Study On The God Of Fire Folk Belief In Contemporary Life

Fire is a mysterious natural force in ancient times,the utilization of fire by the primitive has been seen as a symbol of human civilization.During the long period of social development and the complication of social relations,people's worship of natural forces has evolved into the worship of ancestors who masters fire.When there comes problems they cannot handle,they turned to seek consolation in the spiritual level.Thus the personified worship of god appears.The god of fire is one of the important gods in our country and in the history.Till this days,the worship and folk activities of the god of fire still exists in Shangqiu and surrounding areas.Along with the recognition of the intangible cultural heritage element,the worship of the god of the fire now faces new opportunities of development in the contemporary era.This article starts with the perspective of intangible cultural heritage safeguarding,discuss how to better safeguard and develop folk beliefs intangible cultural heritage in contemporary,by integrating with folklore,art,history and other research methods.This article breaks through the previous research on one single folk belief,instead,it focuses on the synchronic comparison of the cultural circle of the god of fire in Shangqiu area,and analyzes the logic and basis of its development.This article discusses the development of folk belief combining the intangible cultural heritage safeguarding methods and principles.This article has four parts: part one introduces the god of fire culture in the history of our country,and raises that the folk belief in Shangqiu area is a center of the cultural circle,the culture is influenced by the Yinshang culture,cultural communication and other factors.In the second part,the author chooses two god of fire beliefs which still transmitting and developing as living heritage in the cultural circle as entry points,to highlight the two different forms of the development of the god of fire belief in rural and urban areas from the aspects of organization structure,folk art,worship ceremony and function.The third part analyzes the reasons behind the different forms under people-oriented or government-oriented ICH safeguarding activities in rural and urban areas.Plus the current changes in roles in transmitting,the tendency of disorder and homogeneity in transmitting activities,and the lack of attention in the spirit of the culture,etc.,to propose the thoughts and discussions on two forms of the culture,which is: the original folk belief in the god of fire will develop into the modern folk belief,and the modern folk belief in the god of fire should build a new cultural identity base on the original folk belief culture.In the fourth part,the author puts forward his own thoughts and suggestions on how to transmit the excellent genes of the traditional culture accord with the values of harmonious civilizationin the contemporary society,and how to transmit and develop them in the contemporary era.In modern times,the god of fire folk belief has the function of uniting rural areas and regulating the behaviors by combining folk-arts and becoming the carnival program of the Spring Festival.Also,it has become a communication platform for different traditional culture and modern culture through playing the role with entertaining and economic functions by becoming the local cultural and tourism brand.It still remains the shadow of primitive mysterious thoughts,to satisfy the spiritual needs of the people,as to attract people to worship for the reason.But if we forget all these,we can find out the gene of traditional culture from the god of fire folk belief,which creates artistic value,cultural value and economic value through daily life.The author believes that this is what we should truly pay attention to and carry forward,this is the the profound cultural significance of the folk belief culture,and also the foundation of our cultural identity and cultural self-confidence.