The Spring Festival
Fang Huawen
When celebrating Spring Festivals, people never forget their dead dear ones. They’ll toast for their wealth, or burn incenses, praying that god might bless their dead in nether world. Some families will go to the tombs of their dead, and place jujube buns and fried cakes before the tombs as tributes. Nowadays cremation is encouraged, people will hold memorial ceremonies in places where ashes of their dead are kept, bringing joyful air of the festival to their eternal resting place.
Lion Dancing is also a custom prevailing in the south and the north of the country. All those dancings are very much the same in forms and contents. Villages in rural areas compete with each other to be the best in Lion Dancing, and communities in the cities also fight for the honor. Two men form a “l(fā)ion”, one acting as the “head”, and the other the “body”. The one as “head” is the key figure, who, trained in early childhood, is usually agile and fast. In competition, two lions, representing two sides, dance energetically in accompaniment of gongs and drums, struggling to snatch a huge silk ball with widely-opened mouths. The players in stage costumes jump and leap, bend and rise, displaying great vitality and vigor. The dancing fully shows the exuberant strength and the indomitable struggle spirit of Chinese nation. The “l(fā)ion head” is supposed to present a few dangerous moves, such as jumping on piles of chairs and tables, just to win warm applause of the audience.
In some districts prevails the custom of Dragon Dancing, which, like Lion Dancing, is also one of the important activities to greet the coming spring. A few men form a “dragon’, one acting as the “head”, and the rest the “body”. The gigantic dragon strides proudly ahead, making threatening gestures, assuming an air of complacency, winning loud applauses of the audience from time to time. Spectators’ hearts will tremble as the huge dragon trembles, and they really admire the dragon players for their super skills. Dragon Dancing at night is a spectacular sight. The two eyes of the huge dragon, usually two electric torches in fact, are eyes with piercing gleam, shooting lights through the dark sky, reminding people of its fight with a monster. Spectators’ blood surges, as if they themselves joined the fight with evil forces.
