Festivals

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The Origins of the Chinese Dragon Dance

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.

Chinese dragon in a dragon-dance – CC0

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

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Festivals: The tradition of eating zongzi at the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival, or more correctly the Duanwu Festival, as well as being identified with dragon boat racing, is also strongly associated with other traditional Chinese customs and practices. Probably the most widespread and participated in is preparing and eating a customary rice dish called zongzi. It should be noted there are various ways to spell this and may vary with region.

The Legend of Qu Yuan

Qu Yuan – Painting by Chen Hongshou – Public Domain

The tradition of making and eating zongzi is strongly associated with the death of the great and much loved poet and patriot Qu Yuan. His suicide by drowning in a river was seen as a selfless act of patriotism by the people who loved him and who paid tribute to him by throwing rice balls into the river for his soul to eat. According to legend, his soul materialized before fishermen and began wailing that he was starving because the dragon in the river was eating the rice they threw to him. He told them to wrap the rice balls with lily leaves and asked them to seal it by tying it with silk thread. Eventually zongzi became wrapped in bamboo, or other kinds of leaves depending on region and availability.

Traditional Zongzi

Zongzi is a glutinous, or sticky, rice dumpling, with a filling. It is traditionally wrapped in bamboo leaves, though other leaves may be used depending on availability and region of China. The rice is usually formed around the filling into pyramid shapes, though cylinder and cone shapes can be used.  The leaves are then wrapped around the shape and tied with string with a unique knot used to identify the type of filling. There are many different fillings such as pickled egg, peanuts beans, yam, melon seeds, dates, fruits, walnuts, or yam. The leaves can be palm, banana, wild rice, or bamboo.

Yellow Zongzi by Benjwong – Public Domain

Different regions have their own speciality zongzi. In Beijing the filling is sweet and made from a bean paste. In Guangdong there are two favourites. One has a sweet filling of date, walnut, or bean filling and the other is salty with meats such as chicken, ham duck and eggs, mushrooms, or chestnuts.  An increasing number of shops and stalls sell zongzi on festival days and its popularity grows. Mostly in China the of making zongzi for eating and the giving as a gift is still practiced widely and often regarded as a family activity.

Zongzi Worldwide

Along with the Dragon Boat Festival, the popularity of eating zongzi is now growing around the world with Dragon Boat Festivals being held regularly in South East Asia and many western countries including the UK, USA, Canada, and Europe. Undoubtedly, each country will add something to the tradition and bring new flavours to the dish to be enjoyed.

References and attributions

Copyright July 31, 2009 zteve t evans