The origin and development history of social fire

Tracing back to the origin of "social fire" is also related to totem worship and primitive songs and dances in ancient times. Totem worship has experienced a long time in the history of our country. In primitive society, people carved the totem symbols of this clan on stone walls, wooden pillars or stabbed them on their bodies, painted them on their faces, and some even made masks. In the sacrificial season, people paint totem patterns or wear totem masks on their bodies, beating labor tools and dancing wildly, hoping that the totem they worship will give them a magical power. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties (1 1 century-256 BC), there was an exorcism ceremony in the court, which was called "exorcism" in the Zhou Dynasty and was a dance with witchcraft. The Analects of Confucius called Nuo an exorcism. (Yuefu Miscellanies): Fang Shixiang is used to exorcise demons. Four people, wearing crowns and masks, four eyes of gold, bears and furs, and Levin shields, danced around the room singing witchcraft spells, making ghosts afraid and run away. With the passage of time, through the dynasties, this exorcism ceremony spread from the palace to the people, and gradually formed a huge folk etiquette activity, which evolved into a village competition for sacrifice, entertainment and meeting the gods, and was added to the variety show. This ancient custom has been passed down to this day. Every year from the first day to the fifteenth day of the first month, Shaanxi and other places will hold a grand and lively social fire activity.

In the northwest of China, every Spring Festival, rural people will spontaneously organize various social fire activities. The scale of social fire varies from dozens to hundreds, including gongs and drums players, lion dances and so on. The masses set off firecrackers to greet the social fire team and presented gifts such as tobacco and alcohol. Where the social fire passes, firecrackers are ringing, gongs and drums are loud, people are crowded and the atmosphere is warm.

Shehuo performance

The most expressive social fire is the high platform. Every platform has a theme. Common storylines include Monkey King Thrice Defeats the Skeleton Demon and Jiro's rescue of his mother. Most of them are based on the stories of Shaanxi Opera. Gao Tai is usually built under the command of experienced folk artists. That is, on a special table (there are also cars or tractors), steel bars, cloth, colored paper and other materials are made into various shapes, such as rockeries, trees, animals and so on. Then the boys and girls (usually 4-5 years old) are dressed as characters in the story and fixed on the high platform according to the content, and the number varies from 1 person to1person.

Shehuo is a part of the traditional culture of Han nationality, which originated from the ritual activities in ancient China. Lu You, a poet of the Song Dynasty in China, wrote in "A Tour of Shanxi Villages": "Xiaogu follows the Spring Society, and the clothes are simple and ancient." It can be seen that it has lasted for a long time.

Whenever the severe winter passes, the snow and ice melt, spring warms bloom, and the earth recovers, ancestors kill pigs and sheep, and sacrifice the fruits of their labor to "God" and ancestors. At this time, the primitive ancestors who were tired all the year round had a chance to rest. They were ecstatic, so they "dressed up" themselves, painted their faces with cinnabar, tied bird hair on their heads, shouted and jumped wildly. This is the earliest social fire of mankind. According to Liang Zhongyuan's Collection of Folk Social Fires in Longdong, the folk social fires in Longdong, like those in other parts of the country, have the same characteristics in content and form, dating back to ancient times. At that time, people "sang and danced, prayed for heaven and earth, and took their luck" ("Custom Justice") in order to pray for disasters and exorcise evil spirits.

The activities of social fire have been handed down from generation to generation, but with the progress of human beings and the evolution of the times, its form and content have undergone qualitative changes, and the new era has given new content to social fire. During the "Cultural Revolution", the performance of ancient operas was stopped, and the social fire was also denounced as one of the four old schools that advocated "emperors and generals, talented people and beautiful women" and was banned. It was not until 1980s that the traditional folk entertainment of Shehuo was restored. At present, social fire is no longer a manifestation of people's worship of "God" fundamentally, but has evolved into a cultural and entertainment activity with healthy content, lively form, diverse names and lively interest, and has also become a new folk custom.

Shehuo is a traditional festival for the Han people in China to celebrate the Spring Festival. It is also the general name of Gao Tai, stilts, dry boat, lion dance, dragon dance, yangko, etc. The specific forms vary greatly from region to region.

"Social Fire", historical materials say: "Social Fire, all kinds of juggling performed in festivals"; Also known as: "folk drum music is called social fire, farmers set up" halls "with households and" societies "with villages and castles; Things related to "society" are called "social affairs", such as Xiangshan Society, Shehuo Society, Filial Piety Society, Self-Music Club, Music Club and Eating and Eating.

Every time you meet a fairy, you must hold entertainment activities, drums and torches to cheer, lion and dragon dances and parades, and the crowd will follow. Obviously, "human power" encourages "God power", thus forming the custom of "social fire". There is a folk saying that "social fire entertains God and incense entertains people".