The custom of dancing with straw dragons is widely spread in Jixi County, especially in Dashimen Village, Yangxi Town, which has been passed down for hundreds of years. According to legend, 500 years ago, the local area suffered from disasters for years, and the villagers' harvests were greatly reduced. The Monk Mountain in the south of the village frequently caught fire for several years, and the people were miserable. At that time, Xiongjie, the 13th generation ancestor of the Zhou family in Dashimen Village, took the opportunity to mobilize the people to make straw dragons with straw, and organized teams to dance wildly in the streets of the village day and night, accompanied by straw cannons, drums and gongs. In order to prevent the resurgence of evil fire, it was later decided that the Mid-Autumn Festival every year would be the Dragon Day. The purpose was to suppress disasters and eliminate evil; the second was to celebrate the harvest and hope that the next year would be more prosperous and peaceful. The main materials for making straw dragons in Dashimen are straw, bamboo, sisal, etc. The straw dragon mainly consists of three parts: the dragon head, the dragon body, and the dragon tail. The dragon is 18 meters long and looks very similar. The dragon body is inserted with incense. When dancing, the lit incense flutters in the wind, flickering like a meteor, which is very beautiful, like a living dragon in the sky. Therefore, the "grass dragon" of Dashimen is also called the "fire dragon". In ancient times, the grass dragon danced with a "three-door cannon" made of three iron tubes filled with gunpowder as the leader, gongs were sounded to clear the way, and dragon balls were used as the guide. A dozen young men used bamboo poles to support the grass dragon and shuttled through the streets of the village, "shaking their heads, wagging their tails, leaping, and entangled with dragons". The dance was diverse and interesting. The gongs and drums were loud, and the firecrackers were blasting, making it very lively. In front of the dragon team, two young men held "grass braids" made of straw and hit them on the ground, making crackling sounds. This was called "grass cannons", which means "swinging braids". The dragon dance lasted until late at night, and finally the "grass dragon" was sent to the outside of the water outlet and thrown into the river, meaning to send the dragon back to the palace and bring good fortune. Information source: Anhui Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center (no pictures yet, welcome to provide.) Information source: Anhui Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center (no pictures yet, welcome to provide.)