What are the folklore of the traditional festival Dragon Boat Festival?
Legend 1 of the Dragon Boat Festival: the theory of driving away the evil day on the poisonous moon
In the pre-Qin era, it was generally believed that May was a poisonous month and the fifth was an evil day. A midsummer in Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals stipulates that people should abstain from sex and fast in May.
Meng Changjun, a famous man in the history recorded in Historical Records and Biography of Meng Changjun, was born on May 5th. His father asked his wife not to give birth to him, thinking that the child would endanger his parents. Throughout history, there are many such incidents.
Wang Zhene, a general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was born on the fifth day of May, and his grandfather named him "Zhen Evil". Zhao Ji, Song Huizong, was born on the fifth day of May, and was placed in foster care outside the palace since childhood. It can be seen that it is a common phenomenon to regard the fifth day of May as an evil day in ancient times.
Since the pre-Qin period, this day has been regarded as an unlucky day. In order to avoid bad luck, people often insert calamus and mugwort leaves on this day to exorcise ghosts, smoke Atractylodes rhizome, angelica dahurica and drink realgar wine.
Legend 2 of Dragon Boat Festival: In memory of Cao E, the filial daughter of the Eastern Han Dynasty
In Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Cao E, the filial daughter of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who saved her father from drowning in the river. Legend has it that 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 youngest daughter, was only 14 years old, and she cried along the river day and night to find her father. After 17 days, on May 5th, she also died by throwing herself into the river. Five days later, her father's body was taken out of the river, which became a myth. According to historical records, since the Song Dynasty, emperors have praised Cao E's great events.
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.
Legend 3 of Dragon Boat Festival: In memory of poetess Qiu Jin
Qiu Jin, a poetess, was an advocate of China's thoughts on women's rights and women's studies, and the first revolutionary pioneer who died to overthrow thousands of years of feudal rule. She is a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. She was good at poetry, lyrics, songs and poems in her childhood, and she likes riding and fencing. She is known as "Mulan and Qin Liangyu are alive". At the age of 28, he joined the revolution, which had a great influence. He was arrested by the Qing soldiers during the premeditated uprising and died bravely in Xuanhengkou, Shaoxing on June 5, Guangxu thirty-three years. In order to admire her poems and mourn her brave deeds, later generations merged with the poet's day to commemorate her, and the poet's day was designated as the Dragon Boat Festival in memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.
The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival
1. Eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival
Zongzi is also a kind of medicated diet. Glutinous rice has the functions of invigorating qi and spleen, stimulating appetite and promoting digestion. The leaves used to wrap zongzi are more particular. Reed leaves are mostly used in the north, and bamboo leaves and lotus leaves are mostly used in the south. These leaves have good medicinal functions. For example, reed leaves can clear away heat, promote fluid production, relieve annoyance and quench thirst; Bamboo leaves can clear away heat, relieve annoyance, induce diuresis and detoxify; Lotus leaves can clear away heat, promote diuresis, and soothe the stomach. Generally speaking, Zongzi has the effects of clearing away heat and relieving summer heat, benefiting qi and promoting fluid production, nourishing blood and calming the nerves.
At the same time, we should also emphasize that zongzi is fragrant, waxy and slippery, with high viscosity and difficult digestion. Eating too much can easily cause indigestion. People with poor spleen and stomach pay special attention to controlling food intake.
2. Hanging Acorus calamus on Dragon Boat Festival
After the Dragon Boat Festival, the evil spirits are mainly damp and hot, so it is necessary to turn the fragrance into dampness and the fragrance into turbidity. The custom of the Dragon Boat Festival is always inseparable from fragrance.
A folk proverb says, "Willows are inserted in Qingming Festival, and Ai is inserted in Dragon Boat Festival". On the Dragon Boat Festival, people regard inserting wormwood and calamus as one of the important contents. Every family sweeps the court, putting calamus and moxa sticks in the eyebrows and hanging them in the hall. Ai, also known as Ai and Artemisia argyi. Its stems and leaves all contain volatile aromatic oils. Its peculiar fragrance can repel mosquitoes, flies, insects and ants and purify the air. Traditional Chinese medicine uses moxa as medicine, which has the functions of qi and blood, warming uterus and eliminating cold and dampness. Processing mugwort leaves into "moxa wool" is an important medicinal material for moxibustion treatment. Acorus calamus is a perennial aquatic herb, and its long and narrow leaves also contain volatile aromatic oil, which is a medicine for refreshing, invigorating bones, eliminating stagnation, killing insects and sterilizing. It can be seen that the ancients inserted Artemisia argyi and Acorus calamus to have a certain disease prevention effect.
3. Wear sachets on Dragon Boat Festival
Wearing sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival not only means to ward off evil spirits and drive away plague, but also has the wind of embellishment on the front. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, and it is wrapped with silk cloth, which is full of fragrance, and then tied with five-color silk threads to form a rope, making a string of different shapes, all kinds of exquisite and eye-catching. Wear sachets, gather fragrance and concentrate, ward off evil spirits and drive away plague, and embellish the inner head.
The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, and is wrapped with silk cloth and tied with five-color silk thread. The Chinese herbal medicines used in the sachet can emit natural fragrance, which belongs to the category of five odors in the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, and has the effects of enlightening the mind, eliminating dampness and invigorating the spleen, eliminating filth and pleasing the mind. Modern medical research has also proved that these drugs have a fragrant smell because they contain a lot of volatile substances, which have antibacterial and antiviral effects. Chinese herbal medicines in traditional sachets of Dragon Boat Festival can also prevent colds, hand, foot and mouth diseases, and have a good effect on mosquito control and insect repellent.
Taboo of Dragon Boat Festival
(a), the day of the blade, poison gas attack.
This day is the fifth day of May, which is around the summer solstice from the meteorological point of view of the lunar calendar, so it is also the day with the highest yang in a year; It is also the actual Sheep Blade Day. In May of this lunar calendar, the Yang blade is fierce, which is originally the so-called "poison month", and the Dragon Boat Festival is the first of the "nine poisons", so it is called "poison day". From the perspective of the five elements, any kind of five elements that are too prosperous or too declining will form evil spirits, which will pose threats and harm to the natural climate or personal health; Besides, this season is also a time when poisonous insects and bad insects are rampant; Therefore, on this day, it is necessary to insert moxa, peach skills and calamus on the door to drive away ghosts; Fumigating Atractylodes lancea and Radix Angelicae Dahuricae, drinking realgar wine, or sprinkling realgar wine on children, in order to ward off pests and protect health.
(2) On the day of sacrifice, Yin qi hurts the body.
One of the most important and common contents of the Dragon Boat Festival is offering sacrifices to ancestors. Not only do they offer sacrifices to Qu Yuan, a poet who committed suicide by throwing himself into the river, but in some places, they also offer sacrifices to Wu Zixu, a loyal minister, and Cao E, a filial daughter. On this day, many zongzi are wrapped, and then they are thrown into the river, just like going to the grave for the dead, and the rest are enjoyed by themselves. Therefore, zongzi is actually a sacrificial offering. Sadness is inevitable when offering sacrifices, so like Tomb-Sweeping Day, Japan artificially creates strong yin qi, which, like yang qi, will also hurt people who are mentally and physically weak; Such as depression, bad mood, physical pain and so on. Therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival is not suitable for anything, let alone taking office, moving, starting construction, opening business, getting married, celebrating and other festive activities. It is also not suitable for taking part in recreational activities, etc., and mothering parents and reuniting with their families is the right choice.
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