Research Perspectives Of Cultural Ecology And The Northwest Vulcan Worship

A belief in the god of fire(in Chinese methodology)is such an important folk religion around the north-west of Henan province,China,that offering sacrifice to him was and is well-accepted and has become one of important intangible cultural heritage.The sacrificial practice,with a long history and often large in scale,is wide-spread and popular around the north-west of Henan province.The uniqueness of its style and abundancy in its content are closely related to the natural environment and social circumstance: the local natural environment has laid a solid foundation for the oblation to the fire god,because natural factors such as climate,water resources and soil conditions,are indispensable for the cultural development.They are also intimately related with the political and economic conditions,village structure,folk religion and cultural atmosphere: the prosperous economy,well-functioned villages and multi-characteristic folk traditions are all convenient social conditions for the offering practices.In addition,greatly influencing the local folk arts,it provides a foundation of various kinds of arts such as Huai Opera,Rickshaw Opera and stilt-walking.Sacrificial practice has profoundly aesthetic meaning.A sacrificial ritual is a spiritual carnival of irrationalism,which stimulates human being’s passion for life and provides folks with the joyful experience of the beauty and satisfies their spiritual needs.The ritual of sacrificial offering to the god of fire demonstrates local people’s pursuit for life and embodies such human natures as benevolence and truth.As one of folk cultural relics,it has,apart from historical value,spiritual and cultural values in that it has enriched the spiritual life of the local people and fostered folk culture development there.Therefore,it is of great significance,for the sake of preserving the local cultural variety,to protect the practice of sacrificial offering to the fire god.However,presently the sacrificial practice for the god of fire is somehow faced with the passive situations such as the weakened faith,declining practice mechanism,a lack of artistic forms and some other problems.In the present background of conservation of traditional culture,effective measures should be taken to protect the sacrificial practice for the god of fire according to the cultural ecology for the intangible cultural heritage.