Fire tiger

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Fire tiger

Applicant: Fengtai County, Anhui Province

Project No.: 645

Project No.: Ⅲ - 48

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Anhui Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Fengtai County, Anhui Province

Protected by: Fengtai cultural center, Anhui Province

Introduction to fire Tiger:

Applicant: Fengtai County, Anhui Province

Fire tiger is a folk dance popular in Shankou village and huaifeng village of Fengtai County, Anhui Province. It has a history of thousands of years. Its performances are usually held from the third to the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar. The props used by fire tiger are divided into three parts: tiger head, tiger body and tiger tail, showing the characteristics of exaggerated freehand brushwork. The tiger head is made of bamboo strips and then decorated with twists; the tiger body is made of 21 Paulownia boards connected with thin iron wire, each Paulownia board is drilled with 12 equidistant holes, and then the twists are put into the holes; finally, the mulberry tree is bent into an upward shape to form the tiger tail. The performers put on the old man's hat, protect their head and neck, only show their eyes, then wear tight clothes, put on wet sacks, put on gloves, and then tie the tiger skin, head and tail on their bodies, holding a stick in each hand as the tiger's front paw.

There are tiger, male lion, female lion, cub, God of earth and lion leader in the fire tiger performance. During the performance, the male lion and female lion first appear to play "four gates", and then the female lion lies on the ground, ready to produce cubs. After the cubs were born, they visited all directions, and then the male, female and cubs amused each other. At this time, the fire tiger appeared, and the male lion and the female lion fought with it to protect their cubs. The fire tiger was defeated by the two lions and rushed into the pond with fire all over his body. The whole performance interweaves the warm scene of the lion giving birth with the fierce scene of the lion and tiger fighting, which is relaxed and interesting.

The fire tiger performance embodies the hard-working spirit and optimistic life belief of the people in the Huaihe River Basin, which has the research value of folklore. At present, this unique folk art style has fallen into development dilemma, facing survival crisis, and is in urgent need of protection and inheritance.