Lantern Dance

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Lantern Dance

Applicant: Boai County, Henan Province

Project No.: 642

Project No.: Ⅲ - 45

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Henan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Boai County, Henan Province

Protection unit: Jiaozuo City sujiazuo dragon and phoenix dance Protection Association

Introduction to the Lantern Dance

Applicant: Boai County, Henan Province

Lamp dance has existed since ancient times. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a record of "lamp dance" with lamp as props. During the new year's Festival (especially the Lantern Festival) or the rituals of praying for rain, offering sacrifices and begging for a good harvest, the palace and the folk often perform lantern dance. At first, the lantern dance was characterized by the placement of characters, and then gradually developed into a folk dance style with the arrangement of colored lights to construct patterns and create artistic conception, which spread all over the country. According to the shape of lantern, lantern dance mainly includes dragon lantern dance, lion lantern dance, fish lantern dance, clam lantern dance, butterfly lantern dance, hundred bird lantern dance, lotus lantern dance, chrysanthemum lantern dance, wax lantern dance, boat lantern dance, lantern dance, cloud lantern dance, Hydrangea lantern dance and other forms of lantern dance. There are many forms of lantern dance, usually performed in group dance at night. As the actors walk and dance, the formation is constantly changing, and fireworks are also set off during the dance, making the scene spectacular. This kind of folk dance style mostly appears in the Han area, but also popular in some minority areas.

Su Jia's Dragon and Phoenix Lantern Dance is a kind of traditional folk dance, which is mainly popular in the fraternity area of Henan Province. In the old days, the Su family was mainly engaged in farming, and their cultural and amateur life was relatively rich. Every year during the Spring Festival and the temple fair of the God of fire, the Su family celebrates the fruits of one year's labor and hopes for a good harvest in the coming year. They make lanterns with auspicious animals and plants such as dragons, phoenixes, unicorns and tigers. In addition to hanging, according to some folktales, the lanterns are organized for dancing. The second year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty (1826) was a great Lantern Festival of fraternity. In order to achieve good results, Wu Heidan, a craftsman of the Su family, combined the dragon lantern with the Phoenix Lantern. On the basis of the dance of the dragon and the Phoenix, he added dozens of dance lights and compiled many lantern dance programs, which were performed during the fire Temple meeting on February 29 of the lunar calendar that year. Since then, the dance of dragon and Phoenix lanterns by the Su family has finally taken shape.

Dragon and Phoenix lanterns are exquisitely made. The skeleton of dragon and phoenix is made of bamboo strips. The body of dragon is decorated with colored gauze. The pattern of Phoenix clothing is painted with white gauze. The dragon lantern consists of nine sections, each supported by a stick. The Su family performed dragon and Phoenix Lantern Dance with the most wonderful performances, such as dragon playground, dragon playing with Phoenix, dragon peeling, and a hundred birds chasing Phoenix. The traditional programs include "Twelve beauties pulling fiber", "Wen Wang pulling fiber", "Jiang Ziya fishing" and so on. In modern times, they also edited and created "Danfeng Chaoyang", "hundred birds chasing Phoenix", "dragon and Phoenix presenting auspiciousness", "dragon and Phoenix looking back at Peony", "dragon and Phoenix fighting drama" and so on. "Dragon and phoenix play" focuses on a word "play", which is loose in tension and contains friendship in play, so it has high artistic value. Dragon and Phoenix Lantern Dance performance, performers up to more than 500 people, the scene is warm, grand momentum.

Su's performance of dragon and Phoenix Lantern Dance reflects the traditional cultural connotation of harmony between yin and Yang, and has the research value of history and culture, folklore, mythology and so on. At present, the Su family's Dragon and Phoenix Lantern Dance has been reduced from a grand performance of more than 500 people in its heyday to a performance of two or three hundred people. The choreography of the lantern dance only exists in the memory of five old artists. This valuable folk dance art has no successors and is in danger of extinction, which needs to be rescued.