Also known as “Spring Plowing Festival”, “Farming Festival” and “Spring Dragon Festival”, Dragon Head Up is a traditional Chinese folk festival. The dragon head is on the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar every year. It is commonly known as the Qinglong Festival. Legend has it that it is the day when the dragon raises its head. It is a traditional festival in urban and rural China.
February 2, according to legend, is the birthday of the land god, which is called “Land Birthday”. Burning incense and offering sacrifices, beating gongs and drums, and setting off firecrackers. In the Zhuang area of central and northern Guangxi, there is also a saying that “the second dragon rises in February and the second dragon ends in August”.
There is such a mythical story among the folks in northern my country. It is said that when Wu Zetian became the emperor, the Jade Emperor was annoyed, and he ordered the Dragon King of the Four Seas not to rain on the world for three years. Soon, the Dragon King, who was in charge of the Tianhe River, heard the cries of the people and saw the tragic scene of people starving to death. Worried that the life in the world would be cut off, he disobeyed the Jade Emperor’s will and sent rain for the world. The Jade Emperor learned that he knocked the Dragon King down to the mortal world and forced him to suffer under a big mountain. A monument was erected on the mountain: “The Dragon King violated the rules of the sky by raining, and he should be punished for a thousand years in the world; if he wants to climb the Lingxiao Pavilion again, he must not do so until the golden beans bloom.” In order to save the Dragon King, people searched for flowering golden beans everywhere. On the second day of the second lunar month of the following year, when people were drying corn seeds, they thought that the corn was like a golden bean, and if it bloomed after frying, wouldn’t it mean that the golden bean bloomed? So every household popcorn, and set up a case in the yard to burn incense, offering the flowering “golden beans”. The Dragon King looked up and knew that the people rescued it, so he shouted to the Jade Emperor: “Golden beans are blooming, let me go out!” Heaven, continue to spread clouds and rain to the world. Since then, the folks have formed a habit of eating popcorn on the second day of February.
Post time: Feb-21-2023