There are many theories about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, among which the theory of commemorating Qu Yuan has the most extensive influence.

1. In memory of Qu Yuan

Qu Yuan

According to Records of the Historian, Qu Yuan was a minister of Chu Huaiwang in the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated the promotion of talents and empowerment, made Qiang Bing rich, and urged the joint efforts against Qin, which was strongly opposed by Zilan and others. Qu Yuan was forced to leave his post, was driven out of the capital, and was exiled to Yuan and Xiang basins. During his exile, he wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen and Jiu Ge, which are of unique style and far-reaching influence (hence, Dragon Boat Festival is also called Poet's Day). In 278 BC, Qin Jun conquered Kyoto, Chu. Qu Yuan's heart ached at the sight of his motherland being invaded, but he couldn't bear to give up his motherland all the time. On May 5th, after writing his masterpiece Huai Sha, he threw himself into the Miluo River and died, writing a magnificent patriotic movement with his own life.

It is said that after the death of Qu Yuan, the people of Chu were so sad that they flocked to the Miluo River to pay their respects to Qu Yuan. Fishermen rowed boats and fished for his real body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out rice balls, eggs and other foods prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river "plop, plop", saying that the ichthyosaurs, shrimps and crabs were full and would not bite the doctor's body. People followed suit after seeing it. An old doctor took an altar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying that it was necessary to stun the dragon water beast with medicine so as not to hurt Dr. Qu. Later, for fear that rice balls would be eaten by dragons, people came up with the idea of wrapping rice with neem leaves and wrapping them with colored silk to develop them into brown seeds.

After that, on the fifth day of May every year, there was the custom of dragon boat race, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. In memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. [2]

2. In memory of Wu Zixu's theory

Legend of the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival Related figures: Qu Yuan and Wu Zixu [3]

The second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival, which is widely spread in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, commemorates Wu Zixu in the Spring and Autumn Period (771 BC-476 BC). 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 311 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 to watch the Vietnamese army enter the city and destroy Wu." He then committed suicide. Fu Cha was furious when he heard this, so he took Zi Xu's body in leather and put it into the river on May 5. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also the day to commemorate Wu Zixu. [2]

3. In memory of Cao E, the third legend of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 23-221) when Cao E, the youngest daughter, 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, is located in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. Later, Cao E tablet was written by Wang Yi of Jin Dynasty. 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. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also a day to commemorate the filial daughter Cao E. [2]

4. The theory of totem sacrifice originated from the ancient Yue nationality

A large number of cultural relics unearthed in modern times and archaeological studies have confirmed that in the Neolithic age, there was a kind of cultural relic with Tao Wei characteristics in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. According to experts' inference, the remaining clan is a clan that worships the dragon totem-the Baiyue clan in history. The decorative patterns on the unearthed pottery and historical legends show that they have the custom of continuously tattoo, live in a water town, and compare themselves to the descendants of dragons. Its production tools, a large number of stone tools, but also shovel, chisel and other small pieces of bronze. As daily necessities, the printed pottery tripod for cooking food is unique to them and is one of the symbols of their ethnic group. Until the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were still more than 111 Yue people, and the Dragon Boat Festival was a festival they founded to worship their ancestors. In thousands of years of historical development, most [2]

5. The theory of dragon festivals

comes from Wen Yiduo's Dragon Boat Festival Examination and Dragon Boat Festival History Education. He believed that the fifth day of May was the day when the "Dragon" tribes in ancient wuyue held totem sacrifices.

The main reasons are as follows:

(1) Eating zongzi and racing are the two most important activities of the Dragon Boat Festival, both of which are related to dragons. Zongzi is often stolen by dragons when it is thrown into the water, while dragon boats are used in the race.

(2) Race crossing has a deep relationship with ancient wuyue. Besides, the people in wuyue also have the custom of "being like a dragon" in continuously tattoo.

(3) In ancient times, there was a folk custom of "tying arms with colorful silk" on the fifth day of May, which should be a relic of the tattoo custom of "like a dragon". [4]

6. Bad Day Taboo Theory

People in the Han Dynasty believed that May 5th was a bad month and a bad day, and there was a custom of "not mentioning May children", that is, babies born on May 5th could not be brought up by men or women. Once raised, men will harm their fathers and women will harm their mothers. There are even some sayings, such as "When you arrive in May, you will never move" and "Building a house in May will make your head bald". This custom has been popular since the Warring States at the latest, and it has been popular since the Han Dynasty. This custom is recorded in Lun Heng written by Han Wang Chong, Custom Tong written by Ying Shao and the Book of the Later Han Dynasty.

May 5th is an evil month, in order to eliminate plague, exorcise evil spirits and seek good luck, thus related cultural activities have appeared, forming the Dragon Boat Festival with quite characteristics. [3]

7. On the Summer Solstice

Mr. Huang Shi was the first to advocate the Summer Solstice. In 1963, he proposed in the book "The History of the Dragon Boat Festival" (published by Qinxing Bookstore in Hong Kong in 1963) that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from ancient times, and the three generations merged into a stream, which expanded into a river in Qin and Han Dynasties, and became a lake and sea in Tang and Song Dynasties. [3]

The Dragon Boat Festival originated from the Summer Solstice. After learning about the world, scholars talked about it from a wider perspective. In 1983, Mr. Liu Deqian thought that the Dragon Boat Festival came from the summer solstice in the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties in Another Theory of the Origin of the Dragon Boat Festival (Knowledge of Literature and History, No.5, 1983), and proposed that Qu Yuan had nothing to do with "fighting a hundred herbs" and "collecting miscellaneous medicines" in the Dragon Boat Festival. Liu Deqian put forward three main reasons in The Dragon Boat Festival and China Traditional Festivals: (1) The authoritative book Jing Chu Sui Ji did not mention the festival custom of eating zongzi on the fifth day of May, but wrote it in the Summer Solstice Festival. As for the race, Du Taiqing's "Jade Candle Collection" in Sui Dynasty classified it as an entertainment activity on the summer solstice, which shows that it is not necessarily to salvage Qu Yuan, a great poet who threw himself into the river. (2) Some contents in the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival, such as "stepping on a hundred herbs", "fighting a hundred herbs" and "picking herbs", have nothing to do with Qu Yuan. (3) The first explanation of the Dragon Boat Festival in "Hua Ji Li" is: "The sun is shining, and the Dragon Boat Festival is in the middle of summer, so it can also be called the Mid-Day Festival. Therefore, the earliest origin of the Dragon Boat Festival is the summer solstice.

In February p>2116, at the international academic conference held in Seoul, South Korea, Mr. He Xingliang, a researcher at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the China Academy of Social Sciences, once again perfected the summer solstice theory and proposed that the Dragon Boat Festival is the summer solstice. [3]

8. From the theory of orchid bathing

According to the Book of Rites, the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the orchid bathing in the Zhou Dynasty. The ancients picked bluegrass in May, and it was popular to bathe and detoxify bluegrass soup. "Dai Li Ji Xia Xiaozheng": "In May, ... boiled plums for beans, and stored orchids for bathing." Qu Yuan's "Nine Songs in the Cloud": "Bathing orchid soup is like mu Fang, and Chinese clothes are like English." In the Southern Dynasties, people in the Liang Dynasty, Zong Yi's Chronicle of the Age of Jingchu said, "May 5th is called the Bathing Orchid Festival." This custom spread to the Tang and Song Dynasties, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival as the Moon of Bathing Orchids. [3-4]

9, memorial meson push

According to Cai Yong's Qin Cao in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Dragon Boat Festival is a meson push to commemorate the sages. [4]

11, originated from Gou Jian's theory of practicing the water army

In the Song Dynasty, Gao Cheng published the article "The Origin of Things", and the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the Spring and Autumn Period when Gou Jian, the king of Yue, practiced the water army every day.