The Spring Festival Customs of Danjia People
105.The Spring Festival Customs of Danjia People
Nominating Unit: City of Shenzhen
Nan’ao Street of Longgang District in Shenzhen is traditionally a place for Danjia fisher folk to live. Till now, the activities of grass dragon dance and worshipping Mazu have been preserved as the customs of Spring Festival. Nan’ao fisher folk have been living on the water for years, making a living by fishing in the sea. Therefore, they light joss sticks and candles to worship Mazu in the boat every lunar January 1st and 15th to pray for peace and safety all the year round. According to a local legend, Mazu once sent a dream to an old man in Nan’ao, asking the local people to keep down the tornado through the way of dragon dance every lunar January 2nd so as to enjoy favorable climate. Therefore, the local Danjia fisher folk went to the mountains to mow the weed to make the grass dragon and play it, which later evolved into an important folk custom of the Spring Festival of Danjia people.
The dragon dance consists of three parts: making the grass dragon, performing the dragon dance, and sending off the grass dragon. Every lunar January 2nd, the local fisher folk select some long and hard sword grass and some softer weed to make the body part of the dragon. When making the grass dragon, people twist these two kinds of weed with a rope about a meter long, which helps to form the dragon body that is connected by red ropes. The dragon head is made of a large bamboo crate as the under layer, many joss sticks as the eyes of the dragon, and with a five-inch mirror on its forehead, which helps to make the dragon eyes, dragon beard, dragon horns, dragon scales lifelike. Finally, the joss sticks and candles are plugged into the dragon head and body, which puts the making of the grass dragon to an end.(https://www.daowen.com)
That evening, the dragon dance is performed in the Tianhou (the Queen of heaven) Temple. First, the joss sticks and candles on the dragon are lit and the dragon eyes are then lit by an elderly man in the village. The dragon dance cannot be performed until the dragon worships the Queen of heaven. The steps are usually quite simple, mainly Chinese eight-shaped deep knee bend (three times of moving forward and then one stop). A person heads the dragon with the gongs and drums played, which creates a lively atmosphere. Wherever the dragon goes, people light candles at their door, offering some crude fruit and kuca and playing firecrackers. The dragon must wait until the firecrackers are played. When the dragon arrives at the pier of the Moon Bay, the ceremony of sending off the dragon is held, during which the dragon head on the top and the dragon tail at the bottom are incinerated, with firecrackers, gongs and drums played to send the dragon back to the sea. This ceremony doesn’t come to an end until the grass dragon is reduced to ashes. What’s the most special about this custom is that all the activities of mowing the weed, making the grass dragon, performing the dragon dance, and sending off the grass dragon must be completed on lunar January 2nd.
The grass dragon dance is the most hilarious activity during the Spring Festival, which is gradually formed in people’s life and is highly characterized by entertaining the God and people. It is of great value to the study of the productivity, livelihood, history, culture and folk customs of Danjia people in Nan’ao.
Recently, with the adjustment of the rural industry structure and the advancement of the agricultural production level, there is a great change in the lifestyle of Danjia people in Nan’ao. Due to the fact that the traditional concept of value and festive folk customs are being dramatically changed, grass dragon dance has lost the social environment it lives by. Therefore, it will face the danger of extinction unless measures are taken to rescue and protect it.