China News Service, Puyang, Henan, March 11th, Title: Looking for traces of "Dragon Raise Its Head" in "Dragon Township" in Chunzhengrao on February 2nd
China News Service reporter Han Zhangyun
March 11 this year is the second day of the second month of the Chinese lunar calendar. It is the traditional Spring Dragon Festival and Spring Plowing Festival. People regard it as an auspicious day. There is a folk saying that "on February 2, the dragon raises its head". There are also "shaving the dragon's head" and "eating the dragon". Customs such as "tooth" and "sacrifice to the dragon god".
On this day, in Puyang City, Henan Province, the "Dragon Township", local dragon dances and other folk activities will be held to celebrate this traditional festival. Many people also walked into the Qicheng Museum in Puyang City and started with the "China's First Dragon" here. , touch the historical context of Chinese dragon culture.
In 1987, in a tomb from the Yangshao Culture period in Xishuipo, Puyang, archaeologists discovered important remains of the dragon culture - dragon and tiger patterns made of freshwater clam shells.
In the M45 clam dragon and tiger tomb, to the west of the tomb owner is a clam tiger, with its mouth open and teeth, and its limbs alternately walking. With its back paws kicking, it looks like it is soaring through the sky. Experts call it "China's No. 1 Dragon".
"Xishuipo clam sculpture dragon has most of the elements and creativity of traditional Chinese cultural dragons. The tombs there are more than 6,400 years old. It is an earlier, larger and more complete dragon image discovered by Chinese archeology." Qi from Puyang City Li Zhongyi, deputy director of the City Museum, told a China News Service reporter that during the archaeological process, a total of three groups of clam sculpture dragon patterns were found at the Xishuipo site. In addition to the dragon and tiger patterns in M45, the other two groups are arranged in line with M45 in the meridian direction. 20 meters apart from each other.
In the second set of patterns, the three animal images of dragon, tiger and deer are overlaid, while the third set shows the images of running tigers and people riding dragons ascending to the sky.
"The three groups of clam sculptures are carefully designed from material selection to layout. The artistic compositions are realistic, not only similar in shape but also similar in spirit. Like comic strips, they show the process of the tomb owner's ascension to heaven. They are also the prototype of China's 'Four Symbols' astronomical system. They are the ancients' Evidence of observing celestial phenomena." Li Zhongyi said that the Xishui Slope clam sculpture shows the outstanding wisdom and creativity of the Chinese ancestors, and also provides a direction for exploring the origin of Chinese dragon culture.
In fact, the saying "on February 2, the dragon raises its head" is also related to ancient Chinese astronomy.
Yang Bo, a researcher at the Henan Academy of Social Sciences, introduced that the ancients divided the twenty-eight constellations into four major groups: "Eastern Canglong", "Western White Tiger", "Southern Suzaku" and "Northern Xuanwu". Among them, "Eastern Canglong" is composed of Jiao, Kang and Di. The seven constellations of , Fang, Xin, Wei, and Ji form a dragon-shaped star, and Spica represents the dragon's horns.
Shortly after nightfall in mid-spring every year, Spica will rise to the eastern horizon, but other parts of it are still hidden below the horizon, so it is called "the dragon's head".
"'The dragon raises its head' means the arrival of the spring plowing season. In order to prevent spring drought, ancient China had the custom of offering sacrifices to the 'dragon god' to pray for rain, in order to pray for good weather and abundant grains," Yang Bo said.
The descendants of Yan and Huang are known as the descendants of the dragon. In the long history, the dragon gradually evolved from an ancient totem to an auspicious symbol, becoming the spiritual symbol and cultural symbol of the Chinese nation.
This is particularly evident in Puyang.
Thanks to the discovery of "China's First Dragon", Puyang is known as "Dragon Township", "Chinese Dragon Capital" and "Chinese Dragon Origin". Dragon elements and dragon culture can be seen everywhere: the legend of "Zhuan Xu rode a dragon to the four seas" is widely known. According to legend, local roads, parks, squares, communities, and factories are often named after dragons. The dragon dance on West Street in Nanle County has a history of more than 400 years, and the large-scale acrobatic show "Dragon Show" is performed all year round.
During the Spring Festival holiday of the Year of the Dragon, Puyang, the "Dragon Township", welcomed a large number of "dragon-seeking" tourists, with nearly 5.31 million visitors in eight days.
Yang Shan, an international student from Zhengzhou University in Bangladesh, also came to Puyang to "hunt for dragons". Although he knew that Chinese dragons were fictional for a long time, he wanted to know the roots of Chinese dragon culture.
"Chinese people revere dragons, and people in my country like tigers. It's really amazing to see dragons and tigers accompanying each other in tombs in Puyang more than 6,400 years ago." Yang Shan said that perhaps he could find earlier dragons in China , will continue to look for traces of Chinese dragon culture.
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