Legend has it that during the Ming Dynasty Yongle (1403-1424), a plague occurred in the old Elephant Horn (including the area around the Sacred Lion Village, Xiangjiao Village and Dongsheng Town in Shaxi Town, Zhongshan City), and the villagers were overwhelmed by it, so they asked Hong Shenggong in the Hongsheng Temple (commonly known as the Dawang Temple, the temple site is in the present-day Sacred Lion Village), and the Hongsheng public noticed that the dragon dance could drive away the epidemic.
Holy Lion Village Hong Temple
Therefore, the village sent several villagers to Foshan to invite a giant golden dragon, which was covered with copper scales and iron dragon heads, and asked 8 people to carry it and dance, mainly in the area of "boat pit" (local name). On the day of the dragon dance, it happens to be the eighth bath buddha festival in the first month of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, and every household in the village sets off firecrackers to greet it (called "washing the street"). It may be that the sulfur smell emitted by the firecrackers has the effect of sterilization and disinfection, the plague is gradually expelled, and the villagers infected with the plague are slowly restored to health.
The Golden Dragon and Silver Dragon are one of the protagonists of the "April 8th" tour
The dragon invited from Foshan danced in the area of the boat pit for a year, prepared for hard work, and automatically resigned. In order to completely drive away the plague, the villagers decided to continue the dragon dance, so they raised funds to buy a golden dragon in Foshan. When they saw a lifelike faucet in a Zazuo shop, they wanted to buy it, but who knew that the master of Zazuo would not sell it, saying that the faucet had already been ordered. The villagers drove away the plague and offered to buy the dragon head at a high price, and let Master Zazuo tie another dragon head for the person who booked it. The master said, "No, that was booked to his villagers by king HongSheng of Xiangshan." When the villagers heard this, they thought to themselves, "Isn't the Hongsheng King of Xiangshan the Hongsheng King enshrined in our Great King Temple?" After they explained the original situation to Master Zazuo, Master Zazuo finally agreed to sell the dragon head, and a huge golden dragon was finally bought back to the village.
Qing Daoguang's "Xiangshan County Chronicle" Volume II Customs record of "April 8"
After the golden dragon was bought back, after consultation among the villagers, it was decided to choose the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar as the auspicious day of the dragon dance. They mobilized all the strong men in the village to dance the dragon, and the dragon danced along the streets of the old elephant horn, which was very lively. After a while, the villagers of The Old Elephant Horn bought back a silver dragon from Foshan. The golden dragon and silver dragon danced together, forming a wonderful scene of "double dragons in the sea". Since then, every year on the eighth day of April, the Old Elephant Horn will hold a dragon dance parade.
Guangxu Thirty-three Years (1907) "Current Affairs Pictorial" reported that "April Eight Food Tobacco Cake"
The custom of eating luan cakes on the eighth of April is also related to the eradication of epidemics. Luan Xi, also written luan, silan. The "Xiangshan County Chronicle and Daoguang Zhi" says: "Luan Shu Shu, from birth, the tall one is seven or eight feet, the taste is sweet and warm, the phlegm is soft and firm, the fistula begins, and the food is consumed." In April, the Yi people and powder used as bait. (The Xiangshan County Chronicle and Tongzhi Zhi records the same as this) "Bait" is a cake." In April, Yi ren and powder as bait refer to "April 8" to make luan cakes.
A wall painting of Luan's cake in the Village of the Holy Lion
Legend has it that at the end of the Qing Dynasty, a great plague occurred in the Longdu area, and many villagers fell ill. The Dragon King sent green snakes to send luan trees to the people to get rid of the disease. The villagers did not know the mystery, and even cut the green snake sent to Luan into three pieces and threw it back into the sea. The Dragon King took pity on him and let the green snake turn into a dragon. After the villagers knew the inside story, they used luan to mash it and mix it with rice flour to make a cake, and the patient ate the luan cake and gradually recovered from the disease. They also carved the dragon head, dragon body, and dragon tail out of wood to form a dragon to be enshrined in the Temple of the Great King, and then every year on "April 8th", they were invited to come out to bathe and worship, and then "turned the dragon head" (that is, the dancing chai dragon).
Every household in the village set off firecrackers to greet the parade, calling it "washing the street"
As a traditional folk custom initiated by the villagers to get rid of the plague, the "April 8" parade is a kind of willpower reflection of the ancestors in the struggle against the natural world, but in fact has a strong "practical" function: the large amount of sulfur emitted by the firecrackers set off by every household on the parade has a sterilization effect; and the large-scale folk art parade has a strong physical effect for the participants. Therefore, even during the SARS epidemic in 2003, many large-scale gatherings in the society were cancelled, but the "April 8" parade in The Sacred Lion Village was still carried out on time.
Source:
"Shaxi Folk Art" Edited by the People's Government of Shaxi Town, Zhongshan City
"Shaxi Diet and Shaxi Herbal Tea" edited by the People's Government of Shaxi Town, Zhongshan City
"Intangible Cultural Heritage of Zhongshan City" edited by Zheng Jisi
"Guangdong on the Pictorial of the Late Qing Dynasty and the Beginning of the People's Republic", edited by Guangdong Provincial Zhongshan Library