the result was not made public. The one round on record fell on the eleventh of the tenth month. So no Gregorian date can be given here — the day is pressed out, and only the red notice at the village gate will tell you.
4. Jieyang
Two unusual cases first. The two most complete entries received for Jieyang happen not to be the ordinary annual thanksgiving at all: one comes round once in twelve years, the other once in four.
| Place | Lunar | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Longsha township, Jiedong (eight villages) | 10th of the 11th month | the twelve-yearly “raising the lantern pole, flying the coloured phoenix” ends in the thanksgiving on this day, with Chaozhou opera played nightly from the seventh to the tenth |
| Tankou old temple, Dongyuan, Jiexi | 5th to 7th of the 11th month | once in four years: sutra chanting, the memorial text sent up, the divine soldiers rewarded; not held annually |
Jieyang · Huilai
Huilai calls the year-end thanksgiving “finishing the year”: one day for the whole village, everyone worshipping together at a “seat of the gods” set up in the market or before the temple, with Chaozhou opera at night and sometimes a matinee as well. Three villages were found, all in the eleventh month:
| Village | Lunar day | Gregorian (end 2026 – early 2027) | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diaoshi, Donglong | 2nd of the 11th month | 10 December 2026, Thursday | 2018 post |
| Edou, Longjiang | 12th of the 11th month | 20 December 2026, Sunday | 2018 post |
| Jianlong, Longjiang | 14th of the 11th month | 22 December 2026, Tuesday | 2018 post |
These three days come from single-village posts of the winter of 2018, which say “once a year”, in a tone that suggests the same day every year. The county-wide description is “from the tenth month to the middle of the twelfth, every village, ward and household chooses an auspicious day”, which is to say there is no common date and it can only be collected village by village.
The Jieyang description is “from late in the eleventh month to the twenty-fourth of the twelfth”, a little later and much looser than Shantou’s: what turns up on Douyin are single-village posts — Xianmei in Xinheng, Jiukeng in Quxi, Xiaweiwang in Nanxi, Aojiao in Huilai — each saying its own, never adding up to a town table. Puning has a further difficulty: one administrative village covers several natural villages that each keep their own, as at Liantan in Junbu, whose text states outright that “for the twelfth-month thanksgiving the natural villages each set their own time”, so even “one village, one day” does not fit. The whole tables that come up when you search for “Jieyang village thanksgiving” turn out on opening to be first-month procession schedules (that material belongs to the procession calendar), not the thanksgiving. This city has no whole-town written table; it will be added when one is received.
5. Chaozhou
Only one temple’s day was found, with no whole-town table:
| Place | Lunar | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Yuantian shangdi palace, Zhainei, Anbu, Chao’an | 23rd of the 12th month | the annual repayment to the gods, with opera before the palace; the round recorded was the twenty-third of the twelfth in the yisi year |
Chaozhou’s largest thanksgiving is called the round-year thanks, repaid to the Lord of Heaven, mostly in the tenth and eleventh months though sometimes into the twelfth — the Anbu one falls on the twenty-third of the twelfth. The practice runs through all of Chaoshan, and each place sets the day its own way: at Zhupu in Haojiang, Shantou, the elders “press the Lord of Heaven” before the temple on the twenty-sixth of the second month, as described above.
Where the record is blank, it means no village table was found, not that nothing is held there. Chaozhou’s villages mostly act by “stretch”, and a table only works when it covers a whole stretch; a few stray single-village dates taken in would mislead more than help, so the space is left open.
6. Sources and state
This table and the procession calendar are not the same thing: a procession carries the god round the territory, with a file and a route; the thanksgiving invites the gods to a shelter to receive worship, with no route. Their days are unrelated too.
| Content | Source | State |
|---|---|---|
| Thirty villages, Tongyu | Douyin image post, “year-end thanksgiving dates for the villages of Tongyu, 2026” (privately compiled; the original notes it is for reference only) | names and days copied, not checked village by village |
| Another Tongyu version (with Gregorian) | Douyin image post, “thanksgiving dates for the villages of Tongyu, bingwu year” (22 October 2026) | cross-checked against this table; only Xiaqiwei differs, by four days |
| Twenty-three villages, Gurao | WeChat account, “the ‘most complete’ year-end worship dates for the villages of Gurao” | copied, not checked village by village |
| Fourteen townships, Xilu | Douyin image post, “lunar thanksgiving days of the Xilu townships” (23 November 2025) | yisi-year list, lunar only |
| Neishe, day set by the blocks | WeChat account, “Custom: the thanksgiving at Neishe on the eighteenth of the eleventh month, jihai year” | the method, and that year’s date |
| Eighteen places, Guiyu | WeChat account “Guiyu shehui”, “Updated again! Guiyu’s year-end worship set for…” (28 November 2025) | yisi-year table, twelve villages with dates |
| Another Guiyu version | WeChat image post, “thanksgiving dates for the townships of Guiyu, yisi year” | cross-checked; only Xianpeng differs, by one day |
| Twenty-seven villages, Guanbu | WeChat account “Guanbu life circle”, “Guanbu’s Xiangnei village thanksgiving is set, and the other villages’ dates are here too” (9 December 2024) | jiachen-year table, all in the eleventh month |
| Ten days at Xiangang, Simapu | WeChat account, “History and culture of Xiangang village” (village gazetteer, compiled by Lin Chuzhang) | the clan activities section, tenth to twentieth of the eleventh month |
| Twenty temples, Gangtou | WeChat account “Chaonan Gangtou net”, “Auspicious thanksgiving days of the Gangtou temples (some), 2025 (yisi)” (25 October 2025) | yisi-year table, listed by temple |
| Gangtou, the year before, for comparison | The same account, “Auspicious thanksgiving days of the Gangtou temples (some), 2024 (jiachen)” | the same temples hold different days in the two years |
| Thirty-three villages, Xiashan subdistrict | Douyin image post, “the above are the thanksgiving dates for the villages and communities of Xiashan subdistrict, Chaonan, bingwu year” (23 October 2026; the original notes “add anything missing in the comments”) | copied, not checked village by village |
| Xiashan, two years compared | Douyin image post, “thanksgiving dates for the towns and villages of Chaonan, yisi year 2025” (same account, 29 November 2025) | used only to compare years, not as this year’s dates |
| Guangmei, Jinzao, twenty-fourth of the eleventh | Douyin image post relaying a notice from the Guangmei public welfare committee (25 October 2026) | the village’s notice for that year, three matinees and three evening shows |
| Longsha township, tenth of the eleventh | Nanfang Plus, 5 December 2016 | that round’s timetable |
| Tankou old temple, fifth to seventh of the eleventh | Sohu (relaying local copy) | the four-yearly ritual schedule |
| Yuantian shangdi palace, Zhainei, Anbu, twenty-third of the twelfth | Douyin video, “the annual repayment to the gods at the Yuantian shangdi palace, Zhainei, Anbu” (yisi year) | one village, unchecked |
| Around the winter solstice, ending with the gods’ ascent | Chaonan district government, “Sacrificial customs” | the time band |
With village tables, one wrong day sends somebody on a wasted trip. What is written here is “what these years’ lists say”, not this year’s notice; before setting out, check again against the red notice at the village gate or the committee’s announcement, and the surest check is to ask a local opera troupe’s bookings — the troupes are engaged for exactly these days.
7. What comes next
The thanksgiving and the procession are two different things; for the first- and second-month sessions see the Chaoshan procession calendar; for village-level days see the yinglaoye timetable; for what the thanksgiving is and how to find the day, see the year-end thanksgiving. The seventh-month shigu has its own set of days, one village one day, at shigu; for getting round the three cities, see routes.
Home › Custom › The ritual year › Xieshen, the year-end thanksgiving
Last revised: 4 November 2026