Folk social fire (Yixian social fire)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Folk Shehuo (Yixian Shehuo)

Applicant: Yixian County, Liaoning Province

Project No.: 502

Project No.: Ⅹ - 54

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Liaoning Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Yixian County, Liaoning Province

Protection unit: Yixian Cultural Center (Yixian Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center)

A brief introduction of folk Shehuo (Yixian Shehuo)

Applicant: Yixian County, Liaoning 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.

Yixian Shehuo, originally known as "the 18 meetings of Jiulong", is a traditional folk cultural activity formed by the people of all ethnic groups in Yixian County of Liaoning Province in the long-term life of agriculture and animal husbandry. It is mainly spread in the areas of Dayushu fort, Zhangjiabao, jiudaoling and Gaotaizi at the intersection of Daling River and Xihe River in western Liaoning Province. It entertains gods and people, takes singing and dancing and sacrificial activities as carriers, and contains various cultural contents such as history, religion, folk custom, art, commerce and so on. There is a clear record about the local social fire in the civil annals of Yixian annals (1928): "on April 23, thirteen villages of Qijiazi, goukouzi, garage and Yangfang won the meeting. Before and after five days of shopping, the busy drama such as dry boat, bamboo horse, pole, Yangko, etc. Business is like a cloud, and the flow is like water. It is tens of miles away from each other, but some people ride horses and run. Its prosperity comes from all the meetings in the city. "

In Yixian, the 18th meeting is held from April 21 to 25, and the 23rd is the main day. At that time, social fire activities will be held. At first, monks and nuns chanted sutras, then ascended to the temple (worshiping heaven), and then the head of the meeting led all members to pray for good weather and peace in this year. Finally, each village performed in front of the temple, forming a climax. At the end of the conference, people gathered for dinner and scattered.

The costumes, props and libretto of Yixian Shehuo show the characteristics of northern minority folk art, reflecting the distinctive folk customs.