Lantern Festival

Ⅹ-71Folk CustomsHangzhoushixiaoshan, ZhejiangBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Heshang Dragon Lantern Fair is current in the area of Heshang Town, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, and its origin can be traced back to the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

This is a large-scale folk performance activity held every year during the Lantern Festival, centered on Xitou Village in Heshang Town; it focuses mainly on board-dragon performances and also incorporates folk-art elements such as horse lanterns and high banners (gaozhao), lasting five full days. In the Heshang Dragon Lantern Fair, each bench represents one bridge-section of the dragon, signifying one male child — what the people call 'one bridge, one male' — symbolizing a flourishing population. The Heshang Dragon Lantern Fair includes a series of folk rituals such as the consecration ceremony, bringing out the lanterns, celebrating the Lantern Festival and dissolving the lanterns. The consecration ceremony is held on the fifth day of the first month. On that occasion, people first fetch consecrated holy water from the Three Rivers Mouth where the Qiantang, Fuchun and Puyang rivers join; then a highly respected elder dips a writing brush in the holy water and applies it to the eyeballs of the board dragon, consecrating the dragon. After the consecration, the brush is thrown to the onlooking crowd, and everyone rushes to grab it, because it signifies that their own child will succeed in their studies in the future. When the lanterns are brought out, the board dragon sets off from the ancestral hall to the sound of gongs and drums; the high banner walks at the front of the procession, the 'precious horse' (baoma) follows closely behind, and the dragon pearl turns in the wind, leading the way ahead of the dragon head. The high banner is 13 meters tall, painted with the eight trigrams; the 'precious horse' is a large bamboo horse made in folk style, pushed or pulled forward by hand, which the people call the 'precious horse'. The board dragon goes to the General Rock Temple to worship Old Lady General Rock; along the way every household sets out incense tables, offers sacrifices and sets off firecrackers to welcome the divine dragon. The dragon head generally nods three times to the households that have set out incense tables, expressing the Dragon King's bestowal of blessings in return. On the evening of the final day, when the dragon lanterns are danced, the board dragon must coil around the pillars in the ancestral hall, and on the playground of Xitou Village various formation performances are also held, such as 'drawing the heart out of the ingot' and 'wood-splinter fastening'. The most exciting of all is the 'twisting of the dragon oar', in which the performers exert all their strength to move the dragon body until the dragon sections are danced apart. The final part of the activity is the dragon-dissolving ceremony held in the river, also called dissolving the lanterns: people set fire to the dragon head and dragon sections, signifying sending the Dragon King up to heaven. The first type is the folk artists responsible for making the lantern art, chiefly the dragon head and flower lanterns; the second is the organizers of the Heshang Dragon Lantern Fair, locally called the 'tounao' (heads), who are responsible for preparing and organizing the lantern fair. It embodies the aesthetic concepts of the Jiangnan region, displays the essence of Xiaoshan folk handicrafts, and is an outstanding representative of Xiaoshan folk culture; it has positive significance for carrying forward local traditional culture and building a harmonious society.

The eye-opening ceremony

Water from the meeting of three rivers is used to open the dragon's eyes with a brush thrown to the crowd.

Setting out the dragon

The dragon leaves the ancestral hall behind a tall lantern, the tall horse and the whirling pearl.

Paying respects at the temple

At the temple the dragon bows three times at each household altar set up to welcome it.

Circling pillars and formations

The dragon circles the pillars in the hall and performs named formations in the square.

Twisting the dragon to bursting

The dancers drive the dragon until it comes apart, the measure of their skill.

Burning the dragon at the water

The dragon is burnt in the river to send the dragon king back to heaven.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Heshang Dragon Lantern Fair takes Xitou Village as its axis, with the stages of bringing out the lanterns and celebrating the Lantern Festival spread along a line running through Xitou, the General Rock Temple and the town's ancestral halls; when the lantern procession reaches a household's door, that household sets out a table, burns incense, offers sacrifices and sets off firecrackers, and the dragon head nods three times in reply to the households that have set out tables. The formula of one bench equaling one bridge and one male makes villages with more males have long dragon bodies and plenty of helpers, while villages with fewer males also follow on with small bridges, so the whole town is joined into a single long dragon.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The inheritors of the Heshang Dragon Lantern Fair fall into two types, reflecting the division of labor and cooperation in large-scale folk activities. The Heshang Dragon Lantern Fair is a concentrated reflection of the folk art and cultural life of the people of the Jiangnan region, and has important artistic and aesthetic value. Fu Yemao (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in December 1937, a native of Xiaoshan County, Zhejiang Province. He excels in the technique of chiseling flowers, which can be called a unique skill. After retiring, as an out-of-school counselor he took the initiative to teach primary and secondary school students the techniques of making the old dragon head, dragon body and dragon tail, and widely took disciples. He is a representative inheritor of the Lantern Festival (Heshang Dragon Lantern Fair) project of national-level intangible cultural heritage, in the fifth batch.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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