The historical origin of Niu Laoye's social fire
According to Liu, president of Houguanzhai Social Fire Association, Houguanzhai Social Fire started in the Ming Dynasty, flourished in the Qing Dynasty and continues to this day. Master Niu, the core figure of the social fire, is actually the "spring official" elected by the villagers. In the ancient farming society, the spring official was sent by the emperor to announce the spring, and the cattle were the most representative of the labor force in the farming society. Therefore, the historical image is riding a cow to the fields to report spring, and Master Niu is actually a nickname given by the villagers in Houguanzhai. In the fourth year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1866), Liu Rong, the governor of Shaanxi Province, saw the social fire in Houguanzhai, and felt that the order was very chaotic, so he made Chunguan the master of the village, and his authority was limited to organizing and leading and maintaining the order during the spring festival and the social fire. After the Spring Festival, Master Niu's strength disappeared on his own.
Old Houguanzhai Village includes Shangbaozi Village and Houguanzhai Village in Yangzhuang Township, Chang 'an District, Xi City. 196 1 year is divided into one village independently for the convenience of management, but the customs of the two villages are still unified. In the old society, there were seven religious communities in Houguanzhai. Now Shangbaozi Village is a religious society because of its high terrain and good feng shui. Now there are six religious groups in Houguanzhai village.
Seven religious societies will jointly play the social fire to welcome the new year, among which Shangbaozi is responsible for electing Master Niu, and the other six societies will make social fire tables for Master Niu to watch and obey his command.
The Spring Festival begins on the fifth day of the lunar calendar every year. Six religious communities under the jurisdiction of Houguanzhai Village began to make a prelude to the social fire-burning it. The so-called social fire means that religious circles ridicule each other and strive for each other in this spring's social fire.
On the tenth day of the first month, six religious groups are going to Shangbaozi to burn incense. Shang Baozi saw that the quality of the social fire nuclear carried by the Six Education Societies was good, and she was sincere in playing social fire, so she began to choose cattle owners. Moreover, if there is no religious society, or if the social fire is not wonderful, the Shangbaozi Social Fire Bureau will not hold a meeting to select cattle owners. So the real social fire of cattle owners will only happen once every few years. After Master Niu was born, the eleventh to thirteenth day of the first month was the stage when Master Niu and the social fire bureaus of various religious organizations were discussing how to make a fire. The Social Fire Bureau established by various religious organizations was officially born, and specific work such as clothing, props and makeup was assigned to people to be responsible for this year's social fire performance. On the 14th day of the first month, Master Niu made an official appearance, and the Houguanzhai Shehuo made a grand appearance. The fifteenth day of the first month is the most solemn day and the last day of social fire.