Rural Carnival Activities at Spring Festival
Shehuo Performances
The shehuo performance is a popular Spring Festival entertainment activity that originates in the worship of land and fire: she means the god of land and huo the god of fire. Farming culture is integral to that of China as a whole. Land plays a crucial role in and is a material foundation for human subsistence. Fire, the source of heat and cooked food, is also an indispensable facet of human subsistence. Along with social development and enhancement of the human capacity to understand the world, the ritual of worshiping land and fire has gradually evolved into a grand, lavish, large-scale performance. The shehuo performance is indeed of high cultural value, including as it does folk art, folk music, and folk dancing.
Shehuo Performance in Baoji City
Baoji City in Shaanxi Province has a long history. Locals maintain the shehuo performance tradition by acting out ancient stories, or dramas and legends, about historical figures. Performers wear costumes and ornately colored masks. Performers act as scouts and lead the procession, and musicians playing gongs and drums bring up the rear. In 2006, the Baoji shehuo performance was included on the first list of national intangible cultural heritage.
The shehuo mask features bold and exaggerated use of colors that also imply the characteristics of each role. Black signifies honesty, red loyalty, white treachery, yellow violence, blue imprudence, and green righteousness.
The ladle mask exclusive to Shaanxi Province originates in the shehuo makeup on masks made of dried mud or papier mach. It is reproduced on the wooden ladles that were part of everyday life in ancient China and which are generally embellished with the painted faces of powerful, righteous folk characters. Hung on the wall as decoration and to ward off evil spirits, they also express the householder’s wishes for good luck and blessings.
In May of 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited China. His first stop was Xi’an City, capital of Shaanxi Province. Shehuo ladle masks from Baoji City were the main decorations on the wall and tables of the hall where Modi’s grand welcoming banquet took place.
Hualian shehuo Performances in Taolinping Village
Taolinping is a small village in Jingxing County of Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province. The traditional hualian (literally painted face) shehuo performance is held every Spring Festival. The local shehuo performances that became popular here and in surrounding villages are believed to have been introduced by merchants from Shanxi Province. Almost every village in the region holds shehuo performances each year. That in Taolinping is divided into two types: wen shehuo and wu shehuo. The former is a kind of acrobatic combat that combines music and dance. The latter, which features real swords and spears and an intense ambience, refers more to martial arts. Shehuo performances in Taolinping are mainly of the wu shehuo type, and have a high, time-honored reputation for acting techniques, an impressively large cast of actors, and gorgeous costumes.
Performers, dressers, directors and martial artists are all male, and each performance demands 20 to 30 of them. Moreover, a yangko (a form of Chinese folk dance) group composed entirely of women usually performs along with the shehuo performers.
Shehuo performances here begin with a ceremony on the ground in front of the outdoor stage. The troupe parades and performs along the main street of the village, kowtowing and burning incense and paper money in front of temples to pray for good weather, bumper harvests, prosperity, and peace in the coming year. After the parade, the troupe returns to the stage for the martial arts performance, in which each person wields a sword or spear and fights in pairs. The accompanying clashing of cymbals, rattle of drums and shouts of the audience make this an impressively dynamic scenario.
Every year shehuo performances in Taolinping attract visitors from cities such as Shijiazhuang, Beijing and Tianjin as well as audiences from nearby villages. In 2009 Taolinping shehuo performance was included in the country’s national intangible cultural heritage list.
Raising of Silk Flower-decorated Tables in Yongnian County
The climax of Spring Festival celebrations in Linmingguan Town, Yongnian County, Handan City of Hebei Province is the lifting up of a silk flower-decorated table and dancing while holding it aloft, a folk activity that goes back more than a millennium.
Li Shimin (598-649), Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), is believed to have won a great battle victory in Linmingguan Town. He then launched the “Zhenguan Reign,” a golden age of Chinese history notable for its flourishing economy and strong military power. He ordered construction in Linminguan of a temple to the goddess Guanyin. As this occurred in winter, local people decorated a table with silk flowers as a celebration. Since then the tradition of raising a silk flower-decorated table on the Lantern Festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the first lunar month, has been preserved. It has evolved into an important cultural activity when celebrating the New Year and praying for good harvests.
The troupe as a whole usually consists of 40 to 50 performers. The yangko and dragon dance performers take the lead, followed by flag bearers and drummers, ending with the table carriers. The table has three main characteristics: first, it is heavy, usually weighing 100 kg or more, and skillfully crafted out of rosewood. Second, it is beautiful. The handrails on either side of the table are delicately carved with dragons and phoenixes. A two-meter-high oval flower shelf is attached to the handrails with either fine bamboo strips or steel wire. In the past people often decorated the shelf with silk flowers and candles. Nowadays light bulbs are used rather than candles, and they flatter the table with equal effect. Third, it is auspicious. Traditionally decorations on the table include the words “bumper grain harvest” and “peace throughout,” so signifying people’s hopes for the coming New Year.
Raising the table involves the coordination of various crafts and techniques: how should the table be decorated? How is it possible to dance and play musical instruments while holding the table aloft? The table is normally supported by eight to 16 people who advance and retreat to the dance rhythm, shuffling their heels along the ground, dancing the yangko, and shaking their shoulders.
