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- Dragon dance
Dragon dance
- HI 10513
- The Han, Beijing
The dragon dance is a typical entertainment for the first and fifteenth days of the Lunar New Year. The dragon is believed to be a water god that realizes a good harvest. The frame of the dragon is made by combining scraped and rounded bamboo, and covering it with cloth or paper with the depiction of scales. The dragons are carried and operated by many people. They march around the town day and night, accompanied by musicians, but are not allowed to enter people’s houses, because they might bring in floods. The whiskers of dragon’s beards are believed to have magical power, and children compete for them. These dragons are burnt after the festivals.
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Chinese Dragons
Although dragons are imaginary creatures, their figures are very familiar to Chinese people. Dragons are believed to live in water and to give blissful rains, but sometimes cause floods and droughts. Shrines for dragons are often found along rivers and lake shores in China. Dragons are usually depicted powerfully, with long beards, sharp eyes, long tongue and protruding fangs, along with four long-clawed legs. Horns on their head enable them to rise to the heavens, and this connection with heaven is another factor that makes dragons sacred and superior beings. Chinese emperors were believed to be incarnations of dragons, so an emperor’s face was called longyan “dragon face,” and his descendants were called longzi “dragon children” and longsun “dragon grandchildren.” Emperors’ ceremonial costumes, embroidered with dragons, were called longpao “dragon robes,” while their subjects wore mangpao “boa robes,” with embroidery of boas which have a different number of claws from dragons. |