Dancing peacocks come from the myths and legends of the Dai people.

Proud as a peacock is based on the myths and legends of the Dai people.

Peacock dance is the most famous traditional dance among Dai folk dances. Its style is light and delicate, its emotions are delicate, and its dancing posture is graceful, which vividly interprets the peacock's demeanor and movements. Because of its beautiful dance and national culture, it has been processed from generation to generation and has a history of thousands of years.

Compared with other five schools, the most unique feature of peacock dance lies in its Buddhist imprint, which makes it form a unique style. This study introduces the origin of peacock dance, combs its evolution in the development process, and analyzes its religious cultural characteristics from two aspects: the relationship between Dai cultural tradition and religion, and the Buddhist elements in peacock dance, so as to understand the religious cultural imprint in peacock dance and its deep-seated style characteristics.

The origin of peacock dance

Dai people have several different views on the origin of peacock dance. First, under the influence of Buddhism, the Dai people are indifferent to fame and fortune, and are more willing to be close to nature and primitive ecology. Due to the geographical location of the Dai nationality, its natural environment is very suitable for the growth of animals and plants, with lush plants and diverse animals, especially peacocks.

Beautiful peacocks live, walk and play in the water, and lay screens around the Dai people, which attracted the attention of the Dai people, so they imitated and formed the "peacock dance".

Secondly, in this pure land, nature develops harmoniously, but the original order is disturbed by two unknown demons. They not only want to seize rich resources and occupy land, but also want to marry a peacock. Seeing this situation, the Buddha extended a helping hand, made the peacock pretend to promise, and tricked the devil into the swamp to let him in, thus destroying the evil forces.

At the same time, this land has returned to the right track because of the peacock's actions. All the animals sang and danced to express their gratitude and happiness, and peacocks joined in to have fun with the animals, forming a beautiful peacock dance. Third, when Buddha Sakyamuni traveled around the world, the peacock opened its screen in his direction. Because of its charm, people gave way in succession, and with peacock percussion instruments, the "peacock dance" was formed.