Chinese New Year custom: lion dance
Many customs have been formed around the Chinese New Year for thousands of years. Some of the customs, such as receiving the gods, respect for the sky, etc., with superstitious colors. With the improvement of people's scientific and cultural level has been gradually eliminated, some customs, given a new content, such as firecrackers, posting Spring Festival couplets and New Year's paintings, dragon lanterns, lion dance, etc., so far is still widely prevalent.
Lion Dance
Whenever "the sound of firecrackers in addition to the old year", in China's vast land, the traditional lion dance accompanied by the warm spring breeze and joyful gongs and drums, appeared in towns and villages. For the annual Spring Festival, adding a rich atmosphere of joy.
Lion dance is a traditional folk sports activities in China, originated in the era of the North and South Dynasties.
According to legend, in May of the 23rd year of Yuanjia, Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty (466 AD), the assassin of Jiazhou in the Song Dynasty was ordered to attack Linyi, and Fan Yang, the king of Linyi, used an elephant army to participate in the battle. This army of elephants made it difficult for the enemy, who possessed only short weapons, to even approach it because the soldiers were armed with spears and rode on the backs of tall and large elephants, and the Song soldiers began to suffer great losses. Later, the vanguard officer, General Zhenwu Zongcourt, thought of a solution. He said that all beasts are afraid of lions, and elephants are probably no exception. So, overnight with the noodles, hemp, etc. made a lot of fake lions, painted in colorful, and special open mouth. Each "lion" by two warriors draped, hidden in the bushes. He also dug a lot of deep and big traps around the intended battlefield. The enemy drove the elephant army to attack, Zongcourt used the bow to release the fake lion, this "lion" one by one turned a big bloody mouth, tusks and claws straight to the elephants.
The elephants were scared to turn their heads, Zongcourt took the opportunity to command the soldiers to ten thousand crossbows, the frightened elephants were running around, a lot of them fell into the trap, people and elephants were captured alive. ...... From then on, the lion dance was first popular in the army, and then spread to the people. Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi's "West Liang Envoy" in the "masked Hu people masked lion, carved wood for the head of the silk for the tail; gold-plated eyes and silver posting teeth, rise up the sweater swinging ears ...... ". Visible, in the Tang Dynasty has a similar modern lion dance.
Why do people like to dance lion during the Spring Festival? It is said that the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Guangdong Foshan region appeared a monster, every year will be over, it appears in the suburbs of Foshan, trampling crops everywhere, mutilation of people and animals, rural farmers do not win its bitter people will be bamboo grate tied into a number of lion model, and painted a variety of mottled colors, beforehand, when the beast appeared, drums and gongs ringing, the group of lions dance, all towards the beast, the beast was terrified, turned his head and ran, and then the local townspeople think the lion dance is the most important thing. After that, the local villagers think that the lion has the power to drive away evil spirits and suppress demons, and has auspicious omens. So, every year in the Spring Festival to play drums and gongs, door to door, lion dance to pay tribute to the New Year, in order to show that the elimination of harm, forecast auspicious intentions.
Lion dance, in addition to the Spring Festival, in the days of celebration, also often with a lion dance. Folk general lion dance by two people cooperate to pretend a big lion (some areas called too lion), a person pretending to be a small lion (some areas called less lion), another person pretending to be a samurai, holding an embroidered ball as a guide, and the first open fist kicking to lure the lion to dance. With the drum beat of fast, slow, light and heavy, the lion suddenly looks up with its head cocked, suddenly looks back and low, suddenly looks back and creeps, and suddenly swings its head and tail, in a variety of postures and interesting, in imitation of action, there are licking hair, wiping the feet, scratching the head, washing the ears, worshipping, rolling, etc.; in the technique, there are on the platform, crossing the bridge, across the three mountains, out of the cave, down the mountain, rolling the ball, spitting the ball and picking up the green and so on
2. Knowledge
Lion dance is an excellent folk art in China, which is also known as "Taiping music" in ancient times.
The lion dance is divided into north and south, and the southern lion is also known as the waking lion. The lions are made of strips of colored cloth, and each lion is usually performed by two people, one at the head and one at the tail.
Under the music of gongs and drums, the performers dress up as lions and make various lion movements. During the performance, the lion dancers have to use various moves to show the southern school of martial arts, which is very masculine.
The lion dance is considered to be a lucky charm to drive away evil spirits and avoid harm, and every festival or major event will have a lion dance, which has flourished and been passed down from generation to generation. The lion dance is also widely spread in overseas Chinese communities, where there are Chinese, there must be a lion dance, which has become an important ceremony to raise the prestige of the nation and establish the soul of China, as well as a cultural bridge for overseas compatriots to recognize their ancestors and return to their ancestors, with far-reaching cultural values and impacts.
3. General knowledge about the lion dance
The lion dance usually requires five or six people, or even more than ten people to perform. The regular performance usually consists of two lion teasers who can do somersaults. The lions are generally two, but in order to enliven the atmosphere, there are also three to five lions for the performance, or add a few small lions (a person dressed) interspersed with the performance. The big lion is usually performed by two young men. When practicing, the two players a front and a back, the front is called the lion's head, the back is called the lion's tail, the back of the person should be slightly higher than the front of the person, so as to support the lion skin. The lion head player in the performance with two hands on his head "lion head", the body leaned forward, from the lion's mouth and eyes to identify the direction, looking for the target, the back of the players set on the lion skin, two hands to grasp the front players on the waist of the belt, shoulders down, bend the chest and step on the waist and bend the body about 90 degrees angle, two legs half squatting, at this time, a male division of the galaxy, which is the most important thing to do, the lion's tail, the back of the people should be slightly higher than the front of the people in order to hold open the lion skin. Which one of the galaxy of a male master came out. Walking, the first step of the front foot, then lift the back foot, to be the front foot landing, the back foot only then landing, left and right two feet in turn.
In leaping, jumping, rolling, play ball, licking hair, scratching, gasping, the requirements of the lion's head, the lion's tail with the end of the period, coordinated action, every move to maintain the habit of the lion, give the audience a sense of image realism. After mastering the basic contact method of the lion dance, it is necessary to learn the lion jumping and stepping on the plum blossom pile and some difficult movements such as the ball.
4. Methods and techniques of lion dance
The lion dance usually requires five or six people, or even more than ten people to perform.
When practicing, the two players are one in front of the other, the one in front is called the lion's head, and the one in the back is called the lion's tail, and the one in the back should be slightly higher than the one in the front, so as to open the lion's skin.
The lion's head player in the performance of the two hands holding the set in his head "lion head", the body leaned forward, from the lion's mouth and eyes to identify the direction, looking for the target, the back of the players set on the lion skin, two hands to grab the front players on the waist of the belt, shoulders down, down the chest, step waist flexion into a 90-degree angle, the legs half-squat. The two legs half squat.
When walking, the first step in front of the foot, and then lift the back foot, to be the front foot to the ground, the back foot before landing, left and right two feet in turn. When leaping, jumping, rolling, playing ball, licking hair, panting, the lion's head and tail are required to cooperate with the end of the period, the movements are coordinated, and the lion's habit should be maintained in every move.
Expanded:
Introduction to the lion dance
1, Xushui, Hebei Province
Xushui County, Hebei Province, Beili lion dance can be said to be a long history, a long history, known as the Northern Lion Lion Dance of the township of the lion dance. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, it was performed in the situation of the flower fair in Zhangjia Temple Festival, major events and other occasions.
2, Wuhan Huangpi
Stiff lion is a popular in Hubei, Huangpi and Xiaogan two places around the Lantern Festival of a folk activity, is a lion dance lion activities, especially in Wuhan City, Huangpi District of the stiff lion is the most famous.
3, Fujian Linfang
Linfang green lion belongs to the northern lion Wugong lion, commonly known as the male lion. Its lion movements flexible and agile, the lion head can hide the blade for the quality of the use of cards, can attack and defense, palm lion head and palm lion tail two people, action with tacit understanding of the change, imitation of the male lion's various postures.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Lion Dance
Baidu Encyclopedia - Lion Dance
5.Lion Dance drumming mnemonic A full set
The following is divided into five stages of the basic drums to play the law: (1) beat the drums: the beginning of the worship of the gods or to perform the rituals are beat the drums three times or so in the middle. The drumming method: (dong dong cut), (dong dong cut) (dong dong support cut) cycle two to three times.
(4) Throwing the Lion Drum: The action is to go to the food green, or to test the action. Playing method: (dong dong dong dong cut), (dong dong dong dong cut) (dong dong dong dong cut).
(5) Seven Stars Drum: Bite the seven stars to test the action to see if it can eat. Playing method: (don't hold up), (don't hold up), (don't hold up), (don't hold up), (don't hole don't hold up hold up hold up cut).
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6. What are the skills of the lion dance
The basic movements of the lion dance: jumping, rolling, kicking, licking the hair, looking, looking, small steps, the golden chicken standing alone.
The lion is looking for food: the head should be down as far as possible, the chin keeps moving up and down, and the eyes are blinking regularly. The front feet should trot in place without stopping.
Lion's head: a little difficult, but the main force is the lion's tail, the lion's chin should be for the Zama step, the lion's head for the Golden Chicken Independence, one foot should be smooth, otherwise it is easy to cause unnecessary mistakes, generally for the right foot to stand on the Zama step.
Look out: the lion's eyes are regular, blink to the right, and then to the left and then blink this action repeated 3 to 5 times.
Small trot: Some people call it a trot, but it is much slower than a canter, usually on the ground, showing the lion's urgency and impatience.
Expanded:
Lion Dance Taboo:
The Chinese New Year Festival, a lion dance team to the festival added a lot of atmosphere, but at the same time there are a lot of taboos, the old days, if you accidentally violate the taboos, the light is kicked out of the door, or get into trouble.
First, the lion dance is forbidden to see the gods do not worship
The Hakka tradition of polytheism, each village has a guardian deity in each house, is the spiritual pillar of each village in the house, the lion dance team passed the altar, must worship, otherwise regarded as a lack of understanding of etiquette, look down on the people of the village, the village villagers will not be able to pay for the lion dance team.
Second, the lion dance is forbidden to perform first from the new house
Traditional folklore, not to the ancestral house first lion dance, the descendants of the new house, can not invite their lion dance. It is rumored that this rule is related to Hakka ancestor worship.
Third, the lion dance is prohibited from the right into the house
Traditional folklore, that the right is a small piece, the left is a large piece, the house is in the left dragon, so the lion dance team must be from the left piece of the house, the left (a large piece of) to the dragon to the lion, the meaning of the dragon and the lion, the people and wealth of the two prosperous.
So the lion dance team is forbidden to enter the enclosure from the right. And before entering the enclosure, you must walk the ding step, knocking the ding gong to enter the enclosure to worship, meaning to wish the house ding ding dafaqi, the new year, all the best.
Fourth, the lion dance team members are forbidden to sit opposite the house
Traditional folklore, the lion dance team members are forbidden to sit opposite the house, it is rumored that the women in the house in the eaves of the house to see the lion dance, the lion dance team members sitting under the eaves, back to the eaves, the woman stood behind it to see the lion dance, if the relative to the house and sit, it will be regarded as a light view, and was cold.
V. Prohibition of drums
The traditional drums are divided into fast gongs, slow gongs, lion gongs and dragon gongs, and if they are played randomly, they are considered to be disrespectful to the house and will be expelled.
Sixth, the gods prohibit blowing out the lamps in front of the gods and lanterns
The lamps in front of the gods and lanterns, each representing a newborn, the more prosperous the lamps, representing the newborn the more prosperous, if you accidentally blew out the lamps, the lesser is to make amends, and the heavier is to be expelled from the house.
Seven, courtesy
If the lion dance team meets the lions of the house, or the lion dance team that comes earlier than itself, it should arch the lion's head three times to show courtesy and respect.
Sogou Wikipedia - Lion Dance
7. Seek a video explaining the teaching of the lion dance, or the master guide to the basic skills and methods of lion dance,
Chinese Lion Dance stunt demonstration of the wonderful demonstration of the teaching of the video Description: The lion dance is a traditional Chinese folk acrobatic performance techniques, with a long history and culture, China's Zhuang, Miao, Manchu and other ethnic groups by the Han culture, the influence of similar dances, and the survivors have a similar dance. China's Zhuang, Miao, Manchu and other ethnic groups affected by the Han culture also have a similar dance, the existing lion dance is divided into two categories of southern lion, northern lion, in the overseas Chinese areas, every year in the Spring Festival or major festivals, they will also be celebrated in the world lion dance.
Lion dance (lion dance). Lion dance is an excellent traditional Chinese folk art, every festival or grand celebration, the folk are lion dance to cheer.
The lion dance was called "Taiping Le" in the old days; in the northern part of Henan, the local people say: "Playing with lions", which has been passed down in Xinxiang, Jiaozuo, Anyang and other places. And to the Tang Dynasty (618 ~ 907 AD) when more extensive development.
At that time, the lion art had become a necessary program for New Year's festivals and incense walks. It has a history of more than 1,500 years.
The lion dance performers, under the music of gongs and drums, pretend to be lions and make various lion movements. The Chinese folklore tradition is that lion dance can drive away evil spirits.
Therefore, whenever there are festivals, such as New Year's celebrations, Spring Festival, etc., they all like to beat the gongs and drums, and lion dances to help celebrate. The lion dance is also famous in the world with the migration of Chinese overseas, Malaysia, Singapore and other places are quite popular lion dance.
Overseas Chinese living in Europe and the United States also formed a number of lion dance clubs, every year the Spring Festival or major celebrations, they will be around the world to celebrate the lion dance. The lion dance also represents joy, happiness and blessings in people's hearts, and is a symbol of a better life! There are two types of lion dances: the cultural lion and the martial lion.
The cultural lion is generally playful. Good at performing a variety of funny and delightful actions, such as: tickling, licking hair, scratching ears, rolling, jumping, playing ball and so on.
The martial arts lion is heavy on the tricks. The most common is to step on the ball, pick the green, over the seesaw, difficult to even do martial arts performance, such as walking the plum blossom pile of such difficult movements.
Lingnan lion dance, also known as the southern lion, known for a variety of difficult movements in fact, it is the first from the Western region of the imported, the lion is Manjushri Bodhisattva's mount, with the introduction of Buddhism into China, the lion dance activities have also been imported into China. The lion is the Han Wu Di sent Zhang Qian after the mission to the Western Regions, and peacocks and other tributes brought back together.
While the skill of the lion dance is derived from the "masked theater" of the Western Liang, some people believe that the lion dance was created in the fifth century in the army, and later introduced to the civilian population. Both claims have their own basis, and today it is difficult to judge their rights and wrongs.
However, in the Tang Dynasty, the lion dance has become a popular activity in the court, the military and civil society. Tang Duan Anjie "music miscellaneous search" said: "the play has five square lions, more than ten feet high, each dressed in five colors, each lion, there are twelve people, wearing a red smudged forehead, clothing painted clothes, holding a red whisk, called the lion Lang, dancing peace music."
The poet Bai Juyi "Xiliang伎" poem has a vivid depiction of this: "Xiliang伎, Xiliang伎, masked huaren fake lion. The lion is a masked hu-man, with a carved wooden head and silk tail, and gold-plated eyes and silver teeth.
Fenshun sweater swinging ears, such as from the quicksand to ten thousand miles." The poem describes the scene of the lion dance.
According to legend, when Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, the western region of the Dayuezhi Kingdom paid tribute to the Han Dynasty with a male lion with golden hair, and the messenger threatened that if someone could tame the lion, he would continue to pay tribute to the Han Dynasty, or else he would cut off diplomatic relations. After the departure of the envoy, Emperor Zhang of Han Dynasty chose three people to tame the lion, but they were unsuccessful.
Later, the golden lion madness seizure, was killed by the palace people messy stick, the palace people to avoid the Zhangdi descending, so the lion skin pulled down, by the palace people brothers dressed as a golden lion, a person to tease the lead dance, this move not only deceived the ambassadors of the Dayuezhi, and even the Zhangdi believe that this matter was later spread out of the Han Palace, the common people believe that the dance of the lion is a symbol of glory for the country, good luck. So they imitated the lion and performed the lion dance.
The lion dance has been popular since then. The lion dance as a performing art is believed to have taken shape 1,500 years ago in the Northern Wei Dynasty, when the northern Xiongnu invaded the country.
They made a number of carved wooden stones, and sewed them into a lion body with gold silk and hemp, and sent good dancers to Wei to pay tribute, with the intention of assassinating the Wei Emperor during the lion dance, but fortunately, they were recognized by the loyal officials, so they knew what they were doing and retreated. Later, because the Wei Emperor loved the lion dance, ordered to copy, pragmatic to be handed down to future generations.
Yang Xianzhi "Luoyang Galaxy Records" recorded that when the Buddha statue traveled in Luoyang Changqiu Temple at that time, there were "evil lions, guiding its front" words. In the tablet to make in the Tang Ming Huang tour of the Moon Palace, the lion dance made by the Tang Ming Huang tour of the Moon Palace after a wake-up call and there is a wake-up lion dance, the story that when the Tang Ming Huang tour of the Moon Palace, in front of the steps appeared a colorful, broad-mouthed, big-nosed unicorns at the Tang Ming Huang no harm, and in front of the steps to the roll, gesture of majesty.
Tang Ming Huang woke up to see this phenomenon, he wanted to close ministers according to his dream beast imitation, at the same time by the club with a strong gongs and drums choreographed to entertain the guests. Since then, the lion dance has flowed into the folk.
The Tang Dynasty's Taiping Le, also known as the Lion Dance of the Five Directions, is a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, Bai Juyi. Bai Juyi, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem that reads, "The masked hu man is a fake lion, carving wood as the head and silk as the tail.
Gold-plated eyes and silver paste teeth, Fenxun sweater swinging ears" ("Xiliang Shu"). Visible in the Tang Dynasty has been a lion dance.
Records of the lion dance, the earliest in the "Han Shu - music", which refers to the "Elephant Man", according to the interpretation of the Three Kingdoms Wei Meng Kang, "Elephant Man" is to play the fish, shrimp, lion entertainers. This shows that by the time of the Three Kingdoms, there was a lion dance.
By the Tang Dynasty, the lion dance has developed into a large-scale song and dance performed by hundreds of people collectively, but also as a Yanle dance performed at the court, known as the "Taiping music", also known as the "five party lion dance". At that time, the lion dance, but also spread to Japan.
A Japanese "Shinsei Ancient Music" in the picture, there is an ancient Japanese Zoraku dance scene, similar to the Tang Dynasty, only much smaller. After the Tang Dynasty, the lion dance in the folk widely spread.
The Song Dynasty's "Tokyo Dreams" records that some Buddhist temples in the festival of the lion, monks sitting on the lion to do the work, preaching in order to attract tourists. Ming Zhang Dai in the "Taoan Mengyi", introduced the Zhejiang Lantern Festival, the streets and alleys, the sound of drums and gongs, everywhere people gathered to watch the lion dance spectacle.
In ancient times, Guangdong Nanhai County, Foshan Township, Zhongyi Township, a strange beast, eight feet long, big head and small body, eyes like copper bells, green fangs, head a unicorn horn. South lion this beast in the evening of New Year's Eve, come and go like the wind, specializing in the destruction of folk crops, including rice, vegetables and so on.
The villagers and townspeople are not tired of it, because he appeared every New Year's Eve, so people call it "the beast of the year", the townspeople will discuss the elimination of "the beast of the year," there are wise people to offer advice, with gimlets and paper, tied into the shape of a strange beast.