Spring Buffalo Dance

30.Spring Buffalo Dance

Nominating Unit: City of Shaoguan

Spring Buffalo Dance is widely distributed in the whole City of Shaoguan in the northern mountainous area of Guangdong Province, including such districts as Wujiang, Zhenjiang, Qujiang districts, and such counties as Lechang, Renhua, Ruyuan, Nanxiong, Shixing, Wongyuan and Xinfeng. It is also called Spring Buffalo Parade, Spring Buffalo Performance or Spring Buffalo Show. It is a folk dance in which there are human characters, and is very popular among Han and Yao minorities in the area.

It is said that as early as the reign of Emperor Kangxin in the Qing Dynasty, Spring Buffalo Dance was already popular in the mountainous villages of northern Guangdong Province, and already has a history of more than 300 years. The folklore where Spring Buffalo originated told that in the remote antiquity, Taurus star came to earth to breed and help people with their farming and free them from their moil, as well as receiving worshipping from human kind. The form of the dance also coincides with ancient record “three men hold the cow’s tail, dance and sing 8 songs”, which evidently carries some remnant of this ancient dancing form.

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Spring Buffalo Dance is normally toured and performed in rural areas during the Spring Festival period. The Spring Buffalo is bundled together with bamboo strips, wood, palm ropes, black cloth, and paper, and is also painted with figures to be the mascot of the performance. Spring Buffalo troupe is composed of a dozen men, with one playing the head, one playing the tail, a clown playing the farmer who is the main role in the dance, another man playing the cowboy, four female dancers playing village girls, and the rest on the band.

Under the accompanying music, Spring Buffalo Dance starts with the farmer pulling the Spring Buffalo, the cowboy carrying a plow, four girls carrying water buckets or flower baskets. The farmer first would praise his cow in monologue, expressing his gratitude and good wishes for the cow. Then routines such as pulling the cow, teasing the cow, catching the cow, putting the plow on the cow, and putting the yoke on the cow are performed in sequence. In the meantime, the cowboy and farmer would tease each other. The Spring Buffalo would perform dancing movements such as scratching itches, lying on the ground, eluding capture, etc. After the farmer has tamed the Spring Buffalo, he would put the yoke on the cow and hold the plow to circle the stage. The farmer would also sing “Flower of the twelve months”, which is a folk song of the Hakka people, with the girls in an antistrophic manner to give lectures on farming knowledge according to the 24 solar terms in 12 months, and to express his love toward his cow and his wishes for a well-off life. At the same time, the Spring Buffalo would pull the plow with low stance steps, while the farmer and girls would dance and sing with plowsteps (standing on tiptoes) and high-pillared steps. Their singing continues from January to December, and they would circle the perimeter once after counting each month’s farming activities. The lyrics all have seven characters in each line, four lines in one verse. The dance ends with the farmer releasing the Spring Buffalo off the ropes and yoke, and circling the perimeter by yanking the cow’s nose.

The singing in Spring Buffalo Dance is mostly in Hakka local dialect, intermingled with some Yao minority language. The speeches include monologue and dialogue, and are mostly humorously improvised. The accompanying music includes “Spring Buffalo song” played with Er Hu, and “Ten plum blossoms” played with gong, drum, cymbal, etc.

Spring Buffalo Dance bears strong traits of the ancient China’s agricultural civilization with its worship toward cows and its lecturing of agricultural knowledge. Its form combines both pan-drama and narrative singing and dancing. It possesses unique values in studying the cultural anthropology, folk customs, and south China’s dancing history, etc. However, due to many factors, this dancing form, from prop making to the performance, is on the verge of extinction. Therefore, rescue and protection are called for.