The unique art of weaving gold

There are two kinds of lanterns circulating in Zhijin folk: "dancing lanterns" and "playing lanterns", both of which are musicals combining rap and singing. Singing and dancing lanterns are mostly performed by two people, so they are also called "two-person lanterns". But in recent years, there have also been group songs and dances with many people on stage. Opera lanterns are performed by three people, so they are also called "three-person lanterns".

The functions of two lanterns are "Sheng" and "Dan" respectively. It is said that the Lantern Festival originated in the early Tang Dynasty. Because the mother of Li Shimin, the second master of the Tang Dynasty, was ill for a long time, it was good to sing Lantern Festival wishes on the fifteenth day of the first month. Later, Li Shimin ordered to sing lanterns on the first day of the first month of each year 15, which will become a custom. Therefore, Li Shimin is the founder of Lantern Festival, and its main role is called Tang Er, which means "Tang Zhuer". Dan Jiao's name is "Yao Mei", also called "Wen Mei Zi". Sheng and Dan are collectively called "garden sisters". The role of the three-person lantern is to add a "clown" to life and Dan, named "interrupted old man", and put on a mask of Nuo opera to enhance interest and drama.

The way of lanterns is as follows: flower fan, corner use; Flower sweat towel, used by students and Dan according to the plot; Mosquito-killing brush, also called powder dusting, is used for horns; Jin Qiangun, also known as Hua Gun, is used for horns.

The singing of lanterns is called tune, which includes Liu Qing, Zhu Yingtai, Emerald Lotus, Orchid, Bridal Clan, Cowherd Side, Playing Tooth Card, Gone with the Wind in October, Guazi Man, Double Sighing Plums, Double Sighing Plums and so on. Each tone has a relatively fixed mode, which generally consists of four phrases, without a door and an end. You can fill the lyrics of multiple contents in the same tune. When singing, the song and dance lanterns use their own voices, and the corners of the opera lanterns use small voices (also called falsetto); Melody is not strictly limited by melody. In order to adapt to the pronunciation of lyrics and dialects, some notes or even syllables can be changed, but the main types of tunes remain unchanged. The accompaniment in singing mainly uses percussion instruments such as drums, cymbals and gongs. The drums include "Leopard Head" and "Little Fan Hua". In addition to percussion, traditional Chinese lanterns are also equipped with orchestral music such as erhu and flute to add drama.

The actions of the performance are relatively fixed, stylized and meaningless, and any content of the performance can be used. The general requirement is "the circle should be round, the sleeve should be connected, the posture should be beautiful, the beauty is changing, the hands should not leave the fan, the feet should keep crossing, the waist should swing like the wind, the movements should be in tune, and the lyrics should be loud". The footwork includes "cross step", "zigzag step", "two and a half steps" and "swinging willows in the wind". Among them, stride is a "stride" in Nuo dance, but it is lighter, softer and more dancing than stride in Nuo dance. Wandering in the wind is a dance step of "pretending to be a fairy mother" in Nuo opera, which is mostly used in traditional Chinese opera lanterns. Gestures include "cloud hand", "parting", "holding hands", "sword finger", "blue finger" and "holding flowers". The pictures include "going through the field", "flapping butterflies", "opening the bow", "stretching one's head", "stretching one's waist", "triumphant", "an oriole spreading its wings", "looking at the moon in a cave" and "holding a fan to look at the moon". The performance procedure is divided into six steps: lighting, scattering lights, participating in the ground, opening the door, performing and participating in the door. The so-called lighting, that is, on the ninth day of the first month, the lantern class took a "knife head" (a square piece of pork) to worship at the Jade Emperor Pavilion, indicating the start of the activity; Distribute lights, that is, send someone to send the performance schedule to every village or household that leads the lights; When attending the land meeting, that is, performing outside the village, the two held lanterns to light candles and burn incense in front of the land temple, and sang lantern songs to congratulate the land god; Open the door, that is, when taking the lamp, sing a 10% discount lantern song to congratulate the host and ask to open the door before entering; Performance, that is, after entering the room, the host chooses the program and sings formally; Attend the door-keeper, that is, after the performance, the head of the lantern troupe sings a 10% discount, congratulates the door-keeper, and prays for the door-keeper to protect the lanterns of the host family, indicating the end of the performance.

There are many plays for editing golden lanterns, and the representative traditional plays include Hanging the Red Lantern High, Python, Water Beating the Blue Bridge, Cut the Liver by Zhu, Meng E Yuan, Wu Lang, Ten Persuades Lang, Tong Mu, Pea vine and so on. After liberation, during the period of cooperation, Great Leap Forward and agricultural Dazhai, many modern lantern dances and lantern plays appeared, such as Girl Shagui, People's Commune, New Fruit in Dazhai bloom, Learning Dazhai on Yingpan Mountain, etc. At that time, they participated in the amateur art performance organized by the county and received good comments.