Folk social fire (xuantai social fire in Yangxian county)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Folk Shehuo (xuantai Shehuo, Yangxian county)

Applicant: Yang County, Shaanxi Province

Project No.: 502

Project No.: Ⅹ - 54

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Shaanxi Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Yang County, Shaanxi Province

Protection unit: Yangxian Cultural Center

A brief introduction to folk social fire (xuantai social fire in Yangxian county)

Applicant: Yang County, Shaanxi Province

Folk fire is a popular self entertainment activity during the Spring Festival, which originated from the ancient land worship and fire god worship. "She" is the God of land, "fire" is the ancestor of fire, is the legendary god of fire. In the history of agriculture based China, land was used for farming, fire for cooking food and heating, both of which are the material basis for people's survival and development. In ancient times, people believed that fire also had "spirit" according to primitive thinking, and worshipped it as a deity with special meaning, thus forming the concept of advocating fire. With the development of society and the improvement of people's cognitive ability, this kind of sacrificial ceremony gradually added the element of entertaining people, and finally formed a large-scale and complex folk entertainment activities.

According to the form of performance, Shehuo can be divided into modeling Shehuo and performing Shehuo. Among them, modeling Shehuo includes cloth Shehuo, back Shehuo, horse Shehuo, car Shehuo, core Shehuo, mountain Shehuo, mask Shehuo and other forms of line-up performance, which mainly shows the figure's modeling and craft; performing Shehuo includes platform Shehuo, stilt Shehuo and other forms, which mainly carries out fighting performance in the courtyard.

The theme of Shehuo is folklore and drama, which shows a story with 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 team, 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. Under the new situation, the traditional fire art has been carried forward and become a popular folk cultural activity.

Yangxian xuantai Shehuo, also known as "Yangxian gaoxinzi Shehuo", is a unique Spring Festival folk activity in Yangxian city and countryside in the south of Shaanxi Province. It originated from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, after a long period of development, to the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, it stood out from a large number of local social fire varieties and became the most influential one in Yangxian social fire, which has a history of more than 300 years. From the late Qing Dynasty to the early days of the founding of new China, the fire of xuantai community in Yangxian County reached its peak, and entered a tortuous period of development after the 1960s.

Yangxian County social fire brings together all kinds of folk fire essence, standing on the Gaoli beam stand as a form of performance, and taking the role of people carrying shoulders as the main mode of transportation. The beams used have five or six floors, up to twelve meters, and are carried by dozens of people. Xuantai Shehuo facial makeup adopts exaggerated artistic techniques, and the pigments used in the makeup are specially made by the people, which does not hurt the skin. During the tour, the fire of xuantai society was more popular than others, and it attracted thousands of people, so it became a folk art activity with the largest number of participants.

Yangxian xuantai Shehuo integrates many elements of traditional drama, dance, music, art and acrobatics. It is also a valuable material for the study of folk customs, people's cultural psychology and living conditions in the upper reaches of the Han River. It has important historical and cultural research value and far-reaching influence.

Chinese PinYin : Min Jian She Huo Yang Xian Xuan Tai She Huo