Dragon lantern dance, also known as dragon lantern dancing or dragon dance, has a long history. The dragon lantern dance during the Lantern Festival brings infinite joy to people during the festival.
The origin of dragon lantern dance can be traced back to ancient times. Legend has it that as early as the Huangdi period, in a large-scale song and dance called "Qingjiao", the image of a dragon head and a bird's body played by humans appeared. Later, a dance scene of six dragons interweaving with each other was choreographed.
The dragon dance can be seen in written records in "Xijing Fu" by Zhang Heng of the Han Dynasty. The author gave a vivid description of the dragon dance. According to the "Book of Sui·Music Chronicles", the "Huanglong Transformation" during the Sui Dynasty, which was similar to the dragon dance in Baixi Opera, was also very exciting. Dragon dance is popular in many parts of our country.
The Chinese nation respects the dragon and regards it as a symbol of auspiciousness. In the minds of the ancients, dragons have the power to call for wind and rain, eliminate disasters and eliminate epidemics. Since ancient times, our country has been based on agriculture, and good weather is of extremely important significance to production and life. Therefore, the ancients strongly hoped to be protected by the dragon, thus forming the custom of dancing dragons during sacrifices and dancing dragon lanterns during the Lantern Festival.
Wu Zimu's "Mengliang Lu" of the Song Dynasty records: On the night of the Lantern Festival, "it was tied with grass to form a dragon, and a green curtain was used to cover the grass. state". In the long-term development and evolution, dragon dance has also formed many different styles, including dragon lanterns, cloth dragons, etc.
Dragon lantern, also known as fire dragon, is the most popular dragon dance. This kind of dragon is made of bamboo strips tied into a head, body and tail, with paper on top, and then painted with colors. The dragon body has many sections, and the number of sections can be more or less, but it must be an odd number. Candles are lit in each section. In some places, candles are not lit, but oil twists made of tung oil, cotton yarn or lamp grass are used.
This kind of oil has long-lasting burning power. When the dragon lantern dances, it is colorful and will never go out. There is a wooden handle underneath for the dancers to hold, and there is a person holding red silk beads in front of the dragon to direct the dragon dance. Like a carp transforming into a dragon, it is flexible and skillful, and is good at changing. The dragon dancer's hands are covered with carp skin that can be opened and closed.
What the audience saw at first were fish playing in the water, but with the bright music, the fish suddenly changed, and the fish turned into a dragon, and then a carp with a fire-breathing mouth jumped over the dragon's body, symbolizing "carp". Jump over the dragon gate".
Bulong, also known as colorful dragon, is mainly performed during the day. No candles are burned during the festival, so the performance takes off and jumps with joy, just like the waves of the river and sea, with extraordinary and majestic momentum. During the dragon dance, the dragon is circling and jubilant in a coherent manner, and the movements are very complex. In some places during the Lantern Festival, there are more than a hundred dragon lanterns from all walks of life, and the queue is one or two kilometers long. Each dragon lantern is accompanied by ten rounds of gongs and drums, which can be heard for thousands of meters, making it very spectacular.