Lantern Dance (Dongzhi Lantern Dance)

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Lantern Dance (Dongzhi Lantern Dance)

Applicant: Dongzhi County, Anhui Province

Project No.: 642

Project No.: Ⅲ - 45

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Anhui Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Dongzhi County, Anhui Province

Protection unit: Dongzhi County Cultural Center

Brief introduction of Lantern Dance (Dongzhi Lantern Dance)

Applicant: Dongzhi County, Anhui Province

Lamp dance has existed since ancient times. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a record of "lamp dance" with lamp as props. During the new year's Festival (especially the Lantern Festival) or the rituals of praying for rain, offering sacrifices and begging for a good harvest, the palace and the folk often perform lantern dance. At first, the lantern dance was characterized by the placement of characters, and then gradually developed into a folk dance style with the arrangement of colored lights to construct patterns and create artistic conception, which spread all over the country. According to the shape of lantern, lantern dance mainly includes dragon lantern dance, lion lantern dance, fish lantern dance, clam lantern dance, butterfly lantern dance, hundred bird lantern dance, lotus lantern dance, chrysanthemum lantern dance, wax lantern dance, boat lantern dance, lantern dance, cloud lantern dance, Hydrangea lantern dance and other forms of lantern dance. There are many forms of lantern dance, usually performed in group dance at night. As the actors walk and dance, the formation is constantly changing, and fireworks are also set off during the dance, making the scene spectacular. This kind of folk dance style mostly appears in the Han area, but also popular in some minority areas.

Dongzhi lantern dance is a wonderful folk dance in the mountainous area of Southern Anhui Province. It has a history of more than 300 years. It is mainly spread among more than 20 families in Zhangxi, Yanghu, Guangang, Muta and other towns of Dongzhi County, Anhui Province. The performance of Dongzhi Lantern Dance takes the family as the unit. It usually starts on the second day of the first month and ends on the fifteenth day of the first month. The longest performance does not stop until the second day of the second month.

Dongzhi lantern is composed of more than ten kinds of lanterns with different shapes, such as "six animal lantern", "Mopan lantern", "Eight Immortals crossing the sea lantern", "five rampant peace lantern", "dragon lantern", "lion lantern", "clam shell lantern" and "dry boat lantern". Among them, "six animal lantern" is also known as "six animal peace lantern", and the six animals are unicorn, lion, unicorn, elephant, deer and deer.

Dongzhi lantern shows have different forms, but they all have rich cultural connotations, including folk dance, folk music, folk crafts, folk art and primitive religious belief. Folk artists used local bamboo, rattan, metal and other materials to make colorful lanterns, which later evolved into dragon dance, lantern playing and other forms of folk entertainment.

Dongzhi lantern dance is an important folk activity in rural areas of Anhui Province. It gathers a variety of folk arts, such as arts and crafts, drama, music, martial arts and so on, which are native or imported from other places. It maintains the primitive style of simplicity and ruggedness. Its performance integrates colorful lanterns, singing Wennan Ci, Huangmei Opera and beating ten gongs and drums. It accumulates a lot of historical information and has rich cultural connotation.

At present, Dongzhi lantern dance only relies on oral and personal education. With the death of the old artists, some of the original exquisite performing skills have been lost. In addition, the young people do not know enough about the value of this folk art, and there is no successor to the Dongzhi lantern dance, which is in urgent need of rescue and protection.

Chinese PinYin : Deng Wu Dong Zhi Hua Deng Wu