"Welcoming the City God" is commonly known as "receiving the Lord" in the local area, and has a history of more than 600 years. The welcoming team is composed of an art performance team spontaneously formed by the villagers. The performance square is around the sedan chair of the City God and his wife. The yangko team, dance team, shoulder pole team, gong and drum team, and community fire team march and perform, attracting many audiences. "City God" means city. "City" refers to the city wall, and "moat" is the moat surrounding the city. In ancient times, the moat surrounded by water was called "chi", and the moat without water was called "moat", both of which played the role of protecting the city. It is said that the City God evolved from "Shuiyong", one of the eight earth gods in "Zhouli La Festival" ("Shui" means moat, and "yong" means city). The term "City God" first appeared in "Yijing Tai Gua", with the sentence "the city is restored to the moat". Ban Gu of the Han Dynasty also said in "Preface to the Two Capitals" that "the capital repaired the palace and dredged the City God". The earliest recorded one is the Wuhu City God, which was built in the second year of Chiwu in Wu during the Three Kingdoms period (239 AD). The belief in the City God as the guardian of the city became popular with the rise of Taoism. The Biography of Murong Yan in the Book of Northern Qi records that Murong Yan, a general of Northern Qi, was guarding Yingcheng. Hou Tian and Ren Yue, generals of Southern Liang, led their troops to attack, blocking the Yangtze River waterway with water plants and locking the river surface with iron chains, cutting off Yingcheng's grain and grass transportation and contact with the outside world. In the critical moment, Murong Yan heard that "there was a shrine in the city, commonly known as the City God, and people prayed to the God of the City in public and private." He went to worship in person and prayed for the City God to bless Yingcheng. That night, there was a heavy rain, the river water rose, washed away the water plants, and broke the iron chain that locked the river. The soldiers and civilians in the city thought that the City God had appeared, and their morale was greatly boosted. They defeated the Liang army in one fell swoop. The spread of this magical legend made the City God gradually become the guardian of the city in the minds of the people. In the Tang Dynasty, city god temples were built all over the country. The social functions of the city god were gradually expanded from the original city protection god to exorcising disasters, promoting good and punishing evil, supervising officials and deterring the people, and becoming an almighty god who protects people's lives and property. In the Song Dynasty, the city god was included in the national sacrificial rites. Many famous historical figures were honored as city gods by the emperors according to their feudal titles after their death. From then on, there were gradually differences between the capital city god, the prefecture city god and the county city god. There was no city god below the county level, and they were uniformly managed by the community god and the land god. According to the "regulations", there was no city god below the county level, but "the state has the state city god, the county has the county city god, and there are three wandering city gods in the north of Hu County", which became a wonderful flower in the folk customs of the county. The three touring city gods in Yi district of Xi'an each have their own person: the Big City God is Ji Xin (said to be from Wangshou Village, Dawang Town, Yi district), a loyal general who pretended to surrender to Liu Bang and was burned alive by Xiang Yu in the battle of Xingyang in the third year of Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty (204 BC). He is worshipped in turn by 19 villages including Dingzhou Village, Zhuori Village, Weiqufang and Sandu Village; the Second City God is Han Cheng (said to be from Han Village, Ganting Town, Yi district), who fought in the south and the north in the Ming Dynasty and died heroically. He is welcomed and worshipped by 21 villages including Yadao Village, Noguchi Village, Xiaoyifang and Donghan Village; the Third City God is Zhou Ke (said to be Zhang Zongmeng, the magistrate of Hu County during the Chongzhen period of Ming Dynasty), who was loyal to the Han Dynasty and would rather die than yield. He is welcomed and sent off by 13 villages including Huangfu Village, Liulaoan and Sanqi Village. It is said that these three city gods all had imperial edicts in the past. In the fourth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1371), Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, pardoned them and conferred them the title of "city gods of the capital". Each village followed the agreed route, took turns to receive and send off the three city gods, and paid tribute to them in turn, repeating the cycle. There is no record of when the three city god tours in the north of the urban area of Yi District, Xi'an City began, but the annual welcoming and sending off ceremony in the countryside has been enduring and flourishing. Because the "receiving the city god" activity that lasts for more than ten or twenty years is indeed a rare thing for a village or a person, and the impression left on people is indelible, it is natural for each village to compete with each other to show off their abilities and compete with each other. Every winter in October, the competition is held (report: inform, convey information; competition: the name of offering sacrifices to gods. Reporting competition means informing and conveying the information of offering sacrifices to gods). After Village A reports the competition, Village B welcomes the city god in the first month of the following year. According to the "Revised Huxian Annals", "At that time, they dressed up as civil and military officials, with flags and banners leading the way, cavalrymen following behind, high-ranking officials and large banners, and drums and gongs roaring to the sky. Crowds of spectators gathered, which was quite a grand occasion." By the early days of liberation, the trend of meeting the City God gradually disappeared. In 1953, the statue of the Second City God was destroyed in Zhenhuawei Village, Cangyu Township, and in 1956, the statue of the Big City God was destroyed in Fu Village, Dawang Town, and the City God was abolished. More than 30 years later, with the improvement of the material and cultural life of the people, the grand occasion of "Three City Gods in Huxian" has re-emerged. In 1988, the Big City God statue was rebuilt in Zhenshou Village, Weifeng Township, in 1989, the Second City God statue was built in Yadao Village, Cangyu Township, and in 1990, the golden statue of the Third City God was built in Huangfu Village, Laodian Town. From then on, the "City God" began to "wander" in the villages in the north of the city of Xi'an. The reception of the City God began when Village A notified Village B when the City God was reported, and Village B immediately made preparations to welcome the god; set up an organization, divide the work, organize the team to practice drums, repair the car and prepare the horse, add clothes and mend the wall, buy vegetables and slaughter sheep. On the day of welcoming the god, the team lined up for miles, and the villagers and spectators were in great numbers. Welcoming the City God is commonly known as welcoming the God. Receiving the God has a very grand and solemn form and ceremony. The activity started very early on the day. The team to welcome the God is composed of the clergy team and ancient folk art performances. The clergy team surrounded the sedan chair of the City God and his wife in an ancient and solemn manner, with military officers protecting them, civil officials following them, Taoist bands leading the way, and teams of incense and chanting scriptures following them. The sacred objects and sacrificial utensils, and the ceremonial guards in front of the gods are all available, and the momentum is majestic. Folk art performances include gongs and drums, bangzi dance, plywood dance, core fire horse fire, martial arts juggling and yangko. The whole team is led by flags and guards of honor, with horses galloping and shuttling, gongs and drums shaking the earth, and the fire is colorful and stretches for miles, becoming a grand folk art festival. In 2014, "Welcoming the City God" was announced as the fourth batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects (State Council No. 201459). (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)