Historical Development of Dragon Dance

Dragon Dance is a traditional sport in which the dragon dancers, guided by the dragon beads, holding the dragon tools, accompanied by drums and music, complete the dragon's movements and routines such as swimming, threading, prancing, leaping, tumbling, rolling, playing, entangling, and modeling through the movement and posture of the human body to fully demonstrate the essence of the dragon, the spirit, the spirit, the rhyme, etc. The Chinese nation is the most populous country in the world. The Chinese nation is the world's most populous country, the world wherever there are Chinese people living in the "dragon" as a good-luck object, in the festivals, congratulations, blessings, to drive away evil spirits, sacrifices to the gods, temple fairs and other periods, have the custom of dancing "dragon".

This is because the dragon is a totem worshipped by the Chinese people for generations. In ancient times, the Chinese people regarded the "dragon" as a magical thing that can move clouds and rain, and eliminate disasters and bring good fortune. For thousands of years, the children of the Yellow Emperor have called themselves the "descendants of the dragon".

Chinese Han folk dance. It is named after the dancers who hold props in the shape of dragons in Chinese legends. The image of the dragon originated from the ancient Chinese totem, is regarded as a symbol of the Chinese nation, and it is regarded as a god that can move clouds and rain, and eliminate disasters and bring good fortune. Therefore, in some places, when there is no rain in a long drought, the dragon dance is performed to pray for rain; in some places, after planting rice seedlings, the dragon dance is performed to drive away insects. Dragon dance has a long history, the Han Dynasty has a more complete form of dragon dance. According to Dong Zhongshu's "Spring and Autumn Dew" of the Han Dynasty, it was recorded that in the four seasons of the rain ritual, the green dragon danced in the spring, the red dragon and yellow dragon in the summer, the white dragon in the fall, and the black dragon in the winter; each dragon was several zhang long, and each time, 5 to 9 dragons danced together. After nearly 2,000 years of creation and development of the working people, the folk dragon dance not only has a high degree of skill, but also more and more colorful forms of performance. Among them, the following are widely circulated. Dragon lanterns are also called fire dragons and golden dragons. The dragon head, body and tail are made of bamboo strips, ranging from 3 to more than 10 sections, and the number of sections is mostly single. Sections are connected by 100-170 cm silk cloth, and then painted with color to form the image of the dragon. In each section, there are lamps and candles burning, and wooden handles are installed under the sections for holding during the dance. During the dance, one person holds a treasure pearl (a spherical colored lamp) and leads the dance in front of the dragon's head, showing the dragon grabbing the treasure pearl. The movements of the dragon lanterns include the dragon swinging its tail, the golden dragon coiling the jade pillar and so on. Dragon lanterns more in the festival night dance, some areas also fireworks, firecrackers, in the drums, gongs, cymbals, suona and other musical instruments, accompanied by a more majestic, more vivid dance. The dragon is also known as the dragon. It is slightly different from the dragon lanterns, the section does not burn candles, generally more than 10 sections long. Dancing up, left and right volts, nine curves and ten back, slow and sharp, winding and tumbling. Characterized by fast movements, large amplitude, light and athletic dance posture, more than two dragons by two dragons together to perform the two dragons to grab the ball. The movements of the Dragon include the Golden Dragon Spraying Water, Snowflake Covering the Top, White Crane Spreading Wings, and Double Jumping Dragon Gate, etc. The Grass Dragon is mainly popular in the south. The grass dragon is mainly popular in the south. The dragon is made of straw, green or willow branches. In some places, the dragon is also filled with incense, so it is also known as the Dragon of Fragrant Flowers. Generally in the lunar calendar in May and June night dance this dragon, dance up the starlight shining. In the past, when there was a plague of insects, more grass dragon; some places in the prayer for rain when the dance, and splash water to the dragon, so also known as the water dragon. The Hundred Leaf Dragon is mainly popular in Zhejiang Province. At the beginning of the dance, people hold lotus lamps with wooden handles, lotus leaf lamps and butterfly lamps, and dance in succession. At the end, a big lotus lamp becomes a dragon head, a butterfly lamp becomes a dragon tail, and other lamps are knotted into a dragon body, like a flower dragon rising up in the air. Duanlong is mainly popular in Jiangsu Province. The head, body and tail of the dragon are not connected to each other by cloth, but only 230-300 centimeters of red silk are tied to the head of the dragon and each section of the dragon. Duanlong is mostly danced by women, which is light and graceful, and has the characteristics of the dance in the water town of Jiangnan.

As early as the Han Dynasty (205 B.C. - A.D. 219), there are miscellaneous records of such a spectacular scene: in order to pray for rain, people dressed in various colors, dancing all colors of the dragon. Gradually, the dragon dance has become a form of expressing good wishes and praying for longevity and abundance, especially in festivals, people are dancing long dragons, giving vent to their joyful emotions.

There are hundreds of dragon dances throughout the country, which have been passed down and developed over thousands of years, and the forms of performance are even more varied. Dragon dance can be so loved, and its mass, entertainment is inseparable from the folklore: "seven or eight years old to play grass dragon, fifteen or sixteen years old to play a small dragon, young and strong dance big dragon". When playing dragon, as few as one or two people, as many as hundreds of people dancing a big dragon. The most common is called "fire dragon", dance fire dragon, often accompanied by dozens of cloud lamps, and often in the night dance, so "fire dragon" also has a name called "dragon lamp".

Juggling dragon lanterns, there are dozens of big men holding a huge dragon in the cloud lamps up and down through, sometimes rising, sometimes swooping, changing thousands of changes, and occasionally there are firecrackers, fireworks, there is a great momentum of the clouds and fog! The following clusters of hundreds of revelers, gongs and drums, spectacular, not lively!

This majestic scene greatly stimulates people's emotions, uplifts and inspires their hearts, so the Dragon Dance has become an indispensable part of the traditional culture of the Chinese people, and reflects the heroic spirit of the Chinese people, who are invincible and invincible in battle.

Origin

The dragon is the first of the four spirits of China (the dragon, the phoenix, the unicorn and the tortoise are the four spirits of China), which are honored and feared by the Chinese people. In our minds, the dragon is an auspicious spirit, the master of rain and wind, and the destroyer of waves; its power is unrivaled by even the fiercest beasts. The dragon is the master of the water, in China's coastal areas, fishermen are set up temples to worship, in order to wind and rain, and the dragon in the coastal areas of the myth is also particularly much.

Like cause and effect, night full of big dragon dance is one of China's very rich national color folk art. Whenever there are big festivals, big celebrations, and parades, there will be a dragon dance to help celebrate. As for the dragon dance since when, has no audit. But in ancient times, such as drought, pestilence, demonic plague, the ritual custom of dragon dance to pray for rain, can be imagined. Because China has believed since ancient times that the dragon is the master of the wind and rain, has the infinite power to call the wind and rain, so whenever there is a drought or a flood, it is to ask it to open the grace of blessing.

In the ceremony of the sorcerer, molded to do the activities of the dragon posture, gyrating and dancing, to "like cause and effect" principle of magic, in order to achieve the effect of praying for rain and praying for sunshine, which is the original origin of the dragon dance. By this festival on the ritual of play, and evolved into entertainment to help celebrate the type of play, it is the aftermath of things. By the Tokyo Dreaming Records record of the Song night of the hundred plays of the beginning of the play: "and in the left and right door, each with a grass handle to turn into a play of the dragon's shape, with a green screen to cover the dragon, the grass on the dense set of lamps and candles in the ten thousand Sheng, look at the meandering, such as the two dragons fly away," it can be known that the dance of the dragon lanterns (dance of the fire dragon) of the custom, has been in the Middle Ages has been prevalent. In recent times, China's northern and southern provinces, all popular dragon dance custom, New Year's Spring Festival, to meet the gods, are indispensable to the gold and silver dragons to help, than the lion dance more lively and colorful.

The powerful clan with the dragon as its totem moved from the west (Gan and Xia) to the east and entered the Central Plains, which was later known as "Xia". The Fuxi and Nuwa clans are famous figures in China's ancestry. Legend has it that they were brother and sister, while others say they were husband and wife. In the stone carvings and brick paintings of the Han Dynasty, there are often portraits of Fuxi and Nuwa with human heads and snake bodies. These portraits of Fu Xi and Nuwa, waist above the human form, wearing a robe, wearing a crown and hat, waist below the body is a snake body (occasionally as a dragon body), two tails tightly entwined; the two body faces or positive or back to the people at that time from the legend that they recognized them as the first God, but also into the protection of the God, the ancients, therefore, more than the tomb of the shrine carved his portrait is to take the protection of the dead, in order to be able to enjoy the happiness of the meaning of the underground.

The powerful Dragon Totem clan, by Gan, the Gorge south into the Western Sichuan; Bashu land, also because this clan will be coiled according to the name (Bashu home form of the word for Baba, that is, the snake's hieroglyphic characters), and then by the Sichuan and then the Yangtze River down to the east, Wuhan, north, and arrived in the Central Plains of the Henan region. Later, the Yin tribe, which was hostile to the totem, moved partly to the north, i.e. the Xiongnu, so the place where the king of the Xiongnu sacrificed to heaven and earth was also called "Longting", which also indicated the relationship with the dragon. Those who migrated to the south, i.e. the various ethnic groups of Jing, Chu, Wu and Yue in the early Zhou Dynasty and the Miao in the southwestern part of the country. The part that stayed in the original place, although conquered by the Yin tribe, but its cultural power has always existed, at that time the Yin Shang bronze is a human face and snake body Yin dragon pattern; so although in the Yin Dynasty, Fuyi still have the qualification of prairie offering.

The Xia dynasty was the era of Fuyi, so there are many legends about the relationship between Yu, the first ruler of the Xia dynasty, and the dragon. According to legend, Yu himself was a dragon, and his success in ruling the waters was aided by the dragon. It is also said that Yu's son, Kai, had two green dragons hanging from his ears and drove two dragons. The culture of the Xia Dynasty was the true culture of our country, and the emperors of all dynasties recognized the dragon as the embodiment of the dragon, and the clothes they wore were called "dragon robes", the beds they slept on were called "dragon beds", and the fetuses of the empresses were called "dragon fetuses", and so the dragon became a symbol of our country's culture. "

The dragon has become a sacred and honorable "creature" in China.

The dragon in China is extremely rich in national color and mysterious divine objects; of course, the dragon referred to here is the "Chinese dragon", not the primitive age of dinosaurs. Does the "Chinese dragon" exist or has it ever existed? This is a "God knows" question, this kind of even fossilized "animals", can be seen in the picture!

But the Chinese have always believed that the dragon is a real mysterious spirit, and even the ancient metaphysicians who studied the philosophy of change were convinced that there must be a divine dragon in the universe, in the three realms of heaven, earth and fire. The I Ching often talks about dragons, and the places and traces of dragons are used to divine the auspiciousness and misfortune.