Lion dance spirit

Lion dance is an excellent folk art in China. Whenever the Lantern Festival or the celebration of the General Assembly, people always come to the lion dance to entertain. This custom originated in the Three Kingdoms period and was popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It has a history of 1000 years.

According to legend, it was first introduced from the western regions, and the lion was the mount of Manjusri Bodhisattva. As Buddhism was introduced into China, lion dance was also introduced into China. The lion is a tribute brought back with the peacock after Emperor Wu of Han sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions. However, the skill of lion dance originated from Xiliang's "masked play". Some people think that lion dance originated from the army in the fifth century and was later introduced to the people. Both statements have their own basis, and it is difficult to judge whether they are right or wrong today. However, in the Tang Dynasty, lion dance has become a popular activity in the court, the army and the people. Tang Duanan Festival "Yuefu Miscellaneous Search" said: "There are five lions in the play, more than ten feet high, each with five colors. Each lion has 12 people, wearing red stripes, wearing clothes and painting clothes, and holding red pens. They are called lion lang and dance Taiping music. " The poet Bai Juyi's poem "Xiliang Geisha" vividly describes this: "Xiliang Geisha, Xiliang Geisha, masked conference semifinals, fake lions. Wood carvings at the head and tail, gold-plated eyes and silver teeth. Fenxun sweaters have ears, such as coming to Wan Li from quicksand. " This poem describes the scene of lion dance at that time.

Lion dance has a long history and is the product of cultural exchanges between China and the West. As early as 1900 years ago, Persia conducted commercial trade with China through the Silk Road, which also promoted cultural exchanges between the two countries. Persian messengers also brought lions and other animals to China. At that time, lions were not produced in the Central Plains of China, but with the friendly exchanges between ancient China and countries such as West Asia and India, more lions came to China.

Lions are powerful and known as the king of beasts, but China is generally not harmed by lions. Therefore, the people have friendly feelings for the lion, and regard it as a symbol of courage and good luck, hoping to use the powerful image of the lion to exorcise evil spirits, resulting in lion modeling to suppress or show martial arts.

China society has always been dominated by agriculture. With the changes of solar terms and agricultural life, various festivals or ceremonies to greet the gods have emerged. In these festivals, people use gods or auspicious animals to exorcise ghosts and entertain gods, which gradually has the significance of entertaining people. With people's love for lions, they are no longer satisfied with the static artistic image of lions in doorways, eaves, stone fences, seals and New Year pictures. They wanted the lion to live, so they created a dance that imitated the lion's behavior, and then improved it and developed it into a unique art of the Chinese nation.

Although the folk lion dance has a long history, there are different opinions about the origin of this art. Experts have rummaged through a batch of books and can only get some clues from various records, including various legends. These include:

The origin theory of Han dynasty;

According to legend, during the reign of Emperor Gaozu Zhang, the state of Yue in the western regions presented a golden lion to the Han Dynasty, and the envoys threatened to continue to pay tribute to the Han Dynasty if anyone could tame the lion, or break off diplomatic relations. After the messenger of the moon left, Emperor Zhang Han chose three people to train the lion, but none of them succeeded. Later, the golden lion violently attacked and was killed by the imperial secretary. In order to avoid the punishment of Emperor Zhang, the imperial secretary tore off the lion's skin. The imperial secretary's two brothers dressed up as golden lions, and one teased him to start a dance. This not only fooled Ambassador Yue, but also believed Zhang Di. After this incident, it spread to the Han Palace, and the people thought that lion dancing was a symbol of national glory and good luck. So he imitated the lion and performed a lion dance. Since then, lion dancing has been very popular.

The origin theory of the Northern Wei Dynasty;

As a performing art, lion dance is believed to have formed in the Northern Wei Dynasty 1500 years ago, when the Xiongnu in the north invaded and rebelled. They specially carved many wooden stones, sewed them into a lion's body with golden silk hemp, and sent good dancers to pay tribute to Wei, with the intention of stabbing Wei Emperor to death during the lion dance. Fortunately, the loyal minister saw through it and made him retreat. Later, because Wei Di loved lion dancing, he ordered imitation, and pragmatism spread to later generations.

Origin theory of Tang dynasty;

There is a story of Tang's visit to the Moon Temple in the monument, and lion dancing made him wake up and became a lion dancer. This story tells that when Tang visited the Moon Temple, a colorful unicorn appeared in front of the steps, with a wide mouth and a big nose, which was harmless to Tang, and rolled the ball in front of the steps with a majestic posture. Emperor Tang Ming woke up and wanted to see this phenomenon again. He wants ministers to imitate auspicious animals in his dreams, and at the same time, the music department should be equipped with gorgeous gongs and drums to entertain guests. Since then, lion dance has flowed into the people. Bai Juyi, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty, said in a poem: "Masked conference semifinals are fake lions, and woodcarving is the beginning and the end. Gold-plated eyes and silver teeth, brave and fast sweater with ears "shows that lion dance has existed in the Tang Dynasty.

The internationally accepted theory of the origin of Foshan: In ancient times, a strange beast appeared in Zhong Yi Township, Foshan Town, Nanhai County, Guangdong Province. It is eight feet long, with a big head and a small body. Its eyes are like two bells, its green face and fangs, and its first horn. This strange beast appeared on New Year's Eve and came and went like the wind, destroying folk crops including rice and vegetables. Folks and villagers are very annoyed, because he appears every New Year, so people call him "Nian Beast". The villagers discussed how to destroy the "Nian beast". Some wise men made suggestions, tied it into a strange beast shape with bamboo sticks and paper, and colored it. Weave animal carcasses with cloth of various shapes, such as squares and triangles, and then gather a dozen warriors, holding pots and other rattles, and one with a double kitchen knife, standing by the circular anvil ready to be beaten. They lie in ambush under a bridge, which is the only place for young animals. As soon as the beast of that year appeared, all the warriors rushed out and struck the instruments to make a "clang" and "thump" sound like thunder. Nian beast saw it and fled in horror. He disappeared and never appeared again. In order to celebrate the success of driving away strange animals and commemorate the contribution of tying animal heads with paper, it is convenient for villagers to take them out to dance during the Spring Festival. Some people even suggested naming it the lion dance: because the lion is the king of beasts, a representative of courage and a symbol of good luck. Some are also called dance heads. In addition to dancing lions during the New Year, villagers will also perform on God's birthday or celebration to increase the lively atmosphere. When dancing the lion, the musical instrument is changed to gongs and drums, which are usually used in various places to participate in the game of meeting the gods. It has a certain rhythm, which means that the house can flourish, the ghosts and gods are superior, the environment is peaceful and the harvest is good.

Beishi

The northern lion looks like a real lion, with a simple head and golden hair all over. Lion dancers (usually two people dancing at the same time) will coat their trousers and shoes with fur. Before dancing, they will look like Xiao Wei Miao Wei lions. The lion with a red knot on his head is a male and the green one is a female. The northern lion shows flexible movements, which is different from the southern lion. Dance is mainly about jumping, falling, turning, rolling, jumping and scratching.

Lions in the north usually appear in pairs; Led by a master dressed as a samurai. Sometimes a pair of northern lions will match a pair of little northern lions. The little lion teased the big lion, and the big lion teased and showed his family. The performance of the northern lion is closer to juggling. Musically, Beijing cymbals, Beijing gongs and Beijing drums are the main instruments.

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The Southern Lion, also known as the Lion Awakening, has a more vigorous shape and pays attention to "horse stance just look" when dancing. Southern Lion shows a vigorous lion style mainly through the movements of dancers, and generally only two people dance at one end. The lion's head is based on the face spectrum of China traditional opera, which is colorful and beautifully made. Eyes and mouth can move. Strictly speaking, heather's lion head is not like a lion's head, and some people even think that heather is closer to the "Nian" beast. Heather's lion head also has a horn. It is said that it used to be made of iron to cope with the fights that often occur when dancing lions. Traditionally, the lion's head is divided into Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. The three lion heads are not only different in color and decoration, but also have different dancing methods according to the personalities of the three ancient people.

There are many dance styles of heather, including: rising, normal, rising, questioning, scratching, welcoming, saluting, jumping, examining, sleeping, coming out of the hole, outbursting, climbing mountains, going upstairs and so on; Dancers show various forms abstractly through different horse stance and lion head movements. Therefore, the Southern Lion speaks like a spirit. The Southern Lion has performances such as going out of the cave, going up the mountain, patrolling the mountain to meet the lion, picking green and entering the cave. Among them, "picking green" is the most common. The original meaning of "picking green" is "anti-clearing and restoring sight", but now it is generally taken as a symbol of "prosperity" and prosperous business. "Green" uses lettuce. Hanging lettuce and vegetable market (red envelopes), the lion jumped a few times in front of the "green" to show hesitation, then jumped up, "ate" the vegetables, and then "chewed up the lettuce" to greet everyone. In order to increase the entertainment, picking green sometimes uses unique skills, such as shouldering (lion-headed dancers stand on the shoulders of lion-tailed dancers), folding arhats, climbing poles (climbing bamboo poles), or crossing plum tree stumps (crossing long stumps of different heights) and so on.

When dancing the Southern Lion, there will be gongs, drums and cymbals. Lion dance should match the rhythm of music. When dancing the Southern Lion, sometimes a person will dress up as a "Big Head Buddha" and be led by a sunflower fan.

There is usually a "closing ceremony" before the lion dance. The ceremony was presided over by the officiating guests, and the lion's eyes were painted with cinnabar to symbolize life.