| Chinese Dragon Culture | |
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| Sep 9, 2005 01:56 |   |
 | 1, Except representing the supreme power, Dragon has penetrated into almost every aspect of people's life in China. We may try to summarize those aspects. I have mentioned in another thread, that the 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month is supposed to be the day the Dragon wakes up from the winter hibernation - well I doubt if dragon needs one - and raise his head. The folk culture on this day requires people to do the haircut to raise heads together with Dragon, and this seems not difficult because the whole first month of lunar calendar are not encouraged to do anything to your heads. You may desperately need to go the the barber's. The difficult things are foods on that day, you have to eat something for the whole day, that is given, but anything you eat is supposed to be part of the Dragon's body: noodles are dragon's goatee, cakes are his squama and dumplings are his ears, etc. Those are ordinary people's daily food, so eating dragon's goatee or squama or ears won't hurt the dragon much and he would not get mad at you. But people are trying to avoid RICE, because rice represents the dragon's sons, I have never count how many grains of rice in one bowl, but that must be a lot. Womens are prohibited to used needles to avoid accidentally hurt dragon's eyes. |
| Sep 9, 2005 02:13 | #1 |
| 2, Dragon Boat Festival - the date is the 5th day of 5th lunar month, while the position of FIVE in Chinese era is in the middle, representing the peak, but Chinese know well that when everything reaches its peak, it's time to starting falling - what a theory! - So people have a dual feelings towards FIVE, love it but fear its coming. When the two FIVEs meet, the ominous meanings doubled. Rita guesses the Dragon race is a kind of activity to please the Dragon to make the falling process slower. |
| Sep 9, 2005 02:28 | #2 |
| 3, Dragon and Traditional Agriculture I remembered a scholar named He Xin brought forth a theory of Dragon totem starting from the worship of crocodile in ancient times, because the crocodile seems to be the king under water. I think it is more or less reasonable also considering of being a traditional agricultural society, the rainfalls mean quite much to the farmers and even the country. When drought happened, many altars would be built and food offered to beg some rains from the Dragon King. |
| Sep 9, 2005 02:40 | #3 |
| 4, Dragon & Traditional Marriage Custom Dragon means extreme Yang, and used to symbolize male, that's why almost all the emperors in China were said to be the sons of Dragons. Even the emperors themselves are only subject to be only the "sons" of the Dragon, it is not possible for the ordinary people to have any relative connections with Dragon, except the day people got married, when the bridegroom was dragon and the bride, the phenix. I am wondering how this custom came into being. |
| Sep 9, 2005 02:47 | #4 |
| 5, Dragon & Chinese Nationality Chinese people used to call themselves "the descendants of dragon" (well, Mr. Darwin disagreed with it :)) |
| Sep 9, 2005 03:11 | #5 |
| Dragon Year Memorabilia 221BC, the first emperor of the united China - Shi Huang Di united the whole country by conquering another kingdoms. The year was really meaningful for Chinese and their way of thinking came into shape. 8AD, Wang Mang, dismissed a nine-year-old emperor's regime and made himself the emperor and ruled the country for 16 years. 68AD, Buddhism was introduced into China, later became one of the most important religions in China. 1616, Nurhaci united divisive tribes of Manchu and established Jin, the seedtime for Qing. 1976AD, Premier Zhou, Chairman Mao and Mr. Zhude passed away in that year and July 28, the most destructive earthquake attacked Tangshan, 0.24 million people died. ------------------------------- Here I only listed a few world-famous events happened in Dragon years, and left those less well known ones unlisted. |
| Sep 9, 2005 03:44 | #6 |
| Comparison Western-Eastern Dragons: It is intresting that many cultures had independent ideas about dragons. Around my birthplace many castles have dragon decorations and there is a mountain called Dragon Mountain (LungShan;-). But the difference is that in China dragons are believed to be good and here they are supposed to be mean. In both countries dragons are able to fly - around Europe they are thought to have wings, in China they do it without. We have one quite famous legend called Niebelungen Saga,which taked place around the Dragons Mountain. The hero called Siegfried kills the evil dragon to take a bath in his blood, which makes his skin "weaponsproof". Except one spot, where a leaf landed on his back while taking the bath (like the weak point of Achilles). In the end he gets betrayed and killed by a friend. Maybe you remember the movies Lord of the Rings, there you see the western evil dragons - must be strange to Chinese culture where dragons are supposed to be good. |
| Sep 9, 2005 03:54 | #7 |
| Hi Elcabron, The legend you told was quite interesting! Is there any pics of dragons in your country, because I think the pattern of dragon in China had developed independently in China, I did not know any proof of influences upon it during the process. I want to compare the evil dragon with the good one. |
| Sep 9, 2005 04:12 | #8 |
| Couldnt find one in the woods nor in the zoo, but here is a drawing: |
| Sep 9, 2005 04:17 | #9 |
| Wow, they look so similar except the wings on evil dragon! How come? Of course, dragons, the animal, have never been existent, no matter good or evil. I am quite interested in the might-be connections between them. :) ??? |
| Sep 9, 2005 04:23 | #10 |
| It is not a good one just can judged by its evil look. In Chinese culture,dragon is regarded as martial and imperatorial. |
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