Binyangpaolong Festival
01 · Historical Records
The Binyang Firecracker Dragon Festival originated in the Song and Yuan eras, matured in the late Qing and early Republican period, and has a long history stretching back more than a thousand years.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Firecracker Dragon Festival is a comprehensive series of folk celebration activities blending the cultural characteristics of the Han and Zhuang peoples, practiced in Binyang County, Nanning City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. According to legend, during the Huangyou era of Emperor Renzong of the Song dynasty, Di Qing led a large army to Guangxi to campaign against Nong Zhigao, but repeatedly failed to take Kunlun Pass in Binyang. It happened to be the Lantern Festival. Di Qing ordered his soldiers to shape straw into dragon forms and to burn bamboo; amid the crackling explosions of the burning bamboo, like the sound of firecrackers, they danced with the dragons and made a great commotion at the Lantern Festival, so as to lull the enemy. Nong Zhigao indeed relaxed his guard and was finally defeated by Di Qing. The local people accordingly concluded that dancing the firecracker dragon brings good fortune and luck, and every year from the tenth to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month they danced the dragon. Later this became fixed custom, the dragon dance settled on the eleventh day of the first month, and the distinctive Firecracker Dragon Festival gradually took shape. The Binyang Firecracker Dragon Festival consists of three parts -- the parade of decorated floats, the lantern gathering, and the firecracker dragon dance -- each with its own character. The parade of decorated floats is also called the float procession. The procession is made up of colored float platforms, dragon-dance troupes, and lion-dance troupes, stretching half a li or even more than a li in length. On the float platforms in the middle of the procession stand several children, each seated or posed on specially made small props such as fingers, umbrellas, fans, swords, bows, and sabers, dressed as figures in particular scenes, their spirits fully apparent and their charm quite natural. The lantern gathering, commonly called the Lantern-and-Wine Gathering, includes activities such as the village feast and the fetching of lanterns. The village feast is organized by village and street as units; the parent of a household that had a baby boy in the previous year serves as the 'headman' and collects the 'new-son levy', and each household sends one man to the ancestral hall or village shrine to discuss the year's agricultural production questions, hear the village rules and popular covenants, and then dine together. The fetching of lanterns carries the meaning of 'praying for offspring and receiving a son'. On the day of the lantern gathering, the headman leads a 'flower-carrying father-in-law' -- a man with three sons and two daughters -- and a 'flower-carrying mother-in-law' skilled at mountain songs, who set out together with the company from the village shrine or ancestral hall to deliver 'lotus lanterns' to the households fetching lanterns. The firecracker dragon dance is the climax of the whole festival. At exactly seven o'clock on the evening of the eleventh day of the first month, the dragon is consecrated at a temple or a place representing the state and the harvest; led by the dragon pearl, the dragon placard (dragon lantern), gongs and drums, and the civil and martial musical sections, the grand and fiery firecracker dragon dance is performed; when the dance reaches the designated spots at the head of the village and the end of the street, the traditional ceremony of sending the dragon off to heaven is held under the lead of the festival head. The Binyang Firecracker Dragon Festival is an important component of Chinese dragon culture. It satisfies the people's psychological need to avert disaster and pray for blessings and creates a peaceful festive atmosphere, and it has thus become an object of study in folklore studies, cultural studies, and other disciplines, as well as a useful reference for the movement to build a harmonious society. As the process of modernization accelerates, the impact of foreign cultures on traditional Chinese culture grows ever more severe, and the Binyang Firecracker Dragon Festival inevitably suffers some influence. Under these circumstances, the Binyang Firecracker Dragon Festival is gradually developing into a grand celebration in which the cultures of multiple ethnic groups blend.
The village drinking meeting and the levy
Before the lantern feast, families with a new-born son head the meeting and levy dues, then every household sends a man to discuss the year's farming and hear the village rules.
Fetching the lotus lantern
Fetching a lotus lantern is a plea for children; the head man leads the designated godfather and godmother from the temple to deliver it to the family that asked.
The decorated-frame procession
A half-mile-long procession of colour frames, dragon teams and lion teams carries children posed on giant props shaped as fingers, umbrellas, blades and bows.
Blessing of the dragon and its ascent
At seven in the evening the dragon is blessed at the temple, led out by the pearl and the dragon banner, and after dancing to the appointed spot ends with the ascent rite.
The straw dragon of Kunlun Pass
Legend credits Di Qing with a straw dragon and burning bamboo at Kunlun Pass to defeat Nong Zhigao, a victory that fixed the dragon dance to the eleventh day of the first month.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Binyang is the central place of transmission for the Firecracker Dragon Festival. The dragon dance is fixed for the evening of the eleventh day of the first month, held at temples or places representing the state and harvest, and the village shrines divide the work of the float parade, the lantern gathering, and the firecracker dragon dance among the settlements, with the designated destinations at the head of the village and the end of the street being circled out by negotiation among the settlements. The Lantern-and-Wine Gathering and the village feast are mostly held by village and street as units: households that had a baby boy in the previous year serve as headmen and collect the new-son levy; all the men of the settlement go to the ancestral hall to deliberate, hear the rules, and dine together; and the fetching of lanterns is performed by the headman bringing the flower-carrying father-in-law and the mountain-song-skilled flower-carrying mother-in-law to deliver lotus lanterns on behalf of households praying for offspring. The organizational backbone of the festival is thus in fact a village-shrine headmanship that rotates once a year.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In recent years the Firecracker Dragon Festival activities have been restored, the number of 'firecracker dragons' has increased, and participants have grown ever more numerous, including tourists from counties and cities around Binyang as well as from home and abroad.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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