The origin of the dragon dance:
The dragon dance originated from the ancient people's worship of the dragon, and people would dance the dragon during every joyous festival, starting from the Spring Festival, and then the Dragon Head Raising in February, and the Dragon Boat Festival as well.
During the dragon dance, the dragon follows the embroidered ball to make various movements, interspersed, constantly displaying a variety of postures such as twisting, swinging, tilting, kneeling, jumping and shaking. People pray for peace and a good harvest with the dragon dance becomes a traditional folk culture all over the country.
The dragon and lion dances were one of the programs in the large festivals in the ancient times. With the immigration of Chinese people to different parts of the world, the culture of dragon and lion dances now.
It has spread to mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Southeast Asia, as well as Europe, America, Australia and New Zealand where Chinese people are concentrated, and has become an important symbol of Chinese culture.
Expanded Information:
Legend has it that a long time ago the Dragon King of the East China Sea was sick, with pain in the heart and itching all over. He invited all the dragon doctors in the dragon palace, and no one was able to cure him.
The mother of the dragon let the king of the dragon to the folk to visit the famous doctor. There was a famous doctor who was very skillful in medicine, and he really cured the dragon king's glass as a thank you. The dragon king asked him what he wished for, and the famous doctor told the dragon king about the great flood in his hometown, and hoped that the dragon king could improve the situation.
The king of the dragon quickly agreed, and after that, the place was really good. In this way, every New Year's Eve, people would make some big dragons, beat drums and gongs, and go to the street to dance the dragon happily. Afterwards, the habit was formed and the dragon dance was passed down from generation to generation.
Chinese tradition is based on agriculture, and farmers have special feelings for dragons. Since ancient times, due to the lack of understanding of natural phenomena, people imagined that there were dragons in the sky, clouds and the sea, and that dragons were in charge of rainwater.
The dragon dance is to pray to the dragon god, blessing the wind and rain and a good harvest in all seasons. In this way, in the first month of the year, the Dragon Dance has been passed down for a long time as it contains the good wishes of the croppers.
After thousands of years of development, there are many types of dragon lanterns, including straw dragons, bamboo dragons, cloth dragons, and bench dragons.
From the color point of view there are yellow dragons, red dragons dancing dragon lanterns, green dragons and so on. There are even more dragon dances, such as the Double Dragon Playing with Pearls, the Big Dragon Rolling the Small Dragon, the Small Dragon Passing through the Big Dragon, and the Double Dragons Circling.
And split and close, never knot, now the dragon dance also on the international stage, become a foreigner's eyes China's unique culture, people are marveling at its performances spectacular scenery.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Dragon Dance