paper cutting with auspicious dragon playing with the ball

People often see patterns of "dragon playing with pearl" ("single dragon playing with pearl", "two dragons playing with pearl", etc.) on carriers such as architectural color painting, sculpture, clothing embroidery, Paper Cuttings, etc. A friend asked: What is' Dragon Ball '? Why did 'Dragon Ball' come from? What's going on with 'Dragon Playing with Pearl'?  

Dragon balls are beads related to dragons. The precious pearl of a thousand gold shall lie beneath the dragon's jaws in the depths of the Nine Heavens. "This is the saying in Zhuangzi. The poem "Piya" also states that "Dragon balls are in the jaws". The Book of Strange Tales states, "Whenever there is a dragon ball, the dragon spits it out... The Vietnamese proverb goes, 'Planting a thousand acres of wood slaves is not as good as one dragon ball.'" This statement conveys two meanings: firstly, dragon balls are often hidden in the dragon's mouth, and at the appropriate time, the dragon will spit them out; Secondly, the value of Dragon Balls is very high. As the saying goes, getting one Dragon Ball is better than planting a thousand acres of citrus.

So, where did Dragon Balls come from? Why do dragons play with pearls? We know that pearls are circular particles formed by certain mollusks in water, which are secreted and formed by their shells under certain external conditions. They are loved by people for their bright luster and are therefore called pearls. Since animals in the water can give birth to pearls, as the dragon, the leader of aquatic creatures, naturally needs to have pearls to give birth to dates. This should be a basic idea behind the Dragon Ball Mythology.

However, it seems that things are not that simple yet. Dragons are mythical creatures that are fuzzy collections, including fish, crocodiles, snakes, pigs, horses, cows, as well as lightning, clouds, rainbows, and so on. Among them, crocodiles and snakes are oviparous. Eggs are round or granular, much larger than pearls. So, did ancient people consider crocodile eggs and snake eggs as a type of "pearl"? The answer is affirmative. The ancients were able to use crocodiles and snakes as the main gathering objects, and naturally did not ignore their eggs; For crocodiles and snakes, the significance of eggs is significant as they are the source of life. With eggs, there are crocodiles, snakes, and ultimately dragons. Therefore, eggs can completely enter the life of dragons as "beads". So, Dragon Ball is Dragon Egg; Dragon playing with pearls is actually dragon playing with "eggs", which is the divine object of the dragon, nurturing, caressing, and respecting life. What is reflected and expressed in it is a kind of "life consciousness" of ancient people, that is, the understanding, comprehension, and expression of the phenomenon of continuous transmission of life.

The folk legend of swallowing pearls and turning them into dragons provides a footnote to our view: a young man who mowed grass (or drew water) obtained a precious pearl, which was placed in a rice jar to raise rice and in a money chest to make money. After learning about it, a wealthy man brought people to snatch the pearl. The young man put the pearl in his mouth in a hurry, but accidentally swallowed it. So I became thirsty and sought a drink. After the water in the jar was drained, I went to drink river water and river water again. As he drank, horns popped out of his head, his eyes bulged outward, and his body grew scales and turned into a dragon. This legend is widely spread in Sichuan, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other places, revealing the preciousness of "pearls" and the interdependent relationship between pearls and dragons.

The sun is another understanding of 'pearls'. Some of the dragon bead patterns we see, especially those auspicious dragon bead patterns, have flames rising from the beads, clearly resembling a "fire bead" or "fireball"; Below is the surging seawater, which can be understood as a fireball leaping out of the sea. In people's vision and concept, what can be called a "fireball", the sun can be ranked first. So obviously, when the fireball goes out to sea, it means the sun goes out to sea. Since it's the sun going out to sea, why do dragons come to play? Here we need to introduce the four gods in the eyes of ancient people: the Eastern Green Dragon, the Western White Tiger, the Southern Vermilion Bird, and the Northern Xuanwu. The sun rises from the east, and the dragon represents the divine creature of the east. From this perspective, Dragon Playing with Pearl has the meaning of sun worship, which should be a fusion of sun worship and dragon worship.