Folk social fire

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Folk fire

Applicant: Baoji City, Shaanxi Province

Project No.: 502

Project No.: Ⅹ - 54

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Shaanxi Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Baoji City, Shaanxi Province

Protection unit: Baoji Mass Art Museum

A brief introduction to folk social fire

Applicant: Baoji City, Shaanxi Province

Folk fire is a popular self entertainment activity during the Spring Festival, which comes from the ancient worship of land and fire. She, the God of land; fire, the ancestor of fire, is the legendary god of fire. In China, which is famous for its agricultural culture, land is the foundation of people's life, and it has laid a material foundation for the survival and development of mankind. Fire is not only the source of cooked food and heating, but also an essential condition for the survival and development of human beings. Ancient people believed that fire also had "spirit" with primitive thinking, and regarded it as a deity with special meaning, and worshipped it, thus forming the concept of advocating fire. From the ancient worship of land and fire, the custom of sacrificial society and fire came into being. With the development of society and the improvement of people's cognitive ability, the ritual of sacrificing social fire gradually increases the content of entertainment, and becomes a large-scale and complex folk entertainment activity.

According to its performance form, Shehuo can be divided into modeling Shehuo and performing Shehuo. Modeling Shehuo has cloth Shehuo, back Shehuo, Ma Shehuo, Che Shehuo, Xinzi Shehuo, Shan Shehuo, mask Shehuo and so on, which mainly shows the figure modeling and craft; performance Shehuo has platform Shehuo, stilt Shehuo and so on, which mainly carries on the fight performance in the courtyard.

The theme of Shehuo is folklore and drama story. It shows a story through one or a group of characters. A story is a turn of Shehuo. The characters should draw the face of Shehuo, wear the clothes of Shehuo and hold the torch of Shehuo. Generally speaking, Shehuo's performance is to explore horses in front, followed by Shehuo's flag, fire blunderbuss team (artillery team), flag team, Shehuo team, and finally gongs and drums team.

Reform and opening up has brought new vitality to the folk fire art, which has been carried forward and become a popular folk cultural activity.