The lion and dragon dance: Chinese folklore

The LION DANCE is called MUO SI in Cantonese and its tradition’s roots go back more than a thousand years.
At present two types of dance exist: the Northern one, linked to tradition and the Southern one which developed in Kung Fu schools’.
The Northern lion was used by the peasants’ of the North who were used to thank the gods with folkloristic dances during the harvest time; nowadays it is used in circus shows.
The Southern lion was born in the Canton region where the peasants used to perform a dance using a fox mask to drive the evil spirits and a legendary ravening fox away. In 1600 A.C., during the Ming dynasty, the Chin dynasty came into power through a coup d’ état; so, various sects commanded by Kung Fu teachers were formed amongst the peasants to try to return under the Ming domination. It was then that lion dance replaced the fox dance to push the revolt; the allegorical dance ended with the decapitation of a green lion referring clearly also to a government clean up. Henceforth the lion dance is an integral part of Kung Fu and is still taught in every traditional Kung Fu school. The origins of the lion’s head lie in an ancient Chinese legend narrating about a monster that used to appear the last day of the year in the cities of Canton and Fat Shan to devour all the peasants vegetables. The peasants believed it was a divinity, so they built a mask similar to the monster’s head and danced to bestow honours and good wishes upon him. The monster, instead, got scared and never came back. Since then, every end of the year this dance is performed as a wish for a happy new year. The elementary techniques of the dance have developed, in the course of time, together with the various Kung Fu styles. It is necessary to train many years and to gain a great agility and physical strength in order to perform this dance.