China News Service, Taipei, February 6th: Looking for the "dragon" in Taiwan during the New Year of the Dragon
China News Service reporter Lu Mei
The Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon is approaching, and the festive atmosphere is getting stronger across Taiwan. As descendants of the Yellow Emperor and "descendants of the dragon", Taiwanese people are particularly fond of the dragon totem and the auspicious meaning it represents. "Dragon" festival elements can be seen everywhere.
On January 27, the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei held the "Dragon Leaping, Happiness Flying" New Year's greeting event. The picture shows a doctoral student from the Chinese Department of Tsinghua University in Taiwan writing "Golden Dragon Dances in Spring" in large seal script, which is homophonic to the Hokkien word "Money is Surplus", which means "more than enough every year". Photo by China News Service reporter Lu Mei
Lucky words of dragon
Since "dragon" has the same pronunciation as "Luan" in the Hokkien language, which means "all" and "all", and has a sense of satisfaction in "having everything", there are many auspicious words about "dragon" in Taiwan. "Dragon" has money every day (there is money every day), "Dragon" everything goes well (everything goes well), "Dragon" always comes with good luck (all good luck comes), "Dragon" is happy for you (all For you), happiness "dragon" and tiger power (happiness is all for you), too many to mention.
Some merchants even came out in both Hokkien and English. "Dragon Dance Kali High" is homophonic to "Every card is powerful", encouraging people to get discounts on card purchases during the New Year, which made people smile. In addition, other clever homophonic sounds such as “dragon” for happiness, “dragon” for business, and “dragon” for wealth and wealth also appear frequently in New Year greetings, and everyone can understand it.
February 4th is the beginning of spring, and merchants on Dihua Street in Taipei are writing Spring Festival couplets for the Year of the Dragon. Photo by China News Service reporter Lu Mei
dragon in spring couplets
Taiwanese society has a long tradition of practicing calligraphy. Although writing is often replaced by computers and mobile phones today, the public's love and respect for the art of calligraphy can still be seen from the more than 100 calligraphy societies across Taiwan.
Starting from January, lively activities of writing Spring Festival couplets have been taking place across Taiwan. From accomplished calligraphers to middle school students who love calligraphy, everyone is willing to participate and write couplets on festive red paper with pen and ink. , the word "Fu" is given to the public for free to share the joy of the New Year.
There are calligraphers who paint and write, making the golden dragon appear on the paper with blessings; some young students write "Golden Dragon Dances in Spring" which is homophonic to the Hokkien dialect (there is always money left), looking forward to "more than every year"; calligraphers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have spring The joint exhibition is currently on display in Taipei, expressing expectations for the peaceful development of cross-strait relations with the words "Peace on both sides of the strait brings prosperity, and dragons and clouds rise to show their great future."
On January 24, students from the Dragon and Lion Dance Team of National Taiwan Sports University practiced dragon dance in the gymnasium. Photo by China News Service reporter Lu Mei
dragon in festivals
In order to welcome the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month, lantern festivals will be held across Taiwan, and news will be released early to attract people to visit. For example, the Nantou Lantern Festival has set up a 14-meter-high "dragon and phoenix coiling mountain" main lantern. It will also continue the tradition of many years, set up a mainland lantern area, invite lanterns from Zhejiang Province to participate in the exhibition, and promote cross-strait exchanges. The Lantern Festival in New Taipei City builds a 12-meter giant "Dragon Palace", with a blue dragon as the main lantern and rare and mythical animals such as phoenix, celestial horse, nine-tailed fox, and whale, bringing the elements of "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" to the extreme.
Dragon and lion dances are popular festival performances among Taiwanese people. Chen Chongyou, the instructor of the National Taiwan Sports University Dragon and Lion Dance Team, told China News Service that most of the performance invitations received in the past were lion dances, but this year the number of invitations to dragon dances has increased significantly. "Everyone wants to take advantage of the occasion to cheer up." The students have been practicing hard during the winter vacation, hoping to achieve good results in the dragon dance competition in March.
The Miaoli Hakka dragon dance folk custom is unique in Taiwan. They first make dragons from bamboo and other materials, then dot their eyes, perform dragon dances, and welcome the Dragon God. On the Lantern Festival, they blast the dragons with a large number of firecrackers to ward off evil spirits and welcome good luck, making it very lively.
On February 4, people took photos with the three-dimensional cartoon dragon on the building in Dihua Street, Taipei, holding the Chinese character "福" written on the spot. Photo by China News Service reporter Lu Mei
Dragons are in history and also in the streets
In Taiwan, the place with the highest concentration of "dragons" is the National Palace Museum in Taipei. The cultural relics in the collection range from the jade dragon of the Hongshan Culture in the Neolithic Age to the royal objects of the ancient palace. Dragons appear on stoneware, bronzes, and porcelain, and are also recorded in calligraphy, paintings, and documents, demonstrating the long history of dragon culture in the history of the Chinese nation and attracting people. Visitors stop.
In the streets and alleys, various images of dragons can be seen everywhere, ranging from bean paste buns made into dragon heads to installation art that dominates buildings. Some are powerful and traditional, and some are cartoonish and cute. People took photos with the dragon one after another and made good wishes for the New Year, which became a scenery on the street. (over)