Chinese traditional festival-Dragon Boat Festival

Legend of origin

The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanyang Festival and Chung Wu Festival, is said to be the day when Qu Yuan, a great poet in ancient China, threw himself into the Guluojiang River to be martyred. For more than two thousand years, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month has become a traditional festival to commemorate Qu Yuan. According to historical records, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 278 BC, Qu Yuan, a doctor and patriotic poet of the State of Chu, was filled with grief and indignation after hearing the news that Qin Jun had breached the capital of the State of Chu, and his heart ached, so he resolutely wrote Huai Sha. He threw himself into the Miluo River and died. People along the river have led boats to race to salvage, evoking souls along the water and throwing zongzi into the river to prevent fish and shrimp from eating into his body.

Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is still a festival that our people attach great importance to. On May 20th, 2006, this folk custom was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. Dragon Boat Festival is now a legal holiday in China.

Festival custom

01 Dragon Boat Race

Dragon boat race is the main custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. According to legend, people who originated in the ancient state of Chu were reluctant to part with the death of Qu Yuan, a sage, and many people rowed to catch up and save. They scrambled to catch up with each other and disappeared when they reached Dongting Lake. After that, I will row a dragon boat on May 5th every year to commemorate it. Dispel the fish in the river by rowing dragon boats, so as not to eat Qu Yuan’s body. The habit of racing is prevalent in Wu, Yue and Chu.

02 eat zongzi

Eating zongzi is another traditional custom of Chinese people. Zongzi, also known as "corn millet" and "zongzi". It has a long history and various patterns. From the Spring and Autumn Period to today, at the beginning of May every year, every family in China has to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and make zongzi, with more varieties of colors. From the perspective of stuffing, there are many Beijing jujube dumplings with small dates in the north; In the south, there are many kinds of fillings, such as bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk, among which Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi is the representative. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years, and spread to Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.

03 Artemisia argyi and calamus

A folk proverb says, "Willows are inserted in Qingming Festival, and Ai is inserted in Dragon Boat Festival". Every family sweeps the court, putting calamus and moxa sticks in the eyebrows and hanging them in the hall. Acorus calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, Liuhua, Garlic and Dragon Boat Flower are made into human or tiger shapes, which are called Ai Ren and Ai Hu. It is made into garlands and ornaments, which are beautiful and fragrant, and women compete to wear them to drive away evil.

04 hanging bell statue

It is the custom of Dragon Boat Festival for Zhong Kui to catch ghosts. In the Jianghuai area, every family hangs bells and statues to ward off evil spirits. It is said that Emperor Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty returned to the palace from Lishan Mountain, and malaria was rampant. He dreamed that two ghosts, one big and one small, were wearing red crotch pants, stealing Yang Guifei’s sachet and Yu Di of the Ming Dynasty, and ran around the temple. GREAT GHOST wears a blue robe and hat, catches the kid, gouges out his eyes and swallows it in one gulp. When the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty asked questions, GREAT GHOST said, "My surname is Zhong Kui, that is, I am not the best in martial arts. I am willing to rid your majesty of demons." After the Ming Emperor woke up, malaria was cured, so Wu Daozi, a painter, painted a portrait of Zhong Kui catching ghosts according to what he saw in his dream, and ordered all the people to post it during the Dragon Boat Festival to exorcise evil spirits.

05 series baisuo

It is made of five-color silk, also known as Baisuo, Longevity Cord, Continuity Cord, Bing Shao, Five-color Cord, Zhu Suo and so on. Or hanging on the door, or wearing children’s neck, or tying children’s arms, or hanging on bed curtains, cradles, etc., it is said that it can avoid disasters, protect health and prolong life. In Ying Shao’s "Customs Tongyi" in the Han Dynasty, it is recorded: "On May 5, the five colors were given to continue life, and the popular saying was beneficial to human life." "The Chronicle of Jingchu’s Age" says: "It is not a disease to tie the arms with colorful silk, which is called" Bing Bing ".

06 drink realgar wine

Painting forehead is the custom of daubing children’s forehead with realgar on Dragon Boat Festival, which is said to ward off poisonous insects. The typical method is to draw the word "Wang" on children’s foreheads with realgar. One is to borrow realgar to drive away the poison, and the other is to borrow tiger’s forehead ("Wang" is like a tiger, and the tiger is the king of beasts, because it is replaced by a tiger) to suppress evil spirits. Qing Fucha Dunchong’s "Yanjing Year’s Chronicle": "From the first day of the first lunar month, take realgar and sprinkle it with wine, and apply it to the collar and nose and ears of children to avoid poison."

07 Dai Xiangbao

The sachet, also called sachet, sachet, purse, etc., is wrapped with colored silk thread and sewn with rags. It is filled with spices (made from Chinese herbal medicines, such as Radix Angelicae Dahuricae, Rhizoma Chuanxiong, Radix Scutellariae, Herba Paicao, Rhizoma Kaempferiae, Gan Song, and Radix Kaempferiae), which is worn on the chest and smells fragrant. Chen Shiliang’s Guang Ji at the Age of Years quoted Miscellaneous Notes at the Age of Years as saying, "Duanwu is made of red and white colors, and colored lines run through it, making it look like a flower." The contents of these carry-on bags have changed from sweat-absorbing mussel powder, talisman to exorcise evil spirits, copper coins and realgar powder to sachets filled with spices, and their production has become increasingly exquisite, becoming a unique folk art of the Dragon Boat Festival.

08 collecting miscellaneous drugs

Herb picking is also one of the oldest customs of Dragon Boat Festival. "Xia Xiaozheng" contains: "Store medicine this day to remove poisonous gas." Volume 22 of "Collection of Miscellaneous Drugs" quoted the lost article of "Collection of Miscellaneous Drugs at the Age of Jingchu": "On May 5, competing for miscellaneous drugs can cure all diseases." There is a record of catching toads in May in Qi Min Yao Shu Miscellaneous Notes in the late Wei Dynasty, which is also used for pharmacy.

09 Mulan decoction

It is an ancient custom recorded in "Da Dai Li" to bathe in orchid soup at noon. At that time, orchids were not today’s orchids, but Eupatorium odoratum of Compositae, which had fragrance and could be decocted and bathed. "Nine Songs in the Cloud" also has the sentence "Bathing orchid soup will make you fragrant". "The Chronicle of Jingchu’s Age": "May 5th is called the Orchid Bathing Festival." "Five Miscellanies" records that people in the Ming Dynasty took a bath with five-colored grass at noon because "orchid soup is not available." Later, it was usually fried cattails, wormwood and other herbs to take a bath.

10 doucao

Fighting grass was popular in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and it was called "stepping on a hundred herbs", and it was called "fighting grass" or "fighting a hundred herbs" in the Tang Dynasty. "The Story of Jingchu’s Age": "On May 5th, the four people stepped on a hundred herbs together, and there was another scene of fighting a hundred herbs." After that, it is not limited to the Dragon Boat Festival.

Original title: Chinese traditional festival-Dragon Boat Festival

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