The purpose of dragon dance can be summarized as follows: first, praying for rain; second, entertaining the gods and themselves; third, showing strength; fourth, prospering people's hearts.
Among them, praying for rain and blessing is the most basic. According to the folklore around the two lakes, Guiguzi met the old dragon in Jinjiao during the Warring States Period. Guiguzi said: "According to my calculation, it rained recently, 36 o'clock in the city and 48 o'clock outside the city." Jinjiao Laolong deliberately failed to live up to Guiguzi's prediction, so he took advantage of his position to let the city get off at 48 o'clock and get off at 36 o'clock. As a result, many people in this city died in the flood. Later, the Jade Emperor reprimanded the emperor, and Jinjiao Laolong was demoted. In order to atone for his sins, the old dragon bows to the people from house to house every year when the Spring Festival comes, and promises good weather for a year. Therefore, according to this legend, people make colorful dragons out of bamboo silk and satin tulle, and they dance every New Year's Day to express their cheerful mood, which also means that the old dragon is obedient and God will fool people. The legend of Tongliang in Sichuan is similar: the dragon king in the East China Sea suffered from low back pain and became an old man who went ashore for medical treatment. Knowing that the pulse was inhuman, the doctor restored it to its original shape and grabbed a centipede from its waist. After the dragon king recovered from his illness, he thanked the outdoor machine and said that as long as people built a dragon to dance around it like it, they could keep the rain in time and reap a bumper harvest.
Dragon dancing and praying for rain had been popular in the pre-Qin period, and by the Han Dynasty, it had reached a considerable scale and had many exquisite forms. According to Dong Zhongshu's Spring and Autumn Story, in the Han Dynasty, people prayed for rain and danced dragons in spring, dragons or Huanglongs in summer, dragons in autumn and dragons in winter. These dragons are tens of feet long, ranging from five to nine at a time.
Most of the dragon dances in later generations contain the meaning of praying for rain and blessing. Such as the "leading silkworm body lamp" popular in the mountainous areas of western Hunan. The lamp consists of a dragon's head and a silkworm's body and tail. Exquisite production, small shape, flexible head and tail, flexible turning. Bamboo rings are connected into silkworm bodies, with ropes inside, white cloth outside and red and green colored rings outside. Three outstanding folk artists hold their heads, waists and tails respectively. The "faucet silkworm body lights" usually travel in pairs. Before turning off the lights, each pair of lights should go down to the river to "absorb water" and then wish good luck along the door. Why "absorb water"? Very easy to understand. Only when the dragon absorbs enough water can it ensure enough rain.
The popular dance grass dragon jujube in some places in the south is made of wicker, ivy and straw. When dancing the dragon at night, the dragon is fragrant, so it is also called "Xianglong" and "Xianglonglong". At the end of the dragon dance, the grass dragon will be respectfully sent to rivers and streams with loud gongs and firecrackers. Its original intention is to let the dragon return to the Dragon Palace, so as to wish one side a good weather.
Dragon dancing, which aims at entertaining the gods and themselves, can be traced back to the "fish dragons are full of swallow" in the Han Dynasty. "Han Shu's biography of the West" contains: "The filial piety in the world ... set up a wine pool and a meat forest to entertain four foreign guests, and make a Balu opera, which is the extreme in the sea, and the dragons and dragons are extravagant, and the horns are in view." Yan Shigu explained that Bayu Dulu and Haizhong Village are both song and dance names, and "ichthyosaur" is a giant rare animal from the western regions. It dances and plays music in front of the court, then stirs the water in front of the house, and the splash turns into a huge flounder, "jumping to wash the water, making it foggy". Then, it became Huanglong, eight feet long, "playing in the court, the sun is like fire", so it is also called "Huanglongbian". From this perspective, "Fish Dragon" is a large-scale dance, which is performed by people dressed as giant fish and dragons. Because there is a "change" problem between the giant fish and the dragon, magic, scenery, smoke and so on may be needed to cooperate in the performance.
So, what is the explanation of "Manyan"? "Manyan", also known as Manyan, Manyan and Spread, is the name of a big beast in ancient times. It is said that this big beast "looks like a raccoon and can" imitate hundreds of plays. "In ancient times, eight feet was the search, and the search was eighty feet. Therefore, there is a saying in "Xijing Fu" that "all animals seek everything for Manyan". General Xue noted: "Being a big beast is 80 feet long, and the so-called ichthyosaur is a rude remark. "It can be inferred that" Manyan "is a" costume drama "and a dance performed by people as various behemoths." "Jade Dragon" is a typical one, so it is called "Jade Dragon Spread".
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng vividly described "Yu Long's Manyan" in Xijing Fu and Li You in Pingle Guanfu. It can be seen that, as a large-scale song and dance in the Han Dynasty, "Dragon Man Yan" combines the highest-level cast, scenery, props and stunts at that time, which can be described as grand and colorful. In addition to the central program "The Giant Fish Turn into a Dragon", there are also unknown exotic animals such as bears, tigers, apes, elephants, big finches, big turtles and big toads dressed up by people.
In addition to historical data, we can also find the shadow of "fish and dragons are full of swallow" from the stone reliefs of the Han Dynasty. For example, the music and dance relief stone in the Red Chamber in Tongshan and the white creek relief stone with rubber bottom unearthed in Yinan, Shandong, all have images of dragon dancing.
Yu Long's eyeful lasted for nearly seven or eight hundred years from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty. After the Tang Dynasty, the whole program was gradually lost, and only some programs were left by later generations. Folk dragon dance, lion dance and unicorn dance can be regarded as the inheritance and evolution of "dragons and dragons".
The combination of lanterns and dragons began in the Song Dynasty. Wu of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote in "Dream of Liang Lu": "On the night of Lantern Festival ... the grass is tied into a dragon, covered with a green curtain, and the lights and candles are closely arranged, which looks like a dragon." This kind of dragon lantern is what we call a dragon-shaped lighting that is put there for people to watch. The problem is that the dragon is a walking and soaring god, and it can't stay there motionless. Besides, the imperial court and the people have a tradition of dragon dancing since ancient times. Because dancing means not only dancing during the day, but also dancing at night, and dancing at night is inseparable from turning on the lights, so dancing dragons are commonly known as "dragon lanterns".
The "Dragon Lantern Festival" is usually held during festivals and major events, and the location is chosen in an open and flat place near Changjie Square and Cuntouwan. The variety of dragons is rich and colorful, including bamboo dragon, wooden dragon, jinglong, grass dragon, cloth dragon, sarong and paper dragon; There are "Venice Dragon" composed of lotus flowers and butterflies, "Huamulong" made of wood shavings, "Tin Dragon" made of iron and so on.
Dragon lanterns can be seen everywhere. Dragon lanterns in Tongliang County, Sichuan Province are very famous. The golden dragon on the 50th anniversary celebration of National Day comes from this county. Tongliang Dragon Lantern has a "dragon": its head is big and its shin is long, and it is lit in festivals. Playing with lights is safer than playing with fireworks. There are also "colorful dragons" with bamboo as the keel, paper as the faucet, cloth as the dragon ridge and dancing with the help of lights; A "meat dragon" or "crawling dragon" with leather paper or silk as the skin and scales painted, the dragon body can be stretched and rotated; "Huang Jinglong" who asks for rain in dry weather and can splash water when dancing; A "filial dragon" made of white flowers is used to worship the dead; A "grass dragon" made of straw is inserted on a bamboo pole and danced in hand; And children dancing, putting Chinese cabbage in bamboo poles, lighting red candles, stringing "vegetable dragons" with ropes in the middle and so on.
Tongliang people are very particular about dragon dancing. In the past, the customs of spring dance Qinglong, Chilong in summer, White Dragon in autumn and Black Dragon in winter were followed. Now, on holidays, I will jump colorful dragons. When I arrived at someone else's door, I stopped for a while and called the host to pay New Year's greetings. Then I roll up and down and turn left and right. At this time, the host must set off firecrackers to welcome and give some thanks: "red envelopes" wrapped in money or candy cigarettes.
People in Foshan, Guangdong also like dragon dancing. In the forties and fifties, most of the dragons in Foshan were "umbrella dragons" connected with umbrellas and painted with patterns, or "grass dragons" made of straw, with relatively simple workmanship. At present, the "Colorful Dragon" in Foshan has bamboo sticks and iron wires as the skeleton, the tail of the dragon head is pasted with paper, the dragon body is covered with silk, and it is decorated with metal lenses, aluminum paper, paper-cut and fluffy balls, with beautiful appearance and bright colors. There are many kinds of colorful dragons in Foshan, including golden dragon, fireworks dragon, fire dragon, lantern dragon, sitting dragon and Wolong. In recent years, "mechanical dragon" and "computer dragon" have also entered the ranks of colorful dragons in Foshan. These dragons with the characteristics of the times can spray water columns and soap bubbles and make all kinds of interesting movements. When traveling, the colorful dragons in Foshan are very spectacular. Banners and flags clear the way, led by tower lights, carp and dragon balls, followed by dragons with claws, followed by gongs and drums. Accompanied by the sound of gongs and drums, the dragon dancers perform dance styles such as Panlong, Dragon Jumping, Dragon Button, Dragon Tailing, Crossing the Bridge, Playing Dragon Ball, Youlong and Flying Dragon. During the return of Hong Kong, people from all walks of life in Kowloon held "Ten Thousand-foot Golden Dragon Offering Auspicious Scenes". This giant faucet with a height of 10 meter, a length of 9 meters, a width of 3 meters and a weight of more than one ton was built by Foshan Arts and Crafts Society. In recent years, Foshan Cailong has also gone abroad and crossed the ocean, appearing in the street squares of Melbourne, Hawaii, Vancouver, London and Port Louis.