The Chinese Dragon Dance is an extremely colorful and spectacular event that is traditionally performed at Chinese festivals around the word today. This article looks briefly at how it originated and evolved into the spectacular performances we see today.
A divine beast
In ancient Chinese culture the dragon was revered and venerated as a divine beast. It was regarded as auspicious creature that brought good luck and enhanced the well being of people. It became the symbol of honesty and decorum and was thought to control the waters of the earth especially rivers and the rainfall.
Chinese New Year celebrations
The Dragon Dance spectacularly expresses the vibrancy and energy associated with the dragon by the Chinese people. This has become a popular celebration around the world where ever enclaves of Chinese people are found and is performed from the Spring Festival until the Lantern Festival and is the centre point of the Chinese New Year celebrations.
The Dragon Dance is also known as the ‘Dance of dragon lantern’ or as ‘Playing dragon lantern’. Traditional dragons are constructed from bamboo, cloth and grasses and other materials found locally. The dragon dance is a much-loved folk dance performed during the Spring Festival and the Festival of Lanterns.
Origins of the Dragon Dance
The Dragon Dance is generally believed to have originated in the time of the Han Dynasty (180-230 AD). At the time, and still today, the Chinese people were very much an agrarian society depending for survival on their farming and agriculture for their daily needs.
Performing the Dragon Dance was a means of appeasing the dragon so that rain would fall in the right amounts for a good harvest and there would not be too much hot weather which brings drought, hunger and disease. During the Song dynasty it had become more of a folk dance that was performed during the major festivals.
The dance is performed by a team of dancers who move in a flowing way in imitation of way the dragon causes a river to move. The performers need to be very fit and move in a very coordinated way. They need to time their movements perfectly as a mistake by one dancer can have a domino effect on the other dancers ruining the performance.
The Dragon Dance today
The Dragon Dance celebrates the old year’s ending and welcomes in the New Year bringing the people good luck and blessings and banishing evil spirits.
Today it is performed all around the world where ever Chinese immigrants have settled and is a spectacular highlight to their celebrations and also enjoyed by millions of other people who are not of Chinese origin.
© 04/12/2012 zteve t evans
References and Attributions
This article was originally published on Triond titled The Chinese Dragon Dance on Dec 4, 2012 by zteve t evans – Copyright December 4, 2012, zteve t evans
Under the influence! 