The origin of the Lantern Festival Dragon Dance The origin of the Lantern Festival Dragon Dance

1. Juggling dragon lanterns, also known as dragon lantern dance or dragon dance. Its origin can be traced back to ancient times. Legend has it that as early as in the period of the Yellow Emperor, in a kind of large-scale song and dance of "Qingjiao", there was an image of a dragon head with a bird's body played by a human being, and then choreographed a dance scene in which six auger dragons were interspersed with each other. See in the written records of the dragon dance, is the Han Dynasty Zhang Heng's "Xijing Fu", the author of the hundred plays in the narrative of the dragon dance made a vivid depiction.

2, and according to the "Sui Book - Music Zhi" records, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, similar to the hundred plays in the dragon dance performance of the "Huanglong change" is also very wonderful, the dragon dance is popular in many parts of China. The Chinese nation reveres the dragon as a symbol of good luck. Li Shizhen "Compendium of Materia Medica" said: the dragon, its shape has nine: body like a snake, face like a horse, horns like a deer, eyes like a rabbit, ears like a cow, belly like a mirage, scales like a carp, claws like an eagle, palm like a tiger is also. In the minds of the ancients, the dragon has the function of calling the wind and rain, eliminating disasters and epidemics, and our country since ancient times, that is, the agricultural country, the wind and rain for the production of life is of great significance, so the ancients desperately hope to get the blessing of the dragon, which formed the dragon dance at the time of sacrifice and the Lantern Festival in the dance of the Dragon Lantern custom.

3, Song Dynasty Wu Zimu "Dream Sorghum Records" recorded: the night of the Lantern Festival, the grass bound into a dragon, with a green screen to cover the grass, densely placed lamps and candles, looking at the winding, such as the double dragons flying away from the shape. In the long-term development and evolution, the dragon dance has also formed many different styles, mainly dragon lanterns, cloth dragons and so on. Dragon lantern, also known as the fire dragon, which is the most widely popular type of dragon dance. This dragon is made of gabion bamboo tied into a dragon head, dragon body, dragon tail, above the paste paper, and then painted with colors.

4, the dragon body has many sections, the number of sections can be more or less; but it must be singular. Each section of the lighted candles; some places do not light candles, but with tung oil, cotton yarn or lamps made of oil twist. This oil twist burning power is very long-lasting, the dragon lantern dance colorful, never go out. Below is equipped with a wooden handle for the dancers to hold. There is a hand in front of the dragon to raise the red silk beads to command the dragon dance. Such as Yangjiang, Guangdong's "Carp into a dragon", flexible and ingenious, good at changing, the dragon dance hand with open and close the carp skin, the audience initially saw a fish in the water, with the bright music suddenly changed, the fish into a dragon, and then a fire-breathing carp in the mouth leaped over the body of the dragon, a symbol of carp jump Dragon Dragon Gate meaning.

5, the cloth dragon, also known as the color dragon, mainly in the daytime show, the festival does not burn candles, so the performance of the flying leap, like the river and the sea waves, the momentum is extraordinary and majestic, not a merit. Dance dragon following the trend of coherent performance of the dragon circling joyfully, the action is very complex. In some places, the Lantern Festival, all the way up to more than a hundred dragon lanterns, the team up to two or three miles long. Each dragon lantern is accompanied by ten gongs and drums, and the sound is heard for ten miles, which is very spectacular. Overseas, there are still many Chinese associations retaining the ancient tradition of playing dragon lanterns, often for local festivals and competitions.