**1. Introduction**

*Yingshen saishe* 迎神賽社 or *saishe* 賽社 is a general name for all types of temple festivals and temple fairs (*miaohui* 廟會) held to offer sacrifices to deities of local communities and to entertain them with musical and theatrical performance. Also known as *shehuo* 社火, *saishe* is a living tradition that originated from an ancient community ritual known as 'spring prayer and autumn thanksgiving' (*chunqi qiubao* 春祈秋報) (Tanaka 1998, pp. 37–40; Zhu 2018, pp. 25–32), which itself developed from the earlier 'Three Big Sacrifices', namely, the rain-seeking ritual of *yu* 雩, the year-end thanksgiving ritual of *zha/la* 蜡/臘 and particularly the exorcism ritual of *nuo* 儺 (Zhao 1988, pp. 184–89; Yang 1992; Han 1992; Han et al. 1999; Zhou 2016, pp. 2–9). The word *sai* 賽 in *saishe* is written in early Chinese texts as *sai* 塞, meaning 'offering sacrifices in gratitude to deities' (e.g., *Shiji suoyin* 9.14b; *Lunheng* 24.17a), whereas *she* 社 in *saishe* is a polysemous word that may refer to the Lord of the Soil (*Liji* 25.221a; *Shuowen jiezi* 1.6a–b), a shrine to the Lord of the Soil (*Chunqiu zuozhuan* 11.85c, 11.86c), and a ritual community or a community worship association bound up with the Lord of the Soil (*Chunqiu zuozhuan* 51.408b; *Liji* 25.221b). As for the meaning of *huo* 火 in *shehuo*, no consensus seems to have been reached among scholars: some of them trace it to a Shang (ca. 1600–1046 BC) oracle-bone script that has been identified as *liao* 燎, referring to the ritual of 'burning sacrifice in the shrine to the Lord of the Soil' (Chao 1995, p. 72n); some treat it as a phonetic loan character of *huo* 夥, meaning 'crowd/multitude' as in the *Yilin huikao* 藝林匯考 or *Collected Evidential Studies in the Forest of Art* (*Yilin huikao* 36.2a), from which is derived the meaning of 'lively/bustling' (*honghuo* 紅火/*huobao* 火爆) (Zhao 1999, p. 134); some interpret it as referring to the ancient ritual of 'burning sacrifices on firewood and offering them up to heavenly deities' (*chai* 祡 ) (Wang and Lü 2007, p. 61). While all of these interpretations make sense in one way or another, a more plausible etymological explanation of *huo* in *shehuo*, in our view, lies in *nuo* exorcism, in which *wu* 巫-shaman priests/exorcists hold torches made from reeds to expel diseases and demons as denoted by *jue* 爝 and *guan* 爟 (*Shuowen jiezi* 10a.25b, 10a.26a–b; see also *Lüshi chunqiu*

**Citation:** Zhao, Xiaohuan. 2021. Form Follows Function in Community Rituals in North China: Temples and Temple Festivals in Jiacun Village. *Religions* 12: 1105. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12121105

Academic Editor: Yuet Keung Lo

Received: 27 October 2021 Accepted: 7 December 2021 Published: 15 December 2021

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14.5a). Significantly, this ancient form of *nuo* exorcism can still be seen today in Nanfeng 南 豐, Jiangxi province (Ji 1998).

The annual ritual of 'offering prayers in spring and giving thanks in autumn' (*chunqi qiubao*) emerged in the Zhou dynasty (1045–256 BC) (*Maoshi* 19.333a–335b),<sup>1</sup> evolved into a community festival in the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220) (*Baihu tong* 2.4a; *Hanshu* 24.8a) and integrated with *nuo* and *baixi* 百 戲 (lit. 'hundred entertainments') in the Song dynasty into a variety show of ritual, musical and theatrical performances known as *shehuo* (*Dongjing menghua lu* 8.758; *Xihu laoren fansheng lu* 1.10–12; see also Zhang 2014, p. 62; Zhao 1999, pp. 140–41). Musical and theatrical entertainments (*xi* 戲) are not mere appendages of but integral to rituals of offering sacrifices to deities (*sai*) during community or temple festivals, hence *saixi* 賽 戲 (temple theatre). Temple theatre demonstrates itself as a closely integrated form of religious ritual performance and musical and theatrical entertainment and proves to be instrumental in the development of Chinese theatre from ritual to drama (Zhao 2022a, 2002b).

This paper attempts an ethnomethodologically informed study of *saishe* with focus on the *sai* ritual and *xi* performance presented during temple festivals in Jiacun 賈 村 village. Originally called Nanjiacun 南 賈 村, Jiacun is located about three kilometres southwest of the urban centre of Lucheng 潞 城 in southeastern Shanxi province. Historically under the jurisdiction of Shangdang 上 黨 Commandery, Southeast Shanxi covers roughly the area of modern-day Changzhi 長 治, a prefecture-level city that comprises four districts and eight counties including Lucheng, Tunliu 屯 留, Zhangzi 長 子 and Pingshun 平 順. Among various Shangdang village festivals, the most famous and representative is perhaps Jiacun temple festival, which is widely acclaimed as the 'number one folk *shehuo* in North China' (Qu 2006; Wang 2006) for its long, well-documented history and also for its highly developed temple culture and deep-rooted theatrical tradition. Based on my fieldwork in Jiacun village in May 2016, I examine the Double-Fourth Temple Festival (*Siyuesi miaosai* 四 月 四 廟 賽) held to celebrate the birthday of the Primordial Sovereign of the Morning Clouds (Bixia yuanjun 碧 霞 元 君). I focus on the religious ritual performance and musical and theatrical entertainment presented during the festival with a view to presenting the highly dynamic, interactive relationships between temple and theatre and between efficacy and entertainment in a real-life setting.
