The contents of lanterns

There are many records about the grand occasion of Han folk song and dance performances such as Camellia Lantern and Louhuagu in the local chronicles of Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are two forms of performance: one is "Ugly, Dancing Singing" with characters' stories, which are called Dihuagu, Mazhu Lantern, Pairing and Pairing Lantern; The second is the collective song and dance with arm steps, which is customarily called "swinging lights" and "jumping lights". After a long evolution, some folk song and dance forms, such as Huagu and Lantern, have absorbed the procedural rules of China traditional opera and gradually developed into Huagu opera. Others retain the singing and dancing features of Lantern Festival, and perform the stories of China traditional operas, which are called "Lantern Festival" and "Lantern Festival". Due to the differences of natural geographical environment and the imbalance of historical, political, economic and cultural development, as well as the differences of dialects, music materials and styles in the spread areas and the influence of neighboring sister arts, various lantern operas have their own characteristics in repertoire theme, aria structure and performance characteristics, and their historical development processes are also different.

After the lantern was formed in the form of song and dance, artists, after years of practice, artistically processed various movements in life and folk martial arts, and created and developed different styles of civil and military lanterns. The lanterns are beautiful and free, and the martial arts lanterns are strong.

Lantern dance is an important part of Yunnan Lantern Festival. Traditional lantern dances include dances without singing, such as lion dancing and monkey playing cotton, and collective singing and dancing, such as lotus fragrance and pulling flowers. At first, the business of Yuanxiao was only divided into men and women, and later it was divided into three businesses: longevity, Dan and ugliness. During the Lantern Festival, many large and medium-sized plays were performed, and other businesses were added.

At present, there is no accurate data to prove the origin and development of folk lantern dance into lantern play. According to the existing literature, in the middle of Ming Dynasty, around 1454, Lan Zhi An, a native of Yanglin, Yunnan, wrote the legend of "The Mystery of Sex and the Moon". In the early Qing Dynasty (1657), He Wei, a native of Yunnan, wrote five legendary dramas. This is the earliest known drama creation activity in Yunnan. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty (170 1), professional troupes began to appear in Yunnan, and four troupes once established Wang Le Temple in Kunming. During the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty (1746), Qin, Shipai, Chu and Yiyang were introduced into Yunnan. According to Zhang, an artist of Yuanmou Lantern Festival, Yuanmou Lantern Festival has been passed down for thirteen generations. In addition, among the tunes of lanterns, quite a few are Ming and Qing ditties, such as "Hanging Branches and Playing Dates", which is a popular folk ditty from Wanli to the early Qing Dynasty. According to this calculation, lanterns, as a kind of drama, took shape as early as the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.