In the course of more than a thousand years of development, the lion dance has formed two styles of performance in the north and south. The northern school of lion dance to perform "martial lion" is the main, that is, the Wei Wu Emperor decided the Northern Wei "Rui lion". Small lion dance by one person, the big lion dance by two people, a standing lion dance head, a person bends down to dance the lion body and tail. The lion dancer is clad in a lion quilt, wearing the same color as the lion's body, green lion pants and gold claw hoof boots, people can not identify the lion dancer's body, its appearance and the real lion is very similar. The lion dancer, dressed as an ancient warrior, holds a rotating embroidered ball in his hand, and is accompanied by gongs, drums and cymbals to attract the lions. Under the guidance of the "Lion Lang", the lion performs tricks such as prancing, falling, jumping, ascending, worshipping, and other difficult maneuvers such as walking on a plum blossom pile, scurrying on a table, and stepping on a rolling ball. The southern school of lion dance to perform "Wen lion" is the main performance, the performance is concerned about the expression, there are scratching, shaking hair, licking hair and other actions, exquisite, amusing, but also more difficult to spit the ball and other skills. Southern Lion Dance is centered in Guangdong and popular in Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia. Although the southern lion is also a two-person dance, but the lion dancers under the lantern pants, the top just draped over a piece of colorful lion and dance. And the northern lion is different from the "lion Lang" head wearing a big head Buddha mask, dressed in robes, waist colorful belt, holding a sunflower fan and teasing the lion, which dances a variety of beautiful strokes, the action is funny and interesting. There are many schools of Southern Lion Dance, including the "Cock Lion" of Qingyuan and Yingde, the "Big Head Lion" of Guangzhou and Foshan, the "Duckbill Lion" of Gaohe and Zhongshan, and the "Kirin Lion" of Dongguan. "Kirin Lion" in Dongguan, and so on. In addition to the different appearance of the southern lions, there are also different personalities. White-bearded lion dance range is not wide, not many varieties of colors, but calm and robust, dignified and powerful, known as "Liu Bei lion". Black-bearded red-faced lion, known as the "Guan Gong Lion", dancing brave and majestic, extraordinary temperament. Gray and white bearded lion, rugged and belligerent action, commonly known as "Zhang Fei Lion". Lion for the dignity of the beasts, the image of majestic and handsome, giving people a sense of majesty, courage. Ancient people took it as a symbol of bravery and strength, that it can drive away evil spirits and demons, blessing people and animals peace. So people gradually formed in the Lantern Festival and other major events in the custom of lion dance, in order to pray for life auspicious and peaceful.
Question 2: Why do we need to dance lions on New Year's Day? Because the lion is the representative of the celebration of the New Year when you see the lion are red right it is a traditional custom at the same time is also a human symbol of happiness.
Question 3: Why is the lion dance to pick the green? Legend has it that "采青" was originally "against the Qing Dynasty to restore the Ming Dynasty" meaning, now generally take its meaning, there is a "fierce", the symbol of prosperous business. Lettuce is used for "Qing". Hang up the lettuce and the red packets (red packets), the lion in front of the "green" dance a few times to show hesitation, and then jumped up, the green vegetables a mouthful of "eat" off, and then the lettuce "bite and spit out", and then greeted everyone. Then they "bite up and spit out" the lettuce and greet everyone. In order to increase the entertainment, Caiqing sometimes also use stunts, such as on the shoulder (lion dance head of the person standing on the shoulders of the lion tail), stacked Luohan, on the pole (climbed up the bamboo poles), or over the plum blossom Tsubaki (through the height of the long wooden Tsubaki) and so on.
Question 4: why the opening lion dance various opening ceremonies we often see the lion dance this activity, on the one hand, on behalf of the lively, on the other hand, on behalf of the people worship the meaning of the lion dance, the following we will look at: the lion dance has a long history, it is a product of cultural exchanges between China and the Western region. As early as 1,900 years ago, Persia through the Silk Road with China for both sides of the commercial trade, but also to promote cultural exchanges between the two countries. Persian emissaries also transported lions and other animals to China, at that time, China's Central Plains did not produce lions, but with the next ancient China and West Asia, India and other countries to carry out friendly exchanges, more lions came to the Chinese territory. The lion body size is mighty, known as the king of beasts, and China is generally not subject to lion trouble, so the folk have a sense of affection for the lion, as a symbol of mighty courage and good luck, and hope that the lion's mighty image of exorcism to drive away evil spirits, resulting in a lion shape to suppress or to *** martial arts.
Question 5: Why the lion dance The lion dance is a traditional folk sports activity in China, which originated around the time of the North and South Dynasties (the era of the rise of Buddhism). Records about the lion dance, the earliest in the "Han Shu? The first record of the lion dance is found in the Han Book of Rites and Music, which mentions the "Elephant Man", according to the explanation of Meng Kang, a native of Wei in the Three Kingdoms period, the "Elephant Man" is an artist who plays the roles of fish, shrimp, and lions. This shows that there was already a lion dance in the Three Kingdoms period at the latest. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the lion dance was also popular among the people.
By the Tang Dynasty, the lion dance has developed into hundreds of collective performance of large-scale songs and dances, but also as a Yanle dance performed in the court, known as the "Taiping music", also known as the "five lion dance". The shishimai was also spread to Japan at that time. In a Japanese painting "Shinsei Koraku", there is a scene of the ancient Japanese Shishimai, which is similar to that of the Tang Dynasty, but on a much smaller scale. After the Tang Dynasty, the Shishimai was popularized among the people. In the Song Dynasty, the Tokyo Dream Records recorded that some Buddhist temples held lions on festivals, and the monks sat on the lions to do pujas and preach sutras to attract visitors. Ming Zhang Dai in "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.
With the popularity of Buddhism, exotic images of lions were introduced to the Central Plains from beyond the borders. In the Tang Dynasty, there were already lion dances. Bai Juyi's poem "Xiliang Kabuki" describes it as follows: "A false-faced hu man with a false son, carving wood for the head and silk for the tail. Eyes of gold and teeth of silver are plated on his face, and his ears are swung by his sweater. As if coming from the quicksand, the two bearded men with purple beards and deep eyes danced in front of the beam and made speeches. It should be like the day when Liangzhou was not yet fallen, when the Anxi guards came in." The lion dance of Xiliang artists at that time was very similar to the lion dance we see in modern times. The lion dance painted in the Qing Dynasty's "Beijing Walking Club", a large lion played by two people, three small lions played by one person, and two people holding a "whisk" to guide the lion, exactly the same as the modern Chinese New Year time lion dance.
The lion dance is divided into northern and southern regions. The appearance of the northern lion dance is similar to the real lion, and the whole body covered with a lion cape, the lion dancers only exposed feet, and the lion cape underneath wearing the same gold-colored lion and flower boots. The lion dance is performed by two people, and another person, dressed as a samurai, holds an embroidered ball in his hand to guide the dancers. There are two types of northern lions, the big and the small. The big lion is danced by two people, while the small lion is danced by one person. The movements generally include falling, rolling, jumping and scratching; there are also skillful movements such as crossing the springboard, rolling the embroidered ball and going up the stairs. The lion dance is accompanied by Beijing drums, Beijing gongs and Beijing pizzicato, and the movements are in tune and lively.
The Southern Lion Dance is generally popular in Guangdong, so it is also known as the Guangdong Lion. Guangdong lion is a person dancing lion head, a person dancing lion tail, the lion head in various forms and colors, lion cape is made of colorful cloth or silk strips. There are one or two people wearing big-headed Buddha masks to lead the lion, play the lion, single dance, etc. The lion dancers wear colorful lanterns. The lion dancers wear various colors of lantern pants, and the upper part of their shirts or undershirts are made of tightly buttoned Tang lantern sleeves. During the lion dance, the lion dancers have to use all their strength and different moves to show their southern martial arts skills.
Question 6: Why is the lion dance divided into north and south and when did it start? Lion dance is China's outstanding traditional folk art, every Lantern Festival or *** celebrations, folk lion dance to cheer. Lion dance has a history of more than a thousand years, the lion dance in the old days called "Taiping music", and to the Tang Dynasty (AD 618 ~ 907 years) when more extensive development. At that time, the lion dance had become an essential program for the New Year festivals and incense walks. In the course of more than a thousand years of development, the lion dance has formed two styles of performance in the north and south.
◆ Northern lion
The Chinese lion dance has its earliest origins in the Northern Lion. According to legend, in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD), Emperor Wu conquered Heshi in Gansu Province and captured as many as 100,000 Hu people. Emperor Wu of Wei made the hu people offer dance entertainment. Hu people to wood carving beast head, two big five small, cloaked in animal clothing, set of eight music, more than thirty warriors, dance in front of the emperor. Emperor Wu's heart was very happy, gave the name "Northern Wei Rui Lion", and allowed the captives to return to the country. The lion dance has spread in the north, and later there will be a "northern lion" of the name.
The northern school of lion dance to perform "martial arts lion" as the main, that is, the Wei Wu Emperor appointed the Northern Wei "Rui lion". The small lion dance, a person, a large lion dance, a standing lion dance head, a person bending down to dance the lion body and tail. Lion in the "lion Lang" under the guidance of the performance of tumbling, pouncing, jumping, leaping, worship and other skills, and walk the plum blossom pile, scurrying table, stepping on the ball and other difficult actions.
"Southern Lion" show
◆ Southern Lion
There are several legends in Chinese folklore of the Southern Lion Dance, one of which is that during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD) when Emperor Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River, he dreamed of a colorful beast coming to pay homage to him. After returning to Beijing, Emperor Qianlong ordered the image of the beast he saw in his dream to tie a, every festival and celebrations ordered people to dance, a metaphor for the country's prosperity and people's peace, peace and good luck.
The Southern School of Lion Dance to perform the "cultural lion" as the main performance, the performance is concerned about the expression, there are scratching, shaking hair, licking hair and other actions, but also exquisite, amusing. As the lion is the pride of all beasts, the image of the majestic and handsome, ancient people took it as a symbol of bravery and strength, that it can drive away evil spirits and demons, blessing the peace of people and animals. So people gradually formed in the Lantern Festival and other major events in the custom of lion dance, in order to pray for the life of good luck, everything is safe.
Question 7: Why is it necessary to dot the eyes of the lion dance? The lion dance is usually preceded by an "eye-dotting" ceremony. The ceremony is performed by the officiating guest, who applies vermillion sand to the eyes of the lion to symbolize the giving of life.
Question 8: Why is it important to see the Lion Dance every New Year? It is a traditional Chinese custom that the dragon represents the spirit of the Chinese people, and that the dragon is the ancestor of the Chinese people
Question 9: What is the purpose of the Lion Dance? Lion dance began about after the Han Dynasty, but also the traditional performance of China's folk festivals, the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival is the most common. China originally did not produce lions, the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" contains the Han Dynasty Emperor Zhangdi when the Yuezhi country (a small country in the Western region) tribute to the lion, then named "mythical beast". From then on, people will be strong, powerful lion as a symbol of good luck, bravery, and imitation of the image and movement of the lion, and gradually formed a lion dance, celebrations and happy days for fun, and expect to drive away demons and evil spirits, so there is a "lion to ward off evil spirits," the name of the lion.
Ming and Qing dynasties, the lion dance is more widely popular, and more patterns, the formation of many schools. Generally by two people dancing a big lion (some areas called "too lion"), or one person dancing a small lion (some areas called "less lion"), another person dressed as a warrior or a big head of Buddha holding a colorful ball tease. In the performance can be divided into "cultural lion" and "martial arts lion" two kinds. The "cultural lion" mainly portrays the lion's docile demeanor, with tickling, licking hair, rolling, shaking hair and other actions; "martial arts lion" is to show the lion's courageous character, there are jumping, pouncing, climbing, flipping, stepping on the ball and other actions. The lion dance must have gongs and drums to play music, the lion stepped on the music point, the rhythm is clear.
The civil lion dance bronze statue is a copper casting molded into a group of lion dance statues, **** twelve people, people about 4.6 cm high, arranged in columns, fixed on the mahogany seat. The former group of lion dance, lion identity section, the top has a horn, jaw activity. Two lion dancers, one in front of the other, drilled into the body of the lion. Lion of the left and right of a person to protect the lion, the left side of the fork, the right side of the hands of the lion body, the foremost big head of the Buddha, wearing a large round hood, two hands to take a shovel-like, teasing the lion.
The middle group of five people, playing musical instruments. Immediately after the lion dance two people, the left side of the gong, the right side of the cymbals. Behind another three people, two of them long bar to lift the drum, one of them hit. Tailed by the team of two people, one hand with an animal shield, one hand with a sword, strokes the guard posture.
The lion dance bronze statue characters look realistic, lifelike, action free, magnificent, folk lion dance style solidified on its