Overview of Guangxi Dragon Boat Festival Customs

During the Dragon Boat Festival, this custom has lasted for more than 2,000 years in our country. Every fifth day of the fifth lunar month, people all over the country celebrate the festival according to their traditional customs, and people in Guangxi are no exception. When people in Guangxi celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, the traditional customs inherited to commemorate Qu Yuan include dragon boat racing, eating rice dumplings, preparing sweet wine, etc. Before the legend of Qu Yuan was widely circulated, the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival followed the taboos on evil days to protect health. , Mainly avoiding epidemics, and health care and avoiding epidemics are mainly reflected in hanging mugwort leaves and calamus, wearing sachets to ward off evil spirits, taking Chinese medicinal baths, and drinking herbal wine and realgar wine

Dragon boat racing

As the most distinctive custom of the Dragon Boat Festival, dragon boat racing has a long history. According to folklore, the people of Chu were reluctant to let go of the death of their virtuous minister Qu Yuan, so many people rowed boats to chase him and save him. They scrambled to catch up to Dongting Lake but lost sight of him. So every year on May 5th of the lunar calendar, they rowed dragon boats to commemorate the event and dispersed the fish in the river to prevent them from eating Qu Yuan's body. Nowadays, dragon boat racing has become a popular traditional competitive sport. Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, dragon boat racing activities are held in various places in Guangxi. At that time, the riversides are crowded with people and extremely lively.

There are two types of dragon boats. It is divided into two floors. The upper floor has children dressing up as various historical and fairy figures. The lower floor carries drummers and beats gongs and drums. There are rowing sailors sitting on both sides. This kind of dragon boat is quite performative. The other is the small dragon boat used for competition. During the competition, the small dragon boat spins around the big dragon boat. When the big dragon boat throws an object, the sailors on the small dragon boat go into the water to fight for it. Among them, money and ducks are the hardest to grab, because coins sink when they hit the water, while ducks will swim around to avoid them.

Dragon boat races in Nanning City have been held in Yongjiang since liberation. This year, they moved to Nanhu Park for the first time. The race starts from Nanhu Bridge and ends at Bihu Road, with a total length of 600 meters. On June 20, 51 men’s and women’s teams competed here.

Eating Zongzi

During the Dragon Boat Festival, people of all ethnic groups in Guangxi have the custom of eating Zongzi, and each has its own way of making Zongzi. Aunt Chen, who has lived in Nanning for more than seven years and is originally from Xiantao City, Hubei Province, told reporters that in her hometown, every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, every household cooks glutinous rice or steams rice dumplings. In addition to family members tasting them themselves, they also throw some of the rice dumplings into the river to eat them. Worship Qu Yuan. In order to prevent the fish from eating the rice dumplings, people used bamboo tubes to hold glutinous rice and threw it into the river. Later, the convenient and simple rice dumpling leaves were gradually used to replace the bamboo tubes. Guangxi people also follow this custom when making rice dumplings.

Hanging mugwort leaves, calamus, and drinking herbs

In previous years during the Dragon Boat Festival, in the yard where the reporter lives, there were many people upstairs and downstairs hanging calamus, mugwort leaves, garlic, dragon boat flowers, etc. Chinese herbal leaves were tied into a bunch and hung by the door. After asking, I learned that this is also one of the traditional customs of Guangxi people celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival. In addition, some people also make these Chinese herbal medicines into wine for drinking.

Herbal bath

Wei Jiachang, who lives in the Nanning Railway Locomotive Depot in Chengbei District, Nanning City, is an old Nanning man. He said that when he was a child, during the Dragon Boat Festival, his mother would go to the vegetable market and buy a handful of herbal baths. I boiled the Chinese herbal medicine in water and gave myself a bath. I was told that after washing, I would not get sores or prickly heat. Now that I have a child, I wash my child every year. Mr. Wei said that this kind of Dragon Boat Festival "herbal bath" has been popular in Guangxi for a long time. This custom is not only found in Nanning, but also in many places.

Dragon Boat Festival stories and legends

There have always been different opinions about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. Some people regard it as commemorating the patriotic poet Qu Yuan who threw himself into the Miluo River on the fifth day of May. Some people say that in ancient times, this festival was a day for disinfection and avoiding epidemics.

According to records in the literature and many Dragon Boat Festival customs passed down from generation to generation, May is regarded as the "poisonous month" and "evil month". The fifth day of May is the first of the nine poisons, so this day Many special customs were spread to ward off evil spirits, disinfect and avoid epidemics, such as planting mugwort leaves, drinking realgar wine, and offering sacrifices to the messengers of the five plagues.

Later, the meaning of the Dragon Boat Festival changed. In order to commemorate the patriotic spirit and noble personality of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, people have forgotten the original meaning of the Dragon Boat Festival that has been circulated, and associated some customs such as dragon boat rowing and rice dumpling making that were not necessarily commemorating Qu Yuan to him.

Nowadays, most people only remember that the Dragon Boat Festival is related to Qu Yuan. In fact, some new generation of young people have not much impression of Qu Yuan’s story. What they know is that this is a festival for eating rice dumplings, that's all.

As for dragon boat racing during the Dragon Boat Festival, in fact, there are also dragon boat racing events everywhere when the Dragon Boat Festival is not here. From exorcising evil spirits and avoiding epidemics to commemorating Qu Yuan, the meaning of the Dragon Boat Festival has changed a lot.

The original meaning of this festival has been gradually "eroded" by social changes year after year.

Today, this festival has become a Chinese food festival. From the old corn millet and rice dumpling making to today's various colorful rice dumplings. Many places incorporate their own local delicacies into rice dumplings.

In fact, the main custom of the Dragon Boat Festival is dragon boat racing. Regarding the dragon boat race, written records began in "Xu Qixie Ji" written by Wu Jun of the Liang Dynasty 500 years ago. Later, written records about dragon boat racing can be found in many records. Among the thousands of local chronicles existing in various parts of China, there are only 227 local chronicles with records of dragon boat racing.

The sayings about dragon boat racing and dragon boat racing during the Dragon Boat Festival include "all the boats set out together to rush to Cheng to save Qu Yuan." and "a shout and drum music frightened away the dragon." These are all reminiscent of Qu Yuan.

Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, the Chinese people in the north and south of China and Southeast Asia will also hold dragon boat races to promote the Dragon Boat Festival.

The Legend of the Dragon Boat Festival

During the Warring States Period, Chu and Qin were competing for hegemony. The poet Qu Yuan was highly regarded by the King of Chu. However, Qu Yuan's ideas were opposed by the conservative faction headed by Jin Shang, a Shangguan official. , constantly slandered Qu Yuan in front of King Chu Huai, and King Chu Huai gradually alienated Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan, who had lofty ambitions, felt heartbroken. With uncontrollable melancholy and anger, he wrote immortal works such as "Li Sao" and "Tian Xiang" Psalms.

In 229 BC, Qin captured eight cities of Chu, and then sent envoys to invite King Huai of Chu to Qin to negotiate peace. Qu Yuan saw through King Qin's conspiracy and risked his own life to go to the palace to state his interests. King Huai of Chu not only refused to listen, but expelled Qu Yuan from the capital of Ying. King Huai of Chu went to the meeting as scheduled, but was imprisoned as soon as he arrived in Qin. King Huai of Chu was filled with regrets and became depressed and became ill. He died in Qin three years later. Not long after King Qingsei of Chu came to the throne, King Qin sent troops to attack Chu. King Qingsei of Chu fled the capital in panic, and Qin soldiers captured Yingcheng. While in exile, Qu Yuan heard the bad news about the death of King Huai of Chu and the attack on Ying City one after another. He lost all hope, sighed up to the sky, and threw himself into the roaring Miluo River.

When the fishermen on the river and the people on the shore heard that Qu Yuan had committed suicide by throwing himself into the river, they all came to the river one after another and tried their best to salvage Qu Yuan's body. They brought rice dumplings and eggs and threw them into the river. Pour the realgar wine into the water to stun dragons and water animals and protect Dr. Qu Yuan's body from harm. From then on, every year in early May - Qu Yuan's martyrdom day when he threw himself into the river, the people of Chu State would go to the river to row dragon boats and throw rice dumplings to commemorate the great patriotic poet. The custom of the Dragon Boat Festival has been passed down like this.