Cover news reporter Huang Xiaoqing
"On the first day of the first lunar month, the cow lantern came to greet him. First to his family is a hero, and then to your family to wish you a prosperous business. "Chu Yi playing with the lamp is a true qualification, today came to the Great Young Master, since I took over the cow lamp, all good things are determined to be obtained."
Among the many New Year folk customs, founded in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, it originated from the Yuexi Cow Lantern Dance under the Liangmu Mountain in Yuexi Town, Weiyuan County, Neijiang, Sichuan, which is a kind of original ecological folk dance with unique local characteristics, with a strong local atmosphere of Bashu. From the first day of the first lunar month to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the bull dancers usually walk the streets and alleys, and imitate the movements of the cows to make the New Year under the rhythm of the gong and drum soundtrack.
Performance photos (infographic)
Spring Festival folk customs Walk the streets and alleys to dance cow lanterns "four words and eight sentences" to send blessings
Before the Spring Festival, the reporter came to the Cow Lantern Folk Customs Exhibition Hall located in Jixiang Village, Yuexi Town, Weiyuan County, which displayed performance props, pictures, etc., and the bull head props locked in the door display cabinet were said to have a history of hundreds of years. This is also the home of Wu Shuanglin, the inheritor of provincial intangible cultural heritage. "My father-in-law recently took a batch of props out to practice, otherwise there would be more." Wu Shuanglin's son-in-law, Cao Genjing, a county-level non-hereditary heir, said.
The cow lantern dance takes grazing and farming as the theme, imitates the various movements of cattle to be refined, and is crowned with singing mountain songs, playing flute, playing chess, saying good words, ploughing land, persuading, playing cattle, cow fighting, grazing, rolling baths and other actions, with different styles of gong and drum percussion made by themselves, showing the wisdom, funnyness and thickness of cattle with vivid and lively movements.
Cao Genjing said that the cow lantern dance is a form of folk culture that is suitable for the whole year, and each festival performance represents a different meaning. Since the 1980s, during the Spring Festival, some people have been dressed in bull's head and cow clothes, walking the streets and alleys to celebrate the New Year. Go to different masters' homes and perform different actions, such as bullfighting, which means that the bull is soaring, and the cow rolling means that the source of wealth is rolling.
Bull dancers also speak different auspicious words, called "four words and eight sentences". When greeting the merchants, he said: "It is a good thing that the door of wealth is opened, and it is a good thing to greet the cow lamp to make a fortune." Greetings to the audience: "I say hello to everyone and wish everyone a big money in the New Year." ”
Inheriting intangible cultural heritage, increasing the form of performance, and appearing on the stage of major events
Cao Genjing studied under his father-in-law and began to study from the age of six or seven. At that time, the neighbors and friends all went to learn, and he was also a follower at the beginning, and now, only two or three of his students are still insisting on performing. When I was a child, I started from the basic skills, and I had to try juggling and playing musical instruments. After getting a little older, learn morning glory, cow dancing, and singing mountain songs.
With the improvement of people's cultural needs, the performance form of the cow lantern dance is also constantly optimized, and on the basis of the single cow performance, the double cow performance, the herd cow performance, the cow lamp and the lion lamp joint performance and other forms have been added. From the fields and streets, it has been on the performance stage of major art festivals and cultural activities, and has also won the highest honor award of the first "Chinese Farmers' Art Festival" - "Essence Award".
2021 coincided with the Year of the Ox, and the team was invited to perform in Luodai Ancient Town for 5 days during the Spring Festival, which was very popular with tourists.
"A lot of times we're not for money, it's more about cultural heritage." Cao Genjing said that the team originally had more than 40 people, but there were only a few people on the fixed basis, everyone did not make a living from this, most of them were migrant workers, and when there was an activity, please come back to rehearse the performance.
For each performance, the team also creates or modifies the script according to the organizer's publicity theme, or reflects spring ploughing, or shows a good harvest, and the performance form will be adjusted accordingly. In 2021, several invitations to the event Cao Genjing were rejected, mainly worried that after the rehearsal, the event would be temporarily cancelled due to the epidemic and wasted efforts.
Similarly, worried that crowd gathering is not conducive to epidemic prevention and control, Cao Genjing did not organize a team to perform in the town during the Spring Festival in 2022. Only small performances are held in the exhibition hall, and live online, continuing the tradition.
For the future of the cow lantern dance, the team also has a clear development idea. Actively apply for national intangible cultural heritage, strengthen talent training, and go out to improve the popularity of the cow lantern dance.
The party committee and government of Yuexi Town also plan to develop rural tourism while giving full play to the artistic charm of the cow lantern dance and realizing the integration of culture and tourism.