The custom of Huidong Mid-Autumn Festival?

Huidong county has had the custom of dragon dancing in the Mid-Autumn Festival since ancient times. Dragons are divided into grass dragons and cloth dragons. The tradition of dancing grass dragons on the Mid-Autumn Festival night in Gaotan began in the late Qing Dynasty. It is said that Luo Jiajie, a villager in Zhaipai Village, learned it when he was an official in Beijing during Guangxu period. Since then, it has been passed down to this day. According to the local elderly, people and animals will be safe in their village during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and plague will prevail without dragon dancing. Therefore, the grass dragon dance has become their traditional activity of praying for blessings and exorcising evil spirits in the Mid-Autumn Festival. 100 years, only stopped during the "Cultural Revolution" and resumed after the reform and opening up.

Grass dragon (commonly known as Jinlong) is a kind of dragon body with a diameter of about 15 cm and a total length of 50-60 meters, which is made of rattan as the heart and covered with straw. The dragon's mouth is open and its eyes are protruding. Use two bundles of incense or flashlights as eyes. When dancing, the dragon body burns incense, the big grapefruit is inserted with incense, and the dragon ball is led in front, just like a dragon swimming with a big gong and drums, and the atmosphere is quite warm.

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, the young people in the village gathered automatically and began to weave dragon bodies under the guidance of their elders. As night fell, the moonlight was dim and firecrackers sounded. The two villages, Huangkeng Village and Zhaipai Village, set out together, staggered their time, vacated a fire dragon and headed for Gaotanwei. Dance across the new street, cross the road and enter the old street. Every household along the street will automatically turn off the lights and set off firecrackers to welcome them. Dance to the wide area of the old street (in front of the memorial hall) and stop for a while. After refilling the incense, they immediately began to wear dragons. I saw the dragon held high and the faucet came back to put it on. At this time, for good luck, regardless of the danger of being burned by incense at any time, the audience shuttled back and forth from under the dragon. At this time, the rapid sound of gongs and drums, deafening firecrackers and cheers intensified, and the whole activity reached a climax. Run three or five laps and the activity will be over. If it happens to rain on the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, let's find another time to dance.