Social fire, also called "playing with social fire", is a comprehensive cultural activity of traditional folk programs. Including dance, acrobatics, juggling, martial arts, drum music and so on. , is the floorboard of folk song and dance activities that people entertain themselves at New Year celebrations and temple fairs. It has a long history, and it is generally believed that it was gradually developed by inheriting hundreds of operas in Qin and Han Dynasties. With the help of various props, the performance is arranged in advance with scene changes, fascinating climax, lively and warm congratulations, lively percussion and drum accompaniment, and free performance procedures.

origin

Folk social fire is a folk self-entertainment activity during the Spring Festival. It comes from the worship of ancient land and fire. Society, land god; The ancestor of fire, fire, is the legendary Vulcan. In China, which is famous for its farming culture, land is the foundation of people's foothold and lays a material foundation for human survival and development. Fire is the source of people's cooking and heating, and it is also an indispensable condition for human survival and development. The ancients thought that fire also had "spirit" with primitive thinking, and worshipped it as a sacred object with special significance, thus forming the concept of respecting fire. The worship of land and fire in ancient times produced the custom of offering sacrifices to social fires. With the development of society and the improvement of people's cognitive ability, the social fire sacrifice ceremony has gradually added entertainment elements and become a large-scale and rich folk entertainment activity.

history

As the oldest custom, Shehuo has a history of thousands of years in China. It comes from primitive religious belief, is the product of ancient witchcraft and totem worship, and is a religious activity used by ancient people to worship God. "Society" is the god of the land, and "fire" can drive away evil spirits and take refuge. Sacrifice to social gods, singing and dancing, is intended to pray for good weather, good harvests, peace and prosperity for the country and the people, and all the best.

The word "social fire" first appeared in the Song Dynasty. The eighth volume of Dream of China in Tokyo records that on June 24th, the birthday of Erlang God in Huankou, there was a music shed on the terrace in front of Erlang Temple, and there was a "social fire on the terrace". During the Han, Wei, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang and Southern Song Dynasties, there were still large Nuo ceremonies in the imperial city on New Year's Eve, which were gradually replaced by social fires and melted into them. It can be seen that the folk social fire in the Song Dynasty is all-encompassing and full of weather. At that time, the social fire was composed of sacrifice, witchcraft, Nuo ceremony, acrobatics, music and dance, joining the army and folk acrobatics. From the first day to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the village community organized festivals and competitions to welcome the gods, including pole climbing, jumping, skipping, sumo wrestling, drumming, singing, cockfighting, nonsense, juggling, commercial puzzles, Hesheng, Qiao's bones and muscles, Qiao's sumo wrestling, prodigal son, zaju, learning to be like a student, throwing knives, pretending to be a student and so on. When performing social fire, masks are essential. On the first night, people carefully drew all kinds of faces so that they could perform on the stage the next day.

According to Shaanxi folk artists, during the Zhou Dynasty, Zhou Wuwang led the troops to cut down, and the army went to the foot of Qilin Mountain, but was blocked by Master Wen stationed at the foot of the mountain. Jiang Ziya took care of every detail, and let the soldiers put on the mask of the magic general and go into battle, yelling and cursing, all of them were mighty and fierce, as if they had fallen from the sky. Master Wen didn't know whether it was true or not, so he thought it was God's will and pulled out the village and fled. After this incident was introduced to the people, the folk custom of painting faces to chase ghosts came into being, and it gradually merged into the social fire. Academic circles generally believe that the origin of Facebook is Nuo dance in Zhou and Qin Dynasties. Nuo is a religious ceremony in ancient times. "Nuo" was originally a legendary bird, and later it was personified and became a sacrificial performance. Nuo dance is a religious dance based on Nuo sacrifice in Zhou Dynasty. Nuo is characterized by wearing masks and singing and dancing. Wizards wear masks engraved with totems and dress themselves up as gods. Once a wizard wears a mask, ordinary people become "gods". Masks play a role in the transformation between man and god here, and are indispensable props for witchcraft.

This custom still exists in today's social fire. The traditional social fire in Baoji area can be talked and laughed before the actors "open their faces". Once you "open your face", you are not yourself and you can't talk casually. This is also a legacy of primitive witchcraft.

With the development of society, the social fire preserved in ancient times has been merged and given new content, and its expression forms have been improved day by day, injecting elements such as folklore, drama stories and heroes. The core social fire performed by villagers in chencang district, Baoji City is to fix a 2-3-meter-high steel bar on a platform, and make various objects such as tigers, cotton and clouds on the steel bar with colored paper. Boys and girls dressed in ancient costumes dressed as drama characters put on various shapes on steel bars.

Social fire, which has lasted for thousands of years, has become an important cultural custom in the first month of each year in Baoji, Shaanxi Province. Baoji is also known as "the hometown of social fire in China".

content

Each team has a etiquette officer (known as a poet among the people). For example, when visiting a unit or a resident's home during the Spring Festival, the etiquette officer will say four words and one poem with the concept of gongs and drums, which is generally compiled because of the different nature and functions of the unit or the different family conditions of the residents. The main events of the social fire team are: stilts, which are called high crutches by the people. Generally, the wooden legs of rectangular columns about 3 feet or 4 feet are made of rafters. Install a long transverse board (with appropriate foot width) at the upper part of about 1 ft, step on the transverse board with the feet, and tie the wooden legs at the upper part to the human calf. Dressed in historical drama costumes. Generally, he plays the characters in the play, such as breaking the bridge, stealing fairy grass, picking yellow robes, learning from the scriptures by the Tang Priest, crossing the sea by the Eight Immortals, and compensating Bao Gong. Accompanied by the strong rhythm of gongs and drums, do marching queues or venues to perform at designated points. For example, if the bridge is broken, the green snake and the white snake will sing their lines and make simple gestures in Shaanxi opera. Dry boat, made of bamboo, and then bonded with colored paper or colored silk, is driven by a boatwoman, who walks in steps, just like a boat in the sea. In front of it, there is an old man with an oar in his hand, rocking the boat. Running a bamboo horse, with bamboo as the skeleton, tied into the shape of a horse (or donkey) and decorated with colored silk or colored paper. The performer wears a bamboo horse around his waist, just like riding a horse. Men and women in pairs, running in pairs, dancing in pairs, singing in pairs, with strong sense of music, clear rhythm and warm atmosphere.

Similarly, pig eight quit carrying his daughter-in-law and so on. High core, also known as high platform. There are many shapes such as lifting core, back core and rotating core, especially the "rotating core". Generally, one or more wooden rafters or iron bars with a length of more than ten feet are fixed on a small tractor or car, and then a lotus-shaped or other shaped hanger is attached to the top of the rod, which is the core platform. On the core stage, one or two or more children who play roles are fixed, wearing theatrical costumes, doing simple movements or modeling, and performing mysterious and thrilling movements during the March. There are also yangko, lion dance, dragon dance, big-headed dolls and so on. The large-scale social fire team consists of colorful flags, gongs and drums, lions, dry boats, big-headed dolls, yangko, high-core and so on. Garrison, armed police, 695 factory and Ansai waist drum, majestic gongs and drums, Taiping drum and northeast yangko, etc.

Shanxi shehuo

Shanxi folk social fire is rich in content and diverse in forms. According to statistics, there are about 200 species in the province, which can be divided into gongs and drums, yangko, sedan chair, stilts, lights, simulated animals, simulated ghosts and gods, martial arts and so on.

The characteristics of gongs and drums are strong and lively rhythm and magnificent scenes, which fully show the simple and unrestrained temperament of the people on the Loess Plateau. Yangko, some of which are mainly sung, such as "Umbrella Head Yangko" and "Little Yangko", commonly known as Wenchang Yangko; There is also a combination of song and dance, mainly dance, commonly known as Wuchang Yangko. It not only has distinctive local characteristics, but also absorbs the expertise of foreign song and dance art, such as Fengyang Pavilion, which simulates the dance of transplanting rice seedlings, which embodies the inclusive characteristics of Chinese culture. Cars, boats and cars are decorated with exquisite skills into the shapes of various folk vehicles, showing rich content of the times, mainly including "motorists' clubs" and "dry boats" The characteristics of Shanxi lamps are: on the one hand, it inherits the art of traditional lamps and has the characteristics of lamps all over the country; On the other hand, they give full play to the advantages of Shanxi's geographical resources and have unique local characteristics, such as the flourishing fire and the "light of the coal sea" light show, which are all related to Shanxi's coal production. Folk social fire simulating animals and ghosts and gods is famous for its profound cultural implications, which shows the struggle between human beings and fierce birds and animals in nature in ancient times and reflects human superstition and awe of evil spirits and ghosts. Through it, we can see the development process of folk entertainment from entertaining gods to entertaining people. Wushu includes nine-section whip, whip fist, sword dance, knife dance, bar piercing, cage jumping and overlord whip, which attracts people with superb skills.

The most distinctive pavilion in the south of Shanxi is stilts. It is deeply loved by the masses with exquisite and magical props and thrilling performance skills. Gao Tai in Huangzhong Village, Xiangfen County is one of them. Every year during the Spring Festival, performances are performed in the village and neighboring villages for about ten days, and fifteen performances are performed in the county or local area. According to legend, the Yellow River Plateau originated from sacrifice. People dressed as gods performed in the temple first, and then went out to perform in the street one by one. The crowd follows the crowd, sometimes so crowded that the people behind can't see it. Later, it was suggested that the actor of God be fixed on a wooden board and lifted up, which not only increased the three-dimensional sense of the performance, but also facilitated the audience to enjoy it, so there was a "yellow stage". The performance of China-Huang Gaotai started with the gongs and drums team clearing the way in front, followed by many colorful flags and umbrellas, followed by the wonderful Gao Tai. The high platform is usually carried by eight people, and the iron crutches are designed according to the performance content, which is naturally ingenious and unexpected. For example, some actors stretch out their arms and another actor stands on them; Some lotus flowers are in full bloom in the sky, and a child stands on the lotus and rotates left and right; Some are an actor with his arms outstretched, holding the child's braid in one hand, and the child is still hanging in the air. Some are an actor holding a chair upside down with his hands, and another actor is standing on one leg of the chair. The actors on the heights spread out their sleeves and gently swung their bodies, while those who lifted their faces moved forward steadily and cooperated closely. These folk artists, according to certain physical principles, make use of people's psychological characteristics of forming illusions, confuse the false with the true, and tie the iron bars with strange structures into an "aerial dance", which makes the viewers nervous, while the performers look at themselves freely. The content of the performance is mainly traditional opera, which also reflects the ever-changing real life. There is a high platform every year, and there is a turnaround every year. In Taiyuan, similar art forms are called "iron bars" and "back sticks", and some artists can bring three small actors at the same time.

Stilts, commonly known as "abductors", are performed by dancers stepping on wooden stilts, which is a popular form of social fire in Shanxi. The height of wooden stilts varies, some as low as more than a foot, some as high as a foot and a half, usually four or five feet. Stilts can be divided into literary stilts and martial stilts. With strings as partners, Wen stilts dance while walking, changing various formations and performing in the street. Some dancers dress up as dramatic figures, showing not only historical stories but also modern life. The content is colorful and eclectic. Martial stilts are accompanied by percussion music, mainly performing stunts. Pandao Village in Xiangfen County is famous for its stilt performance, with wooden stilts as high as eight to ten feet. Generally, a special venue is set up in the center of the village, and a square table or bar is placed every two feet, with four or five rows. After the dancers jump one by one, they have to make a big split, and the audience will hold their breath and watch, squeezing a cold sweat for the dancers' thrilling performance. Gaocun, Lizhuang, Zhang Jiahe and Huobi in Fushan County are also famous for their stilts. The stunts performed include "crossing the overpass", "pedaling in the air", "dropping the fork", "jumping on the table" and "jumping on a double stool", which are quite martial arts. In Hucun, Yuanqu County, in addition to stunts such as turning, bumping, dropping forks and jumping tables, there are also difficult lifting methods such as lifting two knots, lifting three knots, sitting, lifting and lifting together, which combine thrilling performances with beautiful plastic arts. The performance of Wushu stilts is thrilling, which is in sharp contrast with the warm and soothing atmosphere of Wen stilts.

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Shehuo

Pronunciation: shèHuü

Explanation:

1, a zaju performed by the village society in the old society.

Source: Fan Dacheng's "Thirty-two Rhymes of the Fifth Middle School of Shangyuan" Note: "Folk drum music is called social fire. It can't be learned and can't be remembered. It is probably funny."

2. refers to the related households.

Source: "The Water Margin" 58 times: "But if you come to find the leader of the cottage, you must make friends with the people in the social fire. How dare you be wrong? "

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Open classification:

Folk customs, traditions, customs, Spring Festival, Spring Festival customs

References:

1. Research on Guyuan, Ningxia (She Guixiao)

2. Ningxia Guyuan Local Records Query Software (She Wengang)

3. Folk customs and tourism on both sides of Fenhe River, edited by Duan Youwen, Tourism Education Press, 1998.