The production of fire lion is divided into three parts: body and tail. The lion's head is made of bamboo, fine iron wire and fine hemp rope, and then the fire twist is inserted into the bamboo. Mouth, tongue, ears, nose, eyes and eyebrows are also made of bamboo, iron wire and fire twist. The lion's body is divided into three parts. The forelimb, whose upper limb is a human arm, is connected and wound by six boards, and the lower limb is a wooden crutch with a fire twist on it. The hind limbs and the upper and lower limbs are wrapped with 6 boards, punched evenly, and twisted into lion clothes with fire. The lion's tail is made of jujube branches and twisted with fire. End to end is a willow branch with a back length of 1 m. Fire twisting is made by wrapping wool paper with "fine fire paper" commonly known among the people. Every performance, people in the village do fire twisting, twisting the paper into more than 30 cm long twists, then folding it into a 16 cm long twist rope, then twisting it until it is strong and straight, and finally soaking the twist paper in cooking oil, drying it after all the twists are soaked, and decorating it on the lion's coat. The costume of the fire lion is that the performer first puts on a wet sack and a twisted coat. The key to unloading is to connect the front and rear shuttles, which will be untied as soon as they are pulled. If the shuttle is not untied, it will burn.
The performance of the fire lion was originally composed of two big lions (each lion was played by a big and strong young man in order to make the lion tall and powerful), two little lions and a lion teaser. There are no bears on the show now. The performance movements of the fire lion are "shaking shoulders", "scratching", "shaking hair", "raising claws", "stretching", "turning your head with your tail" and? High "and other actions. The two lions can also improvise, chase or compete for hydrangea and other programs. The fire hydrant held by the lion is also twisted by fire, that is, the fire twists on a sphere composed of wooden boards and bamboo pieces, and the actions are mainly shaking, rotating and shaking the ball.
The fire lion is accompanied by percussion music, and the band gives timely and appropriate gongs and drums according to the performers' movements, mainly to set off the atmosphere, and the movements do not need to step on the beat.
Wenzhuang fire lion is an important folk dance form of Han nationality in our province, which is deeply loved by the masses, widely spread and has a strong local flavor. It is the most primitive form of entertainment of the Han nationality. "Shenxian Wenzhuang Fire Lion" was selected as the first batch of municipal intangible cultural heritage in Liaocheng at the end of 2006 and the first batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage in Shandong Province in 2007. Fire lion dance is named after the lion's hair is composed of lighted fire twists, and it jumps around on Mars during the performance. During the Spring Festival, when farmers pray for rain, fire lions are always active. It is only performed on the night of the second day of the second lunar month ("Dragon Head Up") and in the dark night. It is a wonder to see10,000 sparks flashing. Due to the limitation of props, the performance time of the fire lion is very short, usually about ten minutes. According to Xu Hanbin, an old artist (born 1907), the fire lion in Shenxian East Street was learned from Jutun Village in Shilipu Township. From the first generation of old artist Kang Wanlu to Renzong Road (born in 1935) who performed for the last time in 1965, it has been circulated for five generations. Later spread to Wen Zhuang village, has been playing for a long time. This fire lion has a strange shape. The lion hair of each fire lion consists of 3600 fire twists, and the shape is divided into three parts: body, tail and body. The lion's head is made of bamboo, fine iron wire and fine hemp rope, and then the bamboo is drilled out and twisted with fire. Tongue, nose, eyes and eyebrows are also made of bamboo, iron wire and fire twist. The costume of the fire lion is that the performer wears a wet sack and a twist coat first. The key to unpacking is to connect the shuttle between the front and rear parts. The shuttle must be pulled and opened. If the shuttle button can't be unlocked, it will cause a fire. During the performance, the audience only saw the majestic and tall lion image outlined by finely divided Mars, but could not see the lion dancer. When the fire lion chased and jumped, there were stars all over the sky. Mars keeps shaking. It shook its shoulders, shook its hair and splashed all over, swaying in the wind and flickering. The key to the effect of the fire lion lies in the props. In the past, for the sake of secrecy, all props were burned after the performance every year and made again next year. When the lion dancers are dressed neatly, outsiders are not allowed to watch, let alone spread.