Chapter 181: The Spirit-Dancing Official
In the old days, there were many choices for the ceremonial performance at the opening of Tang Hui Opera in the capital.
There are roughly several categories, such as "breaking the platform", "cleaning the platform", "tiaolingguan", "tiaojiaguan", "doubling the God of Wealth" and "baotai".
These rituals can be complex or simple, mainly depending on the political status and economic status of the family.
Because whenever these ceremonies are held, the family must pay a separate performance fee, which is what Liyuanxing calls "color money".
Among them, the "breaking the stage" ceremony is a feudal dross that pretends to be a ghost at twelve o'clock in the middle of the night.
Not only is the form mysterious, but there are also steps to kill chickens and draw blood.
It is often so bloody that the atmosphere is so full of terror that the host is not happy and disappears.
On the contrary, the ceremony of "cleaning the platform" is much better.
Because although the purpose of the Jingtai is to eliminate all evil spirits, the main purpose of the Jingtai is to recite the Jingtai mantra, which is not so noisy.
In the earliest cleansing ceremony, actors in the Qing Dynasty played the role of a mage wearing a crown of Five Buddhas, a red shirt and a white beard.
After taking the stage, recite the mantra and patrol the entire venue, then step off the stage.
In the Republic of China period, this ceremony evolved to become more auspicious.
Because at that time, "Po Tai" had been completely replaced by "Tiao Lingguan", "Tiao Jiaguan", and "Tiao Wealth God".
When "cleaning the platform", actors who play the role of the spiritual official, the heavenly official, and the god of wealth often recite the incantation.
You must know that no matter "Dance to the Spiritual Official", "Dance to the Official" or "Dance to the God of Wealth", they are all opera dances with the purpose of flattering and pleasing the audience.
No matter what kind of role, they all look gorgeous.
The actors will hold colorful silk banners and dance to the music of the gongs and drums on the stage, displaying the banners to show auspiciousness and win applause and rewards.
After the auspicious dance, let these gods come to clean the platform.
Of course it is much more festive than an old monk dressed as an old actor reciting a mantra.
As an alternative to "breaking the stage", "Diao Lingguan" is undoubtedly the most lively group drama.
Because this play requires at least four spiritual officials to play at the same time.
During the Republic of China, there were even cases where the whole class of "Tiao Lingguan" took the stage.
It has become a must-play show when the theater troupe seals the boxes at the end of the year and unpacks the boxes at the beginning of the year.
The so-called Lingguan is actually the most respected protector of Taoism.
In Taoism, there are five hundred spirit officials, the most famous of which is "Wang Lingguan".
In many of the first major halls of Taoist temples, the spiritual official guarding the gate of the Taoist temple is usually the Wang Lingguan.
Traditional Peking operas such as "Hunyuan Box", "Five Flower Cave", "Nine Lotus Lanterns" and "Sizhou City" all feature this spiritual official.
Especially the play "Sizhou City" is the most beautiful.
In the play, when Guanyin summons the gods to subdue the jellyfish queen, the gods follow her around.
The red-faced Lingguan and the black-faced Xuantan were the first to file onto the stage.
With them are Jialan, Nezha, Qinglong, Baihu, Wei Tuo, and Wukong, all of whom are powerful figures.
Also, the original text of Journey to the West talks about escaping from the Great Sage in the Bagua Furnace and having a massive brawl in rampage mode.
The article says that the Jiuyao Star is closed and the Four Heavenly Kings are invisible. Seeing that the monkey is about to attack the Lingxiao Palace.
In the end, thanks to the intervention of Wang Lingguan, who was on duty at Tongming Hall, Sun Wukong was blocked.
This shows Wang Lingguan’s identity, status, and great abilities.
So in terms of drama, this "Dance to the Spiritual Official" is better than "Dance to the Official" and "Dance to the God of Wealth".
In fact, before the Republic of China, "Diao Lingguan" was even a repertoire exclusive to the Qing royal family.
The truth is obvious. Since everyone has become the emperor, there is no need to "increase official positions" and "make a fortune", so they pay special attention to the ability of spiritual officials to ward off evil spirits.
According to the legend of Liyuan Xing, the opening scene of the Qing palace usually had eight or sixteen spiritual officials on stage.
Sometimes during festivals, they would go to the thirty-two or even sixty-four spiritual officials.
In addition, the Qing palace also paid attention to using the right angle to jump to the spiritual official.
Such as Tan Xinpei, Wang Guifen, Qian Jinfu, Yang Xiaolou, etc.
Even the leading actress is no exception.
For example, Chen Delin, Wang Yaoqing, etc. all once skipped the Lingguan before acting in the palace.
It can be seen that the rulers at that time attached great importance to this drama.
As for folk theater, because everyone has similar pursuits.
There must be one or both of "Dancing Official" or "Dancing God of Wealth".
There are three performance forms of the "male plus official" dance, "double plus official dance" and "female additional official dance".
The costumes and props are exclusive and specially made.
The character played is based on the "Tianguan" among the three Taoist gods of "heaven, earth, and water" (i.e., the first-grade Shangyuan blessing Tianguan).
Therefore, the "official official note" opened by the actor to the audience has auspicious words such as "blessing from heavenly officials" and "increasing official position and salary".
So it is called "Tiaojiaguan". What is more special is "Female Official", which is an exclusive play for the old lady's birthday.
It is played by an actor from a troupe who plays a leading role, and the character he plays is based on the Taoist goddess "Queen Mother".
Wearing a phoenix crown, a female red python robe, and holding a tooth wat.
Like the male official, he wears a female mask with white smiling eyes, which Liyuanxing calls the "female official face".
Normally, if two plays are performed together, the second one after "Tiao Jiaguan" is "Diao Wealth God".
The performance form of "Dance God of Wealth" is divided into two types: "Wen God of Wealth" and "Martial God of Wealth".
Wen Caishen is based on the Taoist god Bigan, and Wu Caishen is based on the Taoist god Zhao Gongming. There is also a saying that it is the "Great Return" of the Western Regions.
Since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the performance form of Wen Caishen has gradually been lost, and only the dance of Wu Caishen has been performed.
During the performance, the actor playing the God of Wealth holds a large gold ingot in his arms, holds his crown with one hand, shakes his sleeves, raises the ingot and jumps twice to the left and right.
Immediately place the ingot on the table, and then open the scroll in the tray to show a couplet to the audience.
There are festive words such as "Blessed as the East Sea", "Lucky as the East Sea", "Lucky and Prosperous", etc. This is used to please people and gain good reputation.
Among all the opening ceremonies of the church, the most insipid one should be the "announcement table".
Usually only Kunqu opera troupes have this ceremony.
The content of the announcement lines is determined according to the nature of the church meeting. Different churches have different announcement lines.
The function is almost like the setting poem before the cross talk, it is just reciting a Jingbai poem.
So Ning Weimin is thinking in the right direction.
He believes that what is national is what belongs to the world, and the most typical stage art in Beijing is Peking Opera.
In addition, the costumes, costumes, and helmets of Peking Opera actors are all colorful and gorgeous.
This is very consistent with the theme of the fashion show with Oriental silk as the theme.
That’s why he took the initiative to seek advice from Kang Shude and wanted to try to solve the problem using traditional Peking Opera.
Not to mention, since they are all stage performances, there must be something to learn from.
As expected, he got the answer he needed from the old man's mouth.
According to the old man's opinion, "breaking the stage" can be eliminated first.
And "Dancing to the Official" and "Dancing to the God of Wealth" are not suitable either
Because although these two opening scenes are joyful and echo the foreigners' wish to make a fortune, they are inconsistent with the country. It is inconsistent with the spiritual civilization currently advocated.
This year the government is promoting Five Lectures, Four Beauties and Three Loves, and our leading cadres also pay attention to integrity.
This method of getting promoted and making a fortune is really easy to be criticized by domestic newspapers and periodicals.
In the end, only the "Tiao Ling Guan", "Jingtai Spell" and "Bao Taiwan" are left.
If you are just looking for luck and excitement, these are fine.
The old man added that there was a unique tradition in the inner court of the Qing Dynasty, which was "Dancing with Five Colored Spiritual Officials".
The so-called five-color spirit officials should be divided into five colors when making faces. In addition to the old spirit officials with red faces, the four are red faces, black faces, yellow faces, blue faces and white faces. For facial makeup, you usually use rubbing the base, and then using a pen to outline the texture.
In this way, there will be more colors in the field.
If we consider it from the perspective of enriching the performance form, we can combine the functions of jumping on the four-door bucket, climbing on the firecracker pole, throwing firecrackers high in the air, reciting the Jingtai mantra and announcing the platform.
This show is full of both literary and martial arts, it’s like performing acrobatics, and it’s highly entertaining. I’m sure all the Chinese and foreign guests will love watching it.
In this way, Ning Weimin took advantage of the old man's knowledge and showed his face in this matter.
The day I accompanied Pierre Carton and Song Huagui to the Acrobatic Troupe and the Peking Opera Troupe.
Ning Weimin actually came up with his idea in the end, and the result turned out to be the brightest, most practical, and most in line with his needs.
Because first, the magic show that Pierre Carton wanted to perform was too ordinary.
The ancient color tricks performed by the acrobatic troupe are really not interesting. They are still at the level of "Appearance on Standing Cabinet", "Appearance of Color on Lantern Pavilion" and "Presenting Color on Basket". They are too lacking in new ideas.
Secondly, the monkey show is wonderful.
Due to safety issues, the stage has higher requirements, not only the size and stability of the construction.
The actors also need to adapt to the terrain in advance and rehearse multiple times.
Otherwise, it would be difficult to guarantee the performance effect, and we would have to send in a Monkey King, which would not be able to meet Pierre Carton's requirements of brilliance and enthusiasm.
Ning Weimin had a different idea. He needed five martial arts actors to come on stage.
Although few people in the younger generation understand it, what is being performed is not a real drama, but the application of basic skills.
There are still old people in the troupe. With some guidance, it is not difficult to try out the performance.
In addition, the lingguan's appearance is all painted with a painted face, with a sullen face, a helmet, and a soft support. The colorful appearance makes the image bluffing.
They found an actor to go into battle and danced a four-door fight, and also performed a high-level task of throwing firework. Pierre Carton was so happy that he applauded repeatedly.
Song Huagui was also quite satisfied and gave an OK gesture to Ning Weimin.
So, the plan was decided, and the program was finalized on the spot.
(End of this chapter)