Around the Spring Festival, many customs and habits have been formed for thousands of years. Some customs, such as meeting gods and worshipping heaven, are superstitious. With the improvement of people's scientific and cultural level, they are gradually eliminated, and some customs have been given new contents, such as setting off firecrackers, posting Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures, playing dragon lanterns and dancing lions. It is still very popular today.
lion dance
Whenever "firecrackers kill the old year", on the vast land of our country, traditional lion dance activities appear in towns and villages with warm spring breeze and cheerful gongs and drums. For the annual Spring Festival, it adds a rich atmosphere of joy.
Lion dance is a traditional folk sports activity in China, which originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
According to legend, in May of the 23rd year of Yuanjia in Song Wendi (AD 466), the secretariat of Jiaozhou in the Song Dynasty was ordered to attack Lin Yi, and Wang Fanyang of Lin Yi also took part in the war with elephant soldiers. Because this elephant soldier rode on the back of a tall elephant with a spear, it was difficult for enemies with only short weapons to get close to it, and the soldiers in Song Jun began to suffer a big loss. Later, Zong Yi, a pioneer officer and general Zhenwu, came up with an idea. He said that all animals are afraid of lions, and elephants may be no exception. As a result, many fake lions are made of noodles and hemp overnight, painted in colorful colors, and their mouths are particularly wide open. Each "lion" was covered by two soldiers and hidden in the grass. He also dug many deep and big traps around the scheduled battlefield. The enemy drove the elephant army to attack, and Zong Yi released the fake lion with a bow. One by one, the "lions" turned their mouths and headed for the elephants.
The elephant turned around in horror, and Zong Yi took the opportunity to order the soldiers to put all the crossbows together. The frightened elephants immediately ran around desperately, many of them fell into traps, and both people and elephants were captured alive. ..... From then on, lion dance was first popular in the army, and then spread to the people. Bai Juyi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote "Missions to the Western Regions", including "Masked Man Zi and Masked Lion, carved with wood as the head and tail; Gold-plated eyes with silver teeth, rising sweaters with ears ... ". It can be seen that there was a modern lion dance in the Tang Dynasty.
Why do people like to dance lions during the Spring Festival? It is said that in the early Ming Dynasty, a monster appeared in Foshan, Guangdong. It appears in the suburbs of Foshan every year, destroying crops everywhere and endangering people and animals. People in the countryside are miserable, so they tie bamboo grates into several lion models and paint them in various mottled colors. When the monster appeared, gongs and drums rang, lions danced together and rushed at the monster. The monster was frightened and turned around and ran away. Therefore, every year during the Spring Festival, gongs and drums are played, and people go door-to-door and dance lions to celebrate the New Year, to show the intention of eliminating holes and insects and predicting good luck.
Besides the Spring Festival, lion dancing is often used for entertainment on festive days. In the folk lion dance, two people play a big lion (some areas are called Tai Lion), one plays a little lion (some areas are called Shao Lion), and the other plays a warrior, holding a hydrangea as a guide, and first kicking to induce the lion to dance. With the speed of the drums, the lion suddenly looked up, turned to look down, turned to lie prone, shook his head and wagged his tail in various ways, which was full of fun. In imitation actions, there are actions such as licking hair, wiping feet, scratching head, washing ears, worshipping and rolling. In terms of skills, there are stairs, overpasses, three mountains, caves, downhill, bowling, spitting and picking green.
Bamboo horses are usually made of bamboo skin or bamboo sticks, pasted with paper and painted with color. The bamboo horse is divided into two halves and tied to the performer's waist to make the performer look like riding a horse. Yangcheng County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province, is full of Chinese-style crotch pants, with a horse's head at one end and a ponytail at the other. The white waistband is the mount part of the performer, plus the horse's head, which is called "pants horse".
During the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, people usually run bamboo and horses in squares or streets. The number of people participating in the bamboo horse race performance varies from place to place in Shanxi Province, and the forms of activities are also different.
Edit this appreciation of China folk art
All ethnic groups in the big family of the motherland have high aesthetic ability and excellent creative ability. Folk art, which is produced, spread and developed in it, is one of the essences of China traditional culture and an important part of national art.
Folk art is relative to court art, literati art and professional art, and is called "producer art" by Mr. Lu Xun. Refers to clothing and accessories, bedding, cookers, furniture, New Year pictures, paper-cutting, performances, toys, etc. Created by the working people as the main author to meet the daily needs and aesthetic needs of the working people. It combines magnificence and simplicity in art, presents a simple, bright and fiery style, and exudes the psychological quality and aesthetic taste of working people's sincerity, kindness, frankness and enthusiasm.
Because folk custom is the carrier of folk custom, we should appreciate it in combination with the customs of all ethnic groups and localities. As the saying goes, "there are different customs in ten miles", and all ethnic groups in different places have their own festivals and activities. Folk art is closely combined with these festivals, so we should appreciate how it "applies what we have learned", "uses local materials" and "teaches students in accordance with their aptitude". Folk art is a kind of expressive art, that is, they say "from the heart" and "we can do whatever we want" We can't measure it from a scientific anatomical perspective, nor can we appreciate its quality, beauty and ugliness with professional aesthetic standards. But to feel, experience and appreciate through the unique "auspicious and beautiful" interest and naive expression of folk art.