The Origin of Lahu Sheng Dance

There are many legends about the origin of the Lusheng Dance, one of which is widely circulated, saying that Ursa created all things in heaven and earth and taught people the skills of production and life. The Lahu people were grateful to Ursa, and sent their five brothers to ask Ursa to come to taste new things when the crops were ripe. The five brothers came to the place of Ursa with great difficulties, but they could not wake up Ursa, so they blew the bamboo stick in their hands, and the bamboo stick made a beautiful sound to wake up Ursa, who came to Lahu to celebrate the festival of tasting the new. Later, according to the legend that their ancestors originated from the gourd, the Lahu people inserted five bamboo tubes on the gourd to make a reed-sheng, and danced the reed-sheng dance every year at the Taste of the New Year Festival and the Spring Festival, to express their admiration for Ersha and their prayers for a happy life in the coming year. According to the legend and the ceremony of honoring the god still preserved in the dance, the Lusheng Dance is evolved from the original ceremony of entertaining the god and praying for blessings.