Dragon Boat Festival is an important traditional festival in China, which means "the beginning" and "the beginning". The fifth day can be called Duanwu, and it is also called the four traditional festivals of Han nationality in China together with Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Mid-Autumn Festival. Dragon Boat Festival was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage on May 20th, 2006, and was established as a national legal holiday in 2008.
The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the May 5th Festival, is one of the three important festivals in China, because it falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. The other two festivals are the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Lunar New Year. The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanyang Festival, Noon Festival, May Festival, Ai Festival, Duanwu Festival, Heavy Noon Festival, Noon Festival and Summer Festival. Although the names are different, the customs of people everywhere are the same. Dragon Boat Festival is an old custom in China for more than 2,000 years. On this day, every household hangs bells and statues, hangs mugwort leaves and calamus, races dragon boats, eats zongzi, drinks realgar wine, swims in all diseases, wears sachets and prepares sacrifices.
Second, the significance
The first significance of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Qu Yuan, a great national poet in history. Qu Yuan, named Ping, was a native of Chu in the Warring States Period. He was born on the seventh day of the first month of the Wang Wu calendar of Chu Wei, or in the twenty-seventh year of Chu Xuanwang, and died in the ninth year of King Xiang of Chu.
The second meaning of Dragon Boat Festival is the anniversary of Wu Zixu's death. Wu Zixu, a famous member of the State of Chu, and his father and brother were all killed by the King of Chu. Later, Zixu abandoned the dark and went to the State of Wu to help Wu cut Chu, and entered the city of Ying, the capital of Chu, in the Five Wars. At that time, King Chu Ping was dead, and Zixu dug a grave and whipped 300 corpses to avenge the killing of his father and brother. After the death of Prince Helu of Wu, his son Fu Cha succeeded to the throne. Wu Jun's morale was high, and he was defeated by the state of Yue. The king of Yue Gou Jian asked for peace, and Fu Cha promised it. Zi Xu suggested that the state of Yue should be completely destroyed, but Fu Cha refused to listen. Wu was slaughtered by the state of Yue, and was bribed by the state of Yue. He was framed by slanderers, and Fu Cha believed him, giving him a sword, and Zi Xu died. Zi Xu, a loyal man, regarded death as death. Before he died, he said to his neighbors, "After I die, I will gouge out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Wujing, so as to watch the Yue army enter the city and destroy Wu." Fu Cha was furious when he heard this, so he took Zixu's body and put it in leather and threw it into the river on May 5th. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also a day to commemorate Wu Zixu.
The third significance of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the death of Cao E, the filial daughter of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who saved her father from drowning in the river. Cao E was a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father drowned in the river and didn't see her body for several days. At that time, Cao E, the filial daughter, was only fourteen years old and was crying along the river day and night. Seventeen days later, he also threw himself into the river on May 5, and took out his father's body five days later. This was passed down as a myth, and then passed on to the governor of the county government, who made it a monument and let his disciple Han Danchun make a eulogy. The tomb of Cao E, a dutiful daughter, was in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today, and later Cao E tablet was written by Jin Wangyi. Later, in order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, Cao E Temple was built in the place where Cao E threw himself into the river. The village where she lived was renamed Cao E Town, and the place where Cao E died was named Cao E River.
Third, customs
row dragon boats
On the banks of the Miluo River, a grand dragon boat race is held every year during the Dragon Boat Festival. Before the race, the Quzi Temple is usually sacrificed first. People from all directions, dressed in new clothes, helped the old and took care of the young, and carried the dragon's head, first went to the Quzi Temple to worship, offering zongzi, steamed buns, drinks and so on to pay homage to Qu Yuan's portrait. Then, the priest tied a red silk to the head of the "Toulong", and the "Toulong" carried the dragon head to the river for bathing. After washing, the dragon head was placed at the bow, and then the dragon boat race began.
eat Zongzi
"Zongzi is fragrant, fragrant kitchen. The wormwood leaves are fragrant and fragrant. Peach branches are inserted in the gate, and when you go out, you can see that the wheat is yellow. "It's sunny here, sunny there, and sunny everywhere." This is a popular ballad describing the Dragon Boat Festival in the old days. Generally speaking, people around the world have the same custom of celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival, and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival has been the same throughout China.