The second day of the second lunar month in China, is a traditional festival, called Dragon Head Raising Day. In Chinese legend, dragons dominate wind and rain. There is a folk ballad singing:
On the second day of the second lunar month,
Dragons are beginning to raise their heads.
The weather is quite favorable to the crops,
And bumper harvests we are going to reap.
Look! The maize sticks are very big and thick.
Sorghum and millet dance their very big heads.
On the day in ancient time, farmers and villagers made an ash path into the houses and kitchens, then wind around the water vats from the outside. This is called leading the dragons back to houses. Nowadays, some old people still keep the custom to have their hair cut or wash hair today. Women are not allowed to do needle-works. It is said that when dragons raise their heads to look at the human world, needles will hurt their eyes. People like to eat noodles and deep fried cakes this day. Well in northern China people in the countryside have the custom to eat fried bean. That caused from a legend story.
When Wu Zetian, the only woman emperor in China, ascended the throng, the Jade Emperor in the heaven got so angry. To punish the human, he transmitted the order to the Dragon King do not give rains to the earth for three years. Before long, the Dragon heard the miserable crying from the human world and saw so many people dead because of the famine. So he defied the command, gave a heavy rain to the earth. When the Jade Emperor realized that, he demoted Dragon down to the human world and lay under a huge mountain for thousand years. Did not allow him going back to the heaven unless the gold beans blossom.
In order to save the Dragon, people looked for the blossom gold flowers everywhere. The day of Feb 2nd of lunar month, when people basked their corns, they happened find if they fry the yellow corn beans, the dissilient beans just like blossom gold flowers. So every family began frying the corn beans, and made altar in their courtyard, burned incense to notice the Jade Emperor in the heaven. When the Jade Emperor saw all of these, he had to release the Dragon King. But this custom still come down to nowadays.
