The local characteristics of longtan town

Goose-necked dragon lantern

Goose-necked lanterns are mainly spread in Yanjing Village, longtan town, Beidouxi, Liangyaping Town and other places, and are "unique" in China.

Gooseneck lamp is woven with bamboo strips. The faucet is 2.33m high and 1 m wide. The dragon body is divided into two sections, each section is 8 feet, and the dragon tail 1 meter. The total length of the dragon body and the dragon tail is 33 meters. The faucet is disconnected from the dragon body, wrapped in colored paper, filled with candles, and the dragon body is wrapped in white cloth.

Goose-neck light faucet was changed by three people, with treasure lamp, brand lamp and clam shell lamp in front. One-man dancing meteor to clear the way to evacuate the crowd. The activity season is mainly in the first month, celebrating the Lantern Festival, expelling locusts and praying for a bumper harvest.

Gooseneck lamps must be equipped with two teams of two faucets, each with three people. The dragon body is disconnected from the dragon body, and the dragon body is connected with the dragon tail, followed by the percussion band. The accompaniment music is mainly dragon lanterns and cymbals "Ten Scenes". Local elders will distribute donations, and sign lights will inform families where to dance. The main family will be greeted with firecrackers, and the sign light will inform the next family to prepare when jumping in this family.

Silkworm lamp

Silkworm lantern dance is a distinctive folk dance in Xupu County. It is popular in longtan town, Xiaohuangshahe, and it is a kind of family lamp of the Zhang family who lives here.

Before liberation, the Lantern Festival was held every year, and thousands of people gathered in Longtan Street, which was very lively. No matter far or near, all the surnames have to dance their own lanterns to perform in the streets, especially the "silkworm lantern" named Xiao Huangsha of Zhang, which is unique and famous here.

"Silkworm lamp" is shaped like a mature spring silkworm. It uses bamboo sticks as the skeleton, weaves into dozens of circles of different sizes, and connects them with ropes, which are divided into three sections: head, body and tail, covered with white cloth, and lit with candles in the silkworm cavity. The total length is about 5 meters. Silkworm can stretch and move, with a wide mouth and red beads in its mouth. When dancing, three men dance together with a string of lights, and two strings of lights are a group (a group of lights ***6 people). There is no limit to the number of groups. The more you jump, the more beautiful the picture will be. Before turning off the lights, put several "Kongming lanterns" into the air on the grass in the village (this kind of lantern is a round lamp made of bamboo sticks, covered with paper, and contains candles made of volatile camphor and cooking oil, which can stay in the air for half an hour after being lit, and is said to have been invented by Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period). After the lights went up, the whole village was suddenly brightly lit, and men, women and children were jubilant. People in neighboring villages saw the lanterns rising into the sky and knew that Zhang's "silkworm lantern" began to perform, so every household set off firecrackers to welcome the "silkworm lantern".

"Silkworm Lantern Dance" vividly and delicately shows the graceful and quiet life habits of spring silkworms. "Double Doors Closed", "Etiquette Dance", "Tai Chi Diagram" and "Silkworm Lantern Wrapped Around the Waist" in Lantern Dance,

Dance movements such as "Worship the Four Doors" are extracted from the usual postures of silkworms, such as twisting, shaking your head and holding your head high. Dancing on the road, two silkworms climbing trees, two silkworms crossing bridges, two silkworms eating leaves, and so on are all forms of spring silkworms looking for mulberry leaves.

In the whole performance process, dancers must cooperate tacitly and be meticulous, so as to make the performance dynamic, coherent and natural, with both form and spirit, and give people an elegant and simple artistic enjoyment. At night, the "silkworm lamp" travels on the ridge of the field. From a distance, a string of white silkworms meandered in the night, which was very spectacular. Especially when dozens of strings of "silkworm lanterns" gather in the square to perform "on the table" and "on the tree", this strange array of silkworm lanterns can bring people into a dreamlike realm. Full of mythical romance, which is rare in folk dance, fully embodies the creative wisdom of working people.

The music of "Silkworm Lantern" is lively, clear, pleasing to the ear and full of local characteristics, with local folk minor "Ten Kinds of Brocade" and percussion instruments mainly composed of gongs, cymbals and drums, accompanied by suona.