Paint paint, carry bells, and stand on tipto......eOn the 24th, at the scene of the Lantern Festival fire performance in Xin'an County, the drum beat sounded, and the 9-year-old "Running Horse Baby" Li Xinshuo followed the "Nine Lotus Lantern" lantern dance team to enter. The sound of gongs and drums shook the sky, and in the night, the actors held the "Nine Lotus Lanterns", constantly changing the formation, the lotus lanterns flew up and down, and the bright wicks gathered and scattered, forming various patterns and words symbolizing the peace of the country and the people. Slipping lights, throwing lights, pairing lights, winding lights, and turning lights, the actors shuttled like dragons, interpreting the "Nine Lotus Lanterns" that have been inherited for thousands of years, and won applause from the scene.
Our 'Nine Lotus Lantern' is a provincial intangible cultural heritage, which originated in the late Sui and early Tang dynasties, and has been passed down from generation to generation for more than 200 years since it was introduced to the village during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty. Wang Shengli, head of the "Nine Lotus Lantern" performance team in Liuling Village, Tiemen Town, Xin'an County, introduced that the preparation of the Spring Festival fire performance every year is a major event in the village, from the production of lanterns to live performances, almost every household has to contribute, and there are hundreds of people participating in the performance.
In the huge performance team, there are a total of 8 "horse running babies" like Li Xinshuo, who are aged from 9 to 11 years old, playing the roles of Qin Qiong, Luo Cheng, Wei Chigong, Cheng Yanjin and other roles respectively. Compared with other actors, the outfit of "Running Horse Baby" is the heaviest in the audience, and the props "fake horses" on their bodies are not light, and they also have to carry more than a dozen pounds of copper bells on their backs, in order to run with a bell ringing, which is good to listen to and look at. For a performance, the children have to run for half an hour, and in order to simulate the running posture of a horse, they must stand on tiptoe and move quickly with small steps, while grabbing the horse's mane and shaking the horse's head in a majestic manner.
For this performance, Li Xinshuo and his friends have been rehearsing for more than half a month. "I started practicing at 8 a.m. every day, except for lunch at noon, until 6 p.m. 55-year-old Wang Baohong is the "coach" of the children, and more than 40 years ago, he was also a member of the "Running Horse Baby". Now, he uses the training methods of the older generation to train a new generation of ** people for the "Nine Lotus Lantern".
Today's children have never suffered hardship, how can they not retreat when they encounter such training? But the 'Nine Lotus Lantern' is the pride of the whole village, and the family encourages them to persevere. Wang Baohong said that in recent years, traditional culture has been paid more and more attention, and the intangible cultural heritage in the village is no longer regarded as "old antiques".
The candlelight in the lantern reflected the face of the "Running Horse Baby". In the soundtrack team, Wang Baisui, a "drum master" in his 80s, watched the children's smart performances, and the more they beat it, the more energetic they became. He has participated in the performance of the "Nine Lotus Lantern" for more than 60 years, witnessing the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage skills from generation to generation, and now it is shining with more dazzling brilliance in the new era.
In a few years, when we grow up, we can't 'run horses', so we will learn to dance with grandpa and uncles! At the end of the performance, they took off their costumes, and the children's faces and heads exuded heat, and they agreed that no matter how far they went in the future, they would come back to dance the "Nine Lotus Lantern" during the Spring Festival.
Luo Daily Financial Media Reporter Wisdom Correspondent Gao Yue Hao Yan.