What is the meaning of the Spring Festival dragon dance and its origin
Introduction: The Spring Festival is an important traditional festival of ours, and it also has a lot of cultural activities. This includes dragon dancing. So, what is the meaning of dragon dancing? Where did the dragon dance come from? Now, let’s follow the editor to learn about it. There is no end to the topics about the Spring Festival, so do you want to know more about it? Just continue to wander in Mr. Shui Mo’s Spring Festival special ocean!What are the traditional rituals of dragon dancing during the Spring Festival?There are many kinds of lanterns in the Lantern Festival, including flowers, insects, birds, and animals. However, the most unique and largest one is the "dragon lantern".Nowadays, there is a New Year's custom of playing the "Dragon Lantern" play. The dragon lantern is actually called "dropping the dragon lantern". As the dragon lantern is long, huge and heavy, it moves around with its head held high and its tail swaying to the sound of gongs and drums. It requires dozens of strong men holding poles and running back and forth to control it. "Diao" means to swing, and as a verb, it means "dragon dance". The "dragon" in the dragon dance is usually placed in the local Dragon King Temple. On the day of the dragon dance, the dragon body is invited out of the temple with flags, gongs, drums and trumpets as the lead, and the dragon head and tail are connected, and a ceremony of dotting the eyes is held. The dragon's body is made of bamboo tied into a round shape, with each joint connected to the other. It is covered with a huge red cloth painted with dragon scales. There is a person holding a pole every five or six feet, and the distance between the head and the tail is about ten feet. A man leads the dragon with a pole, and a huge ball is placed on the top of the pole to serve as a guide. When dancing, the giant ball swings back and forth, left and right, and the dragon head acts as if trying to grab the ball, causing the dragon's body to move around and fly. Dragon dancing is a big festival and people will be entertained wherever they dance. The dragon dance team may sometimes have five or six banquets a day, which is called "dragon for wine". After the dragon dance is finished, the head and tail of the dragon are burned and the dragon body is returned to the temple to be used again next year. Although the Lantern Festival began in the early Han Dynasty and flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties, the custom of "dragon dancing" is believed to be a legacy of "sacrificing to heaven" in the Yin and Zhou dynasties. The dragon appeared in historical records very early, and "dragon dancing" includes "good weather, peace and prosperity for the country and the people", and originally meant "praying for a good harvest". Ancient people were not wise. Perhaps because in mythology the dragon was the master of the ocean and had infinite power, and the ocean represented water, it was natural for the dragon to become the rain god for crops. Food is the first necessity of the people, and grains are their foundation - Emperor Shun, Qi and Hou Ji. Therefore, it is not surprising that the dragon was regarded as a "lucky object" by the ancients and appeared in celebrations and sacrifices. The Book of Rites states: "In offering sacrifices to the ancestral temple, in spring it is called Yao, in summer it is called [衤帝], in autumn it is called Chang, and in winter it is called Roast." It can be seen that "turning on the lights" during the Spring Festival represents "Spring Festival". Therefore, "dragon dance" was originally a form of sacrifice rather than entertainment, and it became a form of entertainment to help celebrate after the Han and Tang Dynasties. There is a legend here, which can also illustrate that dragon dancing is purely for commemoration and contains sacrificial elements. The Origin of the Spring Festival Dragon DanceAccording to legend, a long time ago, there was a lotus village on the bank of Tiaoxi River. In front of the village was a lotus pond full of lotus flowers. Every summer, green lotus leaves cover the water surface, and countless lotus flowers emerge from the water, graceful and extremely bright.Beside the lotus pond lived a hardworking and kind-hearted young couple. The man was called Baiye and the woman was called Hehua. The couple worked in the fields while the woman wove, and they respected and loved each other. This year, Lotus became pregnant, but after ten months, the child was not born. Another year passed and still the baby was not born. It was not until the 999th day that a boy was born. Bai Ye was very happy to see that the child was born strong and handsome. When he took a closer look, he was shocked: there were fine dragon scales on the child's chest and back, shining with golden light, dazzling the eyes. Count them, there are nine hundred and ninety-nine pieces. The midwife nearby was shocked when she saw this and shouted, "Oh my, this is unbelievable! A dragon god was born in your family!" The news spread throughout the village and everyone came to congratulate. The news alarmed the old patriarch of the village. His son was an official in the court, and he had an ugly grandson who was tyrannical and domineering by his side. When the grandfather and grandson heard that a dragon was born in Baiye's family, they immediately came with steel knives to kill them. When the villagers got the news, they immediately reported it to Baiye. After careful discussion, they came up with a solution: put the child in a foot basin and hide him quietly in the lotus pond in front of the door. The old patriarch and his grandson rushed in with their men, but the child was gone. When the old clan leader saw that he couldn't find the dragon seed, he grabbed Baiye and forced him to hand it over. When the grandson saw how beautiful the lotus was, he came up with an idea. He picked up a steel knife and killed Bai Ye, then took the lotus home. The old patriarch thought to himself: Without his parents, the dragon seed will surely starve to death even if he is still alive. Besides, lotus can give birth to dragon seeds, and in the future the dragon seeds will be born in my own home, and this world will belong to me. Lotus was taken to the old patriarch's house. She missed her husband and children and was very sad. The old tribe leader forced her to wash rice. Lotus dragged the basket to the edge of the pond, gently rippling the water. Suddenly, a cool breeze blew, and the flowers and leaves in the deep lotus pond fell to both sides, making a water path. She saw her son sitting in the foot basin, floating towards her. Lotus was surprised and happy. She quickly held her son in her arms, fed him with milk, and then put him back into the basin. A cool breeze blew, and the basin floated back into the lotus bushes. Lotus was very happy knowing that her son had not starved to death. From then on, she went to the pond to wash rice three times a day and fed her son breast milk three times a day. After feeding him like this for 999 days, his son gradually grew up, his body covered with dragon scales shining with golden light. At night, the lotus pond is ablaze with light. The villagers were secretly happy when they knew that the dragon species had not been destroyed. When the old patriarch learned that the dragon seed was in the lotus pond, he came up with a vicious plan. One evening, Lotus went to the pond to wash rice. The grandfather and grandson hid in the poplar bushes to watch what was going on. They saw rippling green waves and floating petals. A cool breeze blew, and a basin slowly floated in from the depths of the lotus pond. In the basin sat a child covered in golden color, who happily raised his hands and rushed towards Lotus who was washing rice. Lotus was filled with joy and was about to reach out to hug the child when a man suddenly appeared from the poplar bushes, raised a shining steel knife and chopped at the child. In an instant, the child jumped up from the basin, turned into a golden dragon, and leaped into the pool. But it was too late, the knife cut the little dragon's tail. A beautiful big butterfly resting among the lotus flowers suddenly flew over, connected its body to the little dragon's tail, and used its pair of beautiful wings to become the little dragon's tail. The little dragon let out a long roar, and all of a sudden, a strong wind blew, dark clouds rolled, and the petals of the lotus flowers in the pond began to flutter and whirl around. Amidst the thunder and lightning, the little dragon's body gradually grew larger and turned into a giant dragon dozens of feet long, tumbling and leaping over the lotus pond. At this time, a tornado rolled over, and the little dragon soared into the air, riding the wind straight up into the clouds. The tornado was so powerful that the man who cut the dragon's tail was swept into the air and disappeared without a trace. When the old clan leader saw his grandson being blown away by the wind, he was so frightened that he fell into the lotus pond and drowned with a plop. Lotus saw her son transform into a dragon and fly into the sky and she called out loudly, but the dragon had already flown away without a trace. From then on, whenever there was drought on both sides of Tiaoxi River, the little dragon would come to scatter clouds and bring rain. To express their gratitude to the dragon, local people picked 749 lotus flowers from the pond and used 999 petals to make a flower dragon. Because it has less than a thousand leaves, it is named Baiyelong. Every Spring Festival, people beat drums and gongs to dance the dragon. Summary: Through the above article, we know some traditional rituals and origins of dragon dancing. I hope you will like the above content. I wish you all a prosperous and good luck in the new year! After reading this article, there are more exciting content in the Spring Festival special topic, let’s take a look! |
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