Folk Beliefs Of Opera Performance

This article is a research on the ritual performance of Puxian Opera, which is an old traditional opera in Putian area. Originating form Xinghua Opera, Puxian Opera is a local-provincially opera which has being prevailed in Puxian area, Fujian Province. From the perspective of local people, besides abundant sacrifices, the thanksgiving perform opera and entertainment Gods activities are also the vital approach to communicate with Gods in sacrifice activities. The the origin, developing and declining of folk opera in Puxian area are closely linked to the sacrifice activities. Therefore, by taking Puxian Opera as a research object and an entry point, this paper is trying to figure out the relationship between folk beliefs and folk operas (especially folk ritual operas).Therefore, by taking the temple festivals and thanksgiving activities within a year as main research objects, there are three major research methods in this thesis:the first one is the field work, which is make up of three components:the participation of some important ritual performance, the recording of the folk operas which were performing at that time and the observation of the playing Gods activities in the theatrical troupe. The achievement of this field work will become the primary sources of this research. The second methods is the collecting of documentations, which contain local documents, chorography, narrative sources and account books. This collection will be integrated with the sources from different people within this field (such as troupe owners, actors, religions cults, local masters and old artists) by applying case interview and oral histories, which is considered to be the third method of this thesis. Consequently, the purpose of the application of the methods is to guarantee the accuracy and authenticity of the information and to acquire local people’s honest opinion, which is different from the standpoint of the authority to a large extent.In terms of the research methods, rather than studying on the sacrifice opera inside a given country, participant observation of the entire thanksgiving perform opera is carried out so as to comprehensively explain the relationship between the folk operas and folk believes. In the aspect of the content, there are four chapters in this dissertation. To be more specifically, the first chapter of this paper is the preface part, which will introduce the research subject and related theories for the sake of leading to the writing thinking of this study. In the second chapter, an overview of the folk beliefs of the Puxian areas will be presented. Moreover, we will point out that the thriving local operas performances attribute to this densely atmosphere of folk beliefs. The third chapter of this paper is the summing up and analysis on the subject of field work. Specifically, to start with, we will describe the whole cultural ecology of Puxian Opera, then present the living condition of the theatrical troupe and the worship of playing God. Last but not least, organization structure and financial operations which are closely related to the village altar and village temple in Putian area will be demonstrated. The final part of this dissertation is the analysis towards the ritual performance of Puxian folk ritual opera. Then we will propose that it is a positive way for folk rites to perform folk culture, integrate local world outlook and maintain culture identity.The purpose of this article above all is to organize the whole believing environment of Puxian area by studying on the performing organization, programme rundown, performance subject and performance forms. Then, on the foundation of concluding the status development of Puxian Opera, our second purpose is to interpret the multi-roles that the folk operas are playing in the areas of consolidating the local beliefs, maintaining the clan network, performing the moral injunction, etc. Finally, this dissertation will also observe and study the performing effect of folk ritual operas and attempts to asses the links between religions ritual opera and local symbolis systems, as well as their place in the formation of social and culture networks. Furthermore, it is also helpful for us to understand the local community and explore new ways if the folk operas are considered as an approach.