You might have heard or seen this dance in a very well known movie. But for those people who aren´t familiar with Chinese traditions...you know what this dance means? Maybe?
Well, the Dragon Dance is made to celebrate certain festivals, most commonly used to represent the start of a great year, initializing the first day of January and ending fifteen days later, until the Lantern Festival. The purpose of this cultural dance is to scare away evil spirits and to bring a prosperous and happy new year, since Chinese dragons are a symbol of good luck, long life, wisdom, wealth, power and are also associated with life-giving rain.
This Dragon can be made of paper, plastic, fabric or even metal with a base made of wood and can measure up to 100 meters, the longer the Dragon, the highest the chance to bring great luck to the people.
In the Dragon Dance festival a group of performers or dancers carry the Dragon up in poles. They lift, shake, swift, sweep and dip the head of the Dragon and its body, making it "dance" to the sound of drums, horns and gongs. The Dragon may also feature animated gestures and pyrotechnic attractions such as smoke or fireworks.
The Dragon´s color can vary and a combination of colors are always used, since each color represent a wish for the New Year.
In paintings, sculptures, drawings, poems and particularly in this Dance, the Dragon is seen pursuing a round edge-less pearl called "Pearl of Wisdom", the meaning behind this, is the Dragon´s own search for insight and knowledge; this pearl can be painted yellow or red to symbolize the Sun, the spring rains and great harvest for the celebrated future year.
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