The Legend of Cart Dance

Legend has it that during the Jingtai period of Ming Dynasty, the drought demon was rampant, and there was no rain for several months in a row, and the fields were cracked, and the seedlings under the dill were all withered. Seeing that the harvest is hopeless, and taxes can not pay less, the people screamed bitterly. The village elders discussed: Qin Xuan is the star of literature, he resigned from the government and came back to live in Guancheng Tongde Street, why not ask him to return to his hometown to discuss the drought, to save the people from the fire. So the villagers elected their brothers, Mei Xuan and Gui Xuan, and other respected elders in the village to go to Guancheng to look for Chen Lian. After listening to the villagers' account of the disaster, Chen Lian wept and returned to his hometown immediately despite his advanced age and poor health. After returning to his hometown, Qinxuan toured around the village and instructed the villagers to set up an altar to pray for rain on the hill by the Ren River behind the village. After bathing and dressing, he sacrificed himself on the altar, concentrated and meditated, and then wrote the "Prayer for Rain to All Gods" and read it with devotion: "It is the duty of officials to govern the people and the gods, and it is not the power of the gods to alleviate the disaster and the plague". This summer, there was no rain in May, and the people were worried about the failure of rice and the lack of tax revenue. It is difficult for us to avoid the punishment for not performing our duties, but the gods should be compassionate to the people. I hope that the gods will be able to bring forth the power of the submerged dragons and bring sweet rains to the lower land, so that all the grains can be harvested, and the popularity of the people can be enhanced, so that the gods will be able to do a great job in alleviating the disasters, and the food in the temples will be infinite. After reading, burn incense and worship on the altar. Villagers see, also pray. Before long, around the thick clouds, sweet rain pouring, good rain overnight, will be withered seedlings in the sweet rain to grow new leaves. It was the fourth day of May. The villagers celebrated with each other and expressed their gratitude. In order to commemorate the merits of Qinxuan, the villagers named the hill where Qinxuan set up an altar to pray for rain as "Rain Mountain". This name has been used until now, the hill became a small park in Qiaotou Village.

To thank the dragon for the rain and to pray for good weather, the villagers invited skilled craftsmen to make the dragon overnight. On the night of the Dragon Boat Festival, the villagers cut branches for paddles and formed two rows. A person lifting the dragon at the head of the queue, suddenly before and after, suddenly left and right, like the dragon circling back and forth. The person who lifts the tree as an oar shakes it vigorously and shouts vigorously. Drums and gongs play, sound as if the sky, such as real dragons from a distance, very spectacular. Since then, every year on the night of the Dragon Boat Festival, the villagers are dancing carts dance in the village, praying for good weather and good health. Over time, it has become a custom and is one of the major features of Qiaotou. It is said that except for Qiaotou, the custom of the cart dance has not been found anywhere else in China so far. Qiaotou, Houjie Town, is a large village in Dongguan with a large population, consisting of seven natural villages. Every year at the Dragon Boat Festival, each village with the Chen surname is organized into a dragon boat fleet. At nightfall, seven carts dance on the village, neighboring villagers, young and old, call friends, meet to watch. The Qiaotou Dragon Boat Dance has become a major feature of Houjie's Han Chinese folk cultural activities.

In Guizhou, Taijiang County is located in the Qingshui River, Shi Dong area, held every year. According to legend, more than 2,000 years ago, a called enough to hold (Miao name) with a child down the river to fish. While casting a net, his child was bitten and dragged into the water by a dragon. When he found the dragon's nest, he saw that the child had been bitten to death and slept as the dragon's pillow. In order to avenge his child's death, he chopped wood for two months, piled it up at the entrance of the dragon's cave, and burned it for three days and three nights, and the sky was dark for nine days and nine nights. On the ninth day, a woman lit a torch and took a child to wash vegetables and pick water, the child had no intention to put the flat burden on the water to play, and rhythmically shouted "dong dong do, dong dong do", with the child's shouts the sky is gradually bright. After dawn, people found a dead dragon lying on the river. When the news spread, people from the neighboring villages came to share the dragon's meat. At night, the dragon dreamed a dream to all the villages, saying: "I killed the child of enough to hold, enough to hold to burn me to death, I deserve to die. But I hope that the villages and cottages of the old less good, with trees made of my appearance, every year in the river row a few days, I would like to make rain for all of you, to ensure that you wind and rain, a good harvest." Later, the Walled Old Men agreed to row the Dragon Boat on the fifth of May every year, and then because of this time is in the agricultural busy, and agreed to be held on May 25th. Doki car rustic, unique, the boat body with three large cedar hollowed out and become, the middle of a canoe for the mother boat, on each side of a smaller than the mother boat for the boat, the water will be the mother boat and the two boats side by side tied into a row, loaded with finely carved colorful dragons, paddling before the friends and family gifts of ducks, geese hanging on the dragon's neck. Each boat carrying thirty or forty people are young men. Mother boat sits in front of four people, the most front a back to the front, responsible for shouting and cheering; the second back to the front, responsible for sounding the cannon; the third is generally the old walled village, known as the drum master, wearing a special, responsible for beating the drums; the fourth is a boy of about ten years old, dressed in silver costumes, responsible for beating the gong; mother boat tail there are three old people, responsible for mastering the direction of the cart. The rest of the sailors stood in two rows holding radial oars responsible for rowing, they are wearing purple cloth clothes and blue cloth pants, waist tie a woven flower nailed on the silver bubble belt, head wearing three inserted such as phoenix crown silver pieces of the pony tail bucket hat, simple and neat. Competition, the sound of cannons, drums and gongs, magnificent, lively and extraordinary.