All things welcome spring, happy tonight. After tonight, it will be the Year of the Dragon.
In the Chinese zodiac, the dragon is the only animal that people imagine. In Chinese culture, the dragon has multiple meanings such as courage and progress, endless vitality, and auspiciousness, and carries a beautiful vision. The sons and daughters of China are known as the "descendants of the dragon", and the image of the Chinese dragon has spread all over the world.
Before Chinese New Year's Eve, the reporter visited Xi'an City, Fengxiang District of Baoji City, Hantai District of Hanzhong City and other places to find historical legends and folk activities related to dragons in the land of Sanqin, and sent readers and friends blessings for the Year of the Dragon.
The dragon element in the place name.
On February 5, the reporter came to Longshouyuan Station of Xi'an Metro Line 2, and the cultural wall in the passage of the station displayed more than a dozen different ways of writing the word "dragon" and idioms such as "Qinglong Jinkui", "Longtan", "Lilong" and other works in the poems. The cultural wall shows the unique topography and cultural connotation of Longshouyuan to citizens and tourists.
On February 5, at Longshouyuan Station of Xi'an Metro, pedestrians were waiting for the subway. Photo by reporter Shi Nian.
There is a magical legend about the formation of the dragon head plain. Legend has it that during the Qin Dynasty, a black dragon rushed out of the Qinling Mountains, drinking the water of the Wei River with its head to the north and sucking the aura of heaven and earth with its tail to the south. As the dragon passed, it arched the flat ground into a mountain of earth. The shape of the earth mountain resembles a dragon, and the dragon head was originally named because of this, and it is also called the dragon head mountain because of the high terrain.
Zhu Hong, a professor at the School of Literature of Shaanxi Normal University, introduced: "Longshouyuan gradually rises from the area of Qujiangchi and Zhangbagou, and takes the area around Longshou Village in Weiyang District as the top. In the early 80s of the 20th century, when I looked east and west in Longshou Village, I could basically see the direction of Longshouyuan. ”
The reason for the high terrain and the river to the north is very suitable for the construction of royal palaces. Chang'an City of the Han Dynasty and Chang'an City of the Tang Dynasty were both built in Longshouyuan. The north slope of the Han Chang'an city and the south slope of the Tang Chang'an city can be seen from this.
In the east of Xi'an, there is an alley connecting Dongguan South Street and Xingqinggong Park - Wolong Lane. The alley is 500 meters long, twisting and turning like a winding dragon, and the vigorous roots of the ancient locust on both sides resemble dragon claws. Is this why the alley is named after the "dragon"?
Not really. Although Wolong Lane was formed in the Ming Dynasty, its name is related to Tang Xuanzong.
During the Tang Dynasty, the location of Wolong Lane spanned Longqing Fang and Shengye Fang. Longqingfang was originally the residence of Tang Xuanzong Li Longji when he was the king of Linzi. After Li Longji ascended the throne, in order to avoid his name, Longqingfang was renamed Xingqingfang, and it began to be called "the land of dragon diving". Later, people named this alley with the word "Wolong". During the Ming Dynasty, the city wall expanded to the east, and the vicinity of Wolong Lane became a part of Dongguo City, and residential areas gradually formed.
In Shaanxi, the dragon culture has a deep accumulation. From county towns to towns and villages, there are countless place names named after dragons.
Huanglong County, Yan'an City, is named after Huanglong Mountain. Legend has it that when the Yellow Emperor, the ancestor of humanity, fought with Chiyou, Ying Long helped the Yellow Emperor, and when he was unable to return to the sky at the end of the battle, he turned into mountains that stretched for hundreds of miles. Seeing this, the Yellow Emperor was grieved, so he named these mountains after Yinglong. Because the dragon is a thousand-year-old dragon, also known as the Yellow Dragon, people call it Huanglong Mountain.
Longping Village, Qingjian County, Yulin City, according to the record of "Qingjian County Chronicles", Longping, formerly known as Long'er Nose, the cliffs on the east and west sides, the two rivers converge around the village, run several miles and enter the Yellow River, resembling a giant dragon to draw water from the north, and the village is named after the place where the dragon's nose is.
Shuanglong Town, Hanbin District, Ankang City, Majia River and Fangjia River meander down, overlooking the river like a dragon's body, like two dragons playing with pearls, so it is named Shuanglong Town.
The image of a dragon in intangible cultural heritage.
Dragon-shaped clay sculptures, dragon-shaped paper-cuts, and dragon-shaped face ......In order to welcome the New Year, the folk artists of the land of Sanqin integrate dragon elements into the intangible cultural heritage to express their love for life and good wishes for the future.
As early as 2006, Fengxiang clay sculpture was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list, which is a characteristic artwork with a strong northwest local flavor, and is deeply loved by people at home and abroad. On January 24, the reporter came to the clay sculpture workshop of Hu Xinming, a national intangible cultural heritage inheritor. Folk artists sit around the table and use their paintbrushes to draw patterns on the finished clay tires. When the pen strokes wander, the vivid "dragons" are produced. In the exhibition hall, there is an endless stream of tourists who come to visit, attracted by the various dragon-shaped clay sculptures in front of them, and do not forget to buy a few pieces when they leave.
The Fengxiang clay sculpture designed and produced by Hu Xinming and his son. Photo by trainee reporter Sun Yating.
Hu Jinwei is the son of Hu Xinming. After graduating from university, he returned to his hometown, hoping to carry forward the Fengxiang clay sculpture with his father. In order to welcome the Year of the Dragon, he began to design clay sculptures in May last year. Today, 3 large dragon clay sculptures and 14 small dragon clay sculptures are in mass production. At present, he has received more than 6,000 orders.
Compared with the second-generation clay dragon created by his father, the third-generation clay dragon pays more attention to proportional coordination, exquisite brushwork, and color while maintaining coarse plasticity, fine painting, and heavy color. Hu Jinwei said that a clay dragon needs to go through the process of turning, closing, washing, painting, varnish, etc., and it is made by hand, and the dragon is complex, and the painting is relatively slow, a master can only produce about 5 large pieces and 10 small pieces a day. At present, clay plastic products are in short supply.
Hu Jinwei also made clay sculptures in the shape of "Nine Dragons" based on documentary records and myths and legends. For example, the prison ox with horns, the jaws with knives and axes in their mouths, the mocking wind that squats and overlooks the distance, the fierce ...... that looks like a lion, and the fierce with a face like a tigerTheir images are as close as possible to the records of ancient books and people's cognition, and at the same time conform to the aesthetics of modern people, vivid and lovely.
In Fengxiang, in addition to clay sculptures, there is also a historical intangible cultural heritage - woodblock New Year paintings. Tai Weiwei, the representative inheritor of Fengxiang woodblock New Year paintings, specially designed the "Dragon and Phoenix Chengxiang" New Year paintings to welcome the New Year. The picture of the New Year's painting is delicate and concise, a long blue dragon dances in the clouds, and the dragon body holds up a beautiful fairy. Tai Weiwei said: "When designing this New Year painting, I referred to the popular image of the dragon in the Ming and Qing dynasties, plus the fairy with auspicious meaning, so that the New Year painting is as much in line with the aesthetics of modern people as possible. ”
Year of the Dragon paper-cutting. Wu Yanzuo.
In Suide County, Wu Yan, the "National Top Ten Divine Scissors", created a batch of paper-cuts for the Year of the Dragon. Each dragon in the work has a different meaning due to different decorations: the Fulu dragon is decorated with copper coins and gourds, the peace and wealth dragon has a vase, and the dragon has been decorated with goldfish and lotus ......flowers for many years
This year, we made hundreds of Year of the Dragon wall calendars according to the orders we received, and also made paper-cut patterns for many product packaging boxes according to customer needs. Wu Yan said.
Dragon culture in folklore.
On February 2, the traditional grass dragon display was held in Longjiang Street, Hantai District, Hanzhong City. Photo by reporter Shi Nian.
On the afternoon of February 2, the Longjiang Cultural Station in Hantai District, Hanzhong City was very lively. Accompanied by the sound of gongs and drums, 23 dragon dance teams took turns to appear. Subsequently, part of the team paraded through the streets, and some performed inside the station. The audience was enthusiastic and felt the strong atmosphere of the New Year.
Longjiang Street is located at the confluence of the Han River and the Bao River. Historically, the common people here often suffered from droughts and floods, so dragon worship and dragon dance became a local custom.
Yan Keyuan, honorary director of Longjiang Cultural Station, told reporters: "In the past, when there was a drought, Longjiang people would dance the dragon in the river shirtless to pray for rain; When the weather is flooded, people pour kerosene on the grass dragons by the river and set it on fire. ”
With the development of the times, today's Longjiang Dragon Dance shows more of the unity and cooperation of Longjiang people. Yan Keyuan introduced: "From the first day to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, there will be dragon dance performances in Longjiang, which can be described as gongs and drums in villages and dragons in every household. ”
The dragon dance props in Longjiang are abundant, and there are 12 varieties in 4 categories: grass dragon, color dragon, bench dragon, and Laos pole dragon, among which the most special is the grass dragon. It is complicated to make and takes 6 people to do it for 15 days to complete. The prop making skills of Longjiang Dragon Dance were included in the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list of Shaanxi Province.
In addition to the Longjiang Dragon Dance, Shaanxi also has Zhou Zhi Dragon Lantern.
The lantern "Blessing of the Dragon" in the Qixi Park in Kunming Chi (taken on February 5). Photo by trainee reporter Sun Yating.
Zhou Zhi Dragon Lantern originated in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties, and has a history of more than 1,000 years. Zhouzhi Dragon Lantern is more than 20 meters long. The nearly 20-minute dragon dance performance requires about 30 people, and the scene is quite spectacular. The gong and drum team attracts people's attention in front, followed by four pairs of row lanterns, dragon gates and dragon pillars, followed by chicken lanterns, fish lanterns, shrimp lanterns, cicada lanterns, flower drum lanterns, five-pointed star lanterns, etc.
Cai Yongan, director of the Zhouzhi County Cultural Center, introduced that at present, the dragon lantern of Wangpo Temple has the most extensive mass base, and the performance is very exciting, mainly including the dragon in spring, the Chinese dragon, the dragon turning over, the dragon hip column, the dragon tumbling, the dragon swinging tail, the dragon patrolling the four seas, the auspicious dragon Tengtian, etc.
People often say something related to dragons - "the dragon raises its head on the second day of February". On the second day of the second lunar month, there are many folk activities in Shaanxi. In order to pray for good weather in the year, some people will go to the dragon temple to hold a worship ceremony; Adults take children to get a haircut on this day, hoping that children can grow up healthily and get ahead; The food is also mostly named after the dragon, the noodles are called "dragon beard noodles", the wontons are called "dragon eyes", and the dumplings are called "dragon ears", ......
Pingli County has held five sessions of the "February 2nd Dragon Rises" farming folk culture and art activities. On the day of the event, in addition to the Double Dragon Team, Gong and Drum Team, Yangge Team, Waist Drum Team, etc., a grand dragon head festival sacrifice ceremony will be held; Longzuigou Village, Ganquan County, for hundreds of years, has followed the activity of "beating Longyan Spring" on the second day of the second lunar month, and during the activity, there are activities such as scattering ashes to ensure peace and Yangge "along the door" to send auspiciousness.
Dragon-related folk activities are rich in variety and form, entrusting people's yearning for a better life, their expectation of a bumper harvest, and the concept of endless and harmonious coexistence between man and nature. (Shi Nian Sun Yating).