(New Year walks to the grassroots) Taijiang, Guizhou: Handmade dragon lanterns to welcome the New Year's intangible cultural heritage skills from generation to generation
Chinanews.com, Taijiang, Guizhou, January 30th, title: Taijiang, Guizhou: Handmade dragon lanterns to welcome the New Year, intangible cultural heritage skills passed down from generation to generation
Author Feng Guiju Zhou Yanling
"The gate is wide open, and gold, silver and treasures roll in..." In Taijiang County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou, the dragon lantern team passionately waved a golden dragon tens of meters long and sang loudly. Firecrackers shook the sky.
Under the rhythmic waving of the dragon dancers, the golden dragon sometimes soars into the air, sometimes dives, and sometimes hovers...
"At this time of year, many dragons come to my store to pay New Year's greetings, which means that the New Year will be auspicious and happy." Jiang Renzhi, who opened a store in Taijiang County, said while toasting the dragon dance team one by one and giving them New Year's money.
The picture shows the Taijiang dragon dance and booing flowers in Taijiang, Guizhou.
Photo by Feng Guiju
The traditional custom of dragon dancing to celebrate the New Year has been circulating in Taijiang for hundreds of years. This traditional custom has become a unique way for Taijiang people to pray for blessings and eliminate disasters, hope for good weather and display dragon lantern culture.
At the same time, it also adds more festive atmosphere to the common people.
Taijiang's 2023 "Miao Dragon Dance and Booing Flowers" intangible cultural heritage ceremony will be held on the Lantern Festival, but the people of Taijiang have already spontaneously organized dragon lanterns to participate in the event.
In 2021, the custom of "Miao Dragon Dance and Booing Flowers" in Taijiang County will be included in the list of representative items of national intangible cultural heritage.
Taijiang dragon lanterns are divided into "grass dragons", "bright dragons" and "hard dragons". The lanterns include lion lanterns and flower lanterns, commonly known as "three dragons and two lanterns".
In particular, the production process of the hard dragon is very sophisticated. "It takes more than 100 processes to make a complete hard dragon when it is broken down," said Gong Xuerong, a villager in Wenquan Village, Taijiang County.
The picture shows villagers making dragon lanterns.
Photo by Feng Guiju
At the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar, folk artists in Hot Spring Village are busy making traditional dragon lanterns.
Gong Xuerong is very experienced in making dragon lanterns. "To make dragon lanterns, you need to go up the mountain after the beginning of autumn and cut the bamboo that grows on the sunny side of the hillside. The best growth period is about 4 years. Bamboo has high strength and sufficient toughness."
Selection of bamboo, broken bamboo, bamboo, fabric, paper-cut... In order to ensure that the dragon skeleton is not deformed, the size of the bamboo must be uniform.
Gong Xuerong put his hand to the root of the bamboo, measured a distance of five feet from bottom to top, and pinched it here with two palms together. The circumference was nine inches to one foot, which just met the requirement.
The most difficult thing is to make the faucet. It has no fixed shape, and it is all based on the idea of the craftsman.
First tie the dragon head, dragon nose, dragon horn, dragon ear, dragon beard, dragon eye, and then tie the mandible, the mandible and the dragon tongue are fixed, and a hemp thread is tied to connect the looper. When the dragon's head is dancing, the dragon's mouth will open and close naturally, and the dragon's eyes will also open and close, which is lifelike.
The picture shows villagers making dragon lanterns out of bamboo.
Photo by Feng Guiju
According to Gong Xuerong, Hot Spring Village has a long tradition of dragon dancing. Most men, women and children in the village have mastered the skills of dragon lantern weaving and dragon dancing. During the production process, boys are responsible for weaving hard dragons, fish, turtles, etc., and girls are responsible for weaving lanterns.
In the Wang family in Ximenkou, Taijiang, generations have had the unique skill of making dragon lanterns.
After receiving the order, Wang Yong, a Dragon Zha man, started to prepare for the Dragon Zha early on. After tying up the frame, he drew the outline with a pencil and colored it with colored paint.
"If you don't grasp the counterweight well, the dragon's head will be down, and you will lose its majestic and heroic posture. The upper jaw should be 15 centimeters longer than the lower jaw. This way, the dragon will feel right." Wang Yong said while taking a measuring tape.
Compared with his parents, Wang Yong's dragon head is different. "The shape of the dragon's gills has been changed. The color of the dragon's body is richer and has a gradient color. If you want the effect of brightening the eyes, you can put a flashlight on the longan." Times are changing. Generations of Zhalong artists have also made a lot of innovations in traditional crafts. In 2023, Wang Yong also made a new "little dragon" for children to hold and play.
"Dragon playing among the people in Taijiang is equal. No matter what ethnicity, men, women, or children, you can play dragons as long as you want." Ou Cheng, president of the Taijiang Dragon Lantern Association, said that the venue for dragon dances is changing, and the style of dragon dances is changing. Styles are changing, but what remains unchanged is people's expectations for a better life.
The picture shows villagers making lanterns.
Photo by Feng Guiju
It is reported that from the second day of the first lunar month, the dragon dance team will dance dragon lanterns and send auspiciousness from door to door in their own villages. If invited, they will also go to other villages to send good wishes.
It sounds like this is a kind of inheritance, but behind it is the love of ordinary people for cultural and sports events. Taking festivals as an opportunity, rural sports culture has been passed down from generation to generation. Participating in sports events has become a "tradition" for ordinary people .
In recent years, Taijiang Dragon Lantern, represented by Hot Spring Village, has participated in various large and small cultural performances, from the 2018 CCTV Spring Festival Gala in Liping, Zhaoxing, to the opening ceremony of the Miao Sisters Festival, and to the Guizhou TV station's cultural performance.
"A few days ago, a company in Guanshanhu District, Guiyang City specially invited us to perform." Gong Xuerong said.
Nowadays, Taijiang Miao people's dragon dance and booing flowers has become a business card of Taijiang.
On the basis of traditional folk customs, Taijiang also added links such as the "Hundred Dragon Competition" for hegemony, the lantern show, and the "99" Long Long Food Banquet, which also increased the income of the local people.
According to Lai Xunpeng, deputy director of the Taijiang County Culture, Sports, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, in addition to the suspension of the event due to the new crown epidemic in the past two years, more than 300,000 people and tourists participated in the dragon dance and booing flowers every year, which drove the county's tourism revenue to 100 million. yuan or more.
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