Cattle are good companions for human beings and good helpers for human farming, so there are many places in Lingnan that retain the custom of dancing spring cattle, and most of them have disappeared now. 2021 is the Year of the Zodiac Ox, 2022 is the Year of the Tiger of the Zodiac, Lichun is also during the Spring Festival, in the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger, the Baoding Mountain Scenic Area located in Guangning County, Zhaoqing City, launched a spring cattle dance activity, which means to thank the cattle for their help to the farmers in the past year, and pray for the new year to be a bumper harvest year with smooth wind and rain.
"Spring breeze, spring water flowing in the spring river." Spring people drink spring wine, and spring officials dance spring cows. "This popular folk song in Lingnan sings the grand situation of the Spring Dance Spring Cow. In the past, every year on the spring day, many counties (districts) in Guangdong would stage the traditional dance of spring cattle and whip spring cattle.
In the old days, it was officially hosted, mainly spring ploughing and spring sowing ceremonies, and spring cattle were bound to dance at this time. The county government held this event, which means that spring ploughing begins. Over time, this folk activity evolved into a spring cow dance, and whenever the harvest year came, the villagers danced with the cows and hoped that there would be a good harvest in the spring.
On January 29, in the small square of Baoding Mountain Scenic Area, the spring cow came out of the pen, 2 spring cows were black and yellow, similar in appearance to lions, and the head was exactly the same as that of the buffalo, with 2 horns on the head, 2 bull's eyes were shining, and the big mouth represented eating and drinking. With the sound of gongs and drums, 4 local men began to dance the spring cow, the bull head of the dance drilled into the head of the cow, and the dancer of the bull tail sloped the body of the cow on his body and began to dance.
The sound of gongs and drums sounds, the spring cow appears, the spring cow song sounds, and the cow dancers perform the actions of driving the cow, ploughing the field, raking the ground, and the buffalo rolling and bathing in turn, which is very realistic. The cattle driver Abel thanked the cattle for their hard work, splashed water to cool down the "spring cattle", and the people and cattle family, living in harmony, were interesting, and amused the onlookers.
At this time, the two cows met and actually started a "fight". Two cows fight each other in all four corners, with their two heads facing each other, and pedaling backwards with their heels, using all their strength and not giving in to each other. After a fight, the 2 cows began to chase. After a fight, 2 cows turned enemies into friends. The villagers who play the role of "spring cows" pray for a year of abundant grain and good times with primitive and rough actions such as soaring, lifting down, rolling the ground, ploughing the fields, and fighting.
Throughout the performance, there are lyrics to help. The atmosphere was warm. Several village women sang: "Holding golden flowers in their hands, uncle ploughing the field is not on the line, dingding garden plough is tightly rotating, and the middle of the road is not open." The arbor next to him immediately took over the conversation and replied amusedly: "The gong and drum are playing to make a fuss, and the old sister is also good at speaking." It is you who do not know my intentions and set aside the middle to make a fish pond. Dressed as a cowherd, he touched the cow while singing: "Touch the head of the cow and touch the ear of the cow, the farm's cultivation depends on you; touch the head of the cow and touch the cow's eye, and the potato and millet grain production increases; touch the head of the cow and touch the tail of the cow, and the cultivator follows step by step; touch the head of the cow and touch the body of the cow, the wind and rain are smooth and good; the cow is a farmer's treasure, the farmer loves the cow and loves the cow; rely on each other to work diligently, and walk together towards the golden light road." ”
After a period of gong and drum, Niu Lang and other actors continued to sing, and the lyrics were mostly seven words, catchy, flat and elegant, and the tune was deep and lingering. Due to the long-term folk singing, a unique tune has been formed, called "Spring Cow Tune". Through art forms such as singing, dancing cattle, and marching, a spring cow dance expresses people's love for cattle and their expectations for spring farming. In the joyful tune, it also evokes the memories of tourists' childhood.
After the dance of the spring cow, when it comes to the part of whipping the spring cow, the tourists take bamboo whips to beat the spring cow, which means to beat off laziness and make people become diligent. While playing "Spring Cow", he said: a dozen "wind and rain are smooth"; Two dozen "Guotai Min'an"; Three dozen auspicious words such as "five grains and abundant" and so on.
As an ancient local folk art, cow dancing is popular throughout Guangdong, especially in the places where Hakka people live, also known as "noisy spring cow" and "singing spring cow", which originated during the Tang and Song dynasties and has been passed down for thousands of years. Every year after the Lunar New Year to before the spring ploughing, the vast rural areas of Lingnan will stage a spring cow dance, the performance of the action includes riding cattle, teasing cattle, ploughing the field, rake field, etc., the lyric content is based on the twenty-four solar terms and related agricultural activities, the music is mainly percussion, as well as the accompaniment of the whistle and flute.
According to local legends, in ancient times, there were no cattle in the world, and farmers relied on human hands to pull plows to cultivate the land. The gods sympathized with the people's feelings and let the fairy cattle go down to the mortal world, and since then the human world has used cattle instead of manpower to plough the fields. Most of the Hakka people live in the mountains, and the villagers cultivate deep in the mountains with cattle as the main labor tools, and they can be said to have special feelings for cattle and regard cattle as mascots. As a result, a unique belief in the cow god and the folk activity of dancing spring cows have emerged. In order to thank the cattle for their help, people hold a cow singing and praising cattle activity every year in Lichun, which expresses the scene of abundant grains and peace and health in the countryside, and also conveys the joy of people looking forward to a bumper harvest.
"Dancing Spring Year", which does not require a stage, set, and drama screen, and is face-to-face with the audience, back-to-back, easy to understand, suitable for all ages, and is deeply loved by the local people. In the 1950s, it entered the heyday of development, and the grandeur was unprecedented. With the development of industrialization and modernization, as well as the changes of the times and the diversification of cultural life, after the 1990s, the "Dancing Spring Cow" has ceased to be beautiful, and now it is almost gone, on the verge of being lost.