Various customs of praying for dragons have led to the formation of dragon festivals and temple fairs.
There is a Dragon Boat Festival or a temple fair almost every month throughout the year, sometimes many times a month. Some of these festivals and temple fairs belong to a certain ethnic group and some belong to a certain ethnic group; Some belong to a certain region, and some belong to multiple regions; It also integrates prayer, education, production and entertainment, which embodies a strong folk culture.
Let's introduce the festivals and temple fairs of these dragons according to the lunar calendar:
In the first month of the lunar calendar, there are dragon lantern festivals in the north and south of the great river, up and down the Yellow River, mountain towns and beaches, and land ports and water towns. Also called Dragon Lantern Festival, Dragon Lantern Festival, Dragon Lantern Festival, Dragon Lantern Festival and Dragon Lantern Festival. In addition, there is a "dragon head festival" on the fifth day of the first month. This is a traditional festival of Yao nationality in Dayaoshan area of Hekou, Yunnan Province. On this day, local people will offer various sacrifices to the Dragon King. The first day of the first lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Hani people in Honghe hold grand sacrificial activities in the village as a unit. The ceremony was presided over by a venerable old man in the village known as the "dragon head", and the altar was set under the "dragon tree". Families buy their own sacrificial supplies such as pigs, chickens and ducks, and all the men in the family go to sacrifice. Production was suspended for three days during the festival, and on the first afternoon after the festival, each household sent people to take wine and meat to the "leader's" home for dinner to show their gratitude. Similar to the "Dragon Boat Festival" of the Hani nationality, the Jino nationality also has a "dragon festival" festival. At that time, the village will stop production for three days, and two wooden stakes will be erected at the entrance of the village, indicating that it is forbidden to enter and leave. On the first day, women were not allowed to leave the village or even the house. Set up a temporary straw shed near the village. There is a big tree in front of the straw shed. Under the tree, a buffalo was slaughtered, a sow and seven piglets were killed by the pond. The cow's tail is hung on the big tree, and the pig's bone is provided by the pond.
From the 13th to 15th day of the first month, there is a "Dragon Boat Festival" in Wuchang, Hubei Province, in the form of dragon dancing, dragon burning and tug-of-war competition-the rope used to symbolize the dragon. In addition, during the Spring Festival, there are the Longtan Temple Fair held in longtan lake Park and the Longqingxia Ice Lantern Festival held in Longqingxia. These temple fairs and lantern festivals are not only related to dragons in name, but also related to dragons in content, such as dragon dancing, dragon racing and dragon lantern modeling.
Between January and February, there is a "Dragon Pool Festival". This is a traditional festival of Pumi people in Lanping, Yunnan (Pumi people in Ninglang are usually held in March and July). Every Pumi family has its own "Longtan" (also known as "Lingquan"), most of which are located in deep forests and canyons. Then the whole family will go together and stay near Longtan for three days. They built a high platform with wooden sticks and boards, which is called "Long Ta" or "Dragon Palace". A pole with a length of 100 feet was erected in front of the tower, and seven buckets made of chicken feathers and hemp thread were hung on it as the residence of the dragon god. Sacrifices such as milk, sake, ghee, milk cake, tea, eggs, etc. Was placed on a long Ta. First, the wizard was invited to the altar to recite the scriptures, and then the whole family prayed. After the prayer, 50 dough figurines coated with ghee were put into Longtan. After all the sacrifices are over, the whole village will hold a bigger sacrifice.
The first day of February is the Spring Festival. In the past, villagers in Huimin, Shandong Province used the ashes of the kitchen as Jackie Chan to pray for good luck. There is a record in "Records of China Ethnic Customs": "The first day of February is the Qinglong Festival, and the things around the kitchen are like dragons and snakes, which is called" Silver Dragon ".
The second day of February is the "Dragon Head Festival". This is a traditional festival of the Han nationality, with a wide coverage and great influence. Pan Rongbi, a Qing Dynasty man, wrote during the reign of Emperor Jingdi: "The second day of the lunar calendar is the day when dragons rise. Villagers use soot to blow into the kitchen from the outside and spin around the water tank. This is called bringing the dragon back. People fry with corn flour, jujube cake, wheat and rice, which means to smoke insects. " On this day, the custom of eating fried beans is generally popular in rural areas in the north. There is a legend that "the dragon looks up on February 2", and there is a folk saying that "the dragon looks up at dawn", that is, the weather is beautiful, and there is a drought in a year. It is believed that sunny days are the main drought, and rainy days are the main flood. In Huang Guan area of Daba Mountain, people call February 2nd "Spring Festival". In order to welcome Chunlong, the villagers got up early and cleaned the room inside and outside. Then eat "Longxu Noodles" as early as possible. The longer the noodles are pulled, the better, which means that Longxu Noodles is long and symbolizes good luck. When eating noodles, the old man took the lead to end the bowl, stood in the center of the hall, facing the outdoor sky, and recited a paragraph "On February 2, the dragon looked up and the weather was good; Bagu bonzi is thick and big, and sorghum is the leader of millet dance. At noon, we eat "Dragon Forest Cake", which has patterns such as "Two Dragons Playing with Beads" and "Dragon and Phoenix Becoming Lucky" carefully made by village women. Women are also forbidden to do needlework on this day, because it is said that dragons will look up at the world on this day and stab their eyes with needles. On the same day, the Miao people in Yunnan held the Dragon Boat Festival. Generally speaking, taking the village as a unit, the tree is a symbol of the dragon, offering sacrifices to pigs, chickens and dogs.