Plate Dragon Dance
As a traditional Chinese village with a history of more than 600 years, Bei Village, Fuling Town, Jixi County, has a patchwork of ancient buildings and rich folk skills. The Banlong Dance is a traditional Spring Festival custom that has been followed for hundreds of years in Beicun and is included in the representative list of intangible cultural heritage.
On the evening of the third day of the Chinese New Year, there was light snow in the sky, and there was a lively scene in the Cheng Clan Ancestral Hall in the North Village. Every third day of the first lunar month, the North Village will hold a dance board dragon ceremony, the village's 36-year-old male Ding is responsible for dancing a dragon body, this year's dragon body has 15 segments, each dragon body is pasted with red paper, meaning that the next year is red.
At five o'clock, the plate dragon dance performance officially began, the gong and drum team went first, 2 people were responsible for dancing the dragon tail, 8 people were responsible for the dragon head dance, and the dragon body sections were separated from the dragon head dragon tail, according to the dragon body first out, then the dragon tail, and finally the dragon head was carried away from the ancestral hall. At the beginning of the streets and alleys, the sound of firecrackers is cheered, the dragon head, dragon body, dragon tail are spliced and red candles are lit inside, and a mighty plate dragon is awe-inspiring and vivid, attracting villagers and tourists to praise and stop to take pictures. The dragon dance team walked the streets and visited households, gave new year greetings to every household, sent blessings to the road, and paraded the dragon lanterns, sometimes jumping, sometimes circling, sometimes flipping, showing everyone the image of the united and vigorous North Village. The Spring Festival in the quiet mountain village also emits a strong New Year flavor because of this dragon dance.
Behind the strong new year's flavor, there is a deep cultural connotation, but also the people's respect for history and culture, the pursuit and yearning for a better life. Next, Fuling Town will continue to deeply rooted in the traditional fertile soil, continue the cultural roots, and let the cultural self-confidence in Fuling root deep and leafy! (Text/Chen Yuan Photo/Xu Yi for Wang Zaiyi)
![He once avenged his father, washed the enemy with blood, and later became a generation of tyrants, and almost became an emperor[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)