The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Duan Yang Festival, Noon Festival, May Festival, etc., is known as one of the four major traditional festivals of Chinese folklore along with the Spring Festival, the Qingming Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, and has a history of more than 2,000 years. Although the true origin of the Dragon Boat Festival has become blurred in the historical wind and smoke, it has left behind a variety of rich customs but still let us feel nostalgic today.

The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival:

The Dragon Boat Festival originated from the worship of the celestial phenomenon, and evolved from the sacrifice of the dragon in ancient times. Midsummer Dragon Boat Festival, Canglong seven lodging soared to the south in the sky, is the day of the dragon, that is, as the "I Ching - Qian Gua" lines of the fifth line of the lines said: "Flying Dragon in the sky". Dragon Boat Festival Dragon Star both "to get in" and "get positive", is a great sign of good fortune.

The Dragon Boat Festival, originally created by the ancestors in the south to worship the dragon ancestor of the festival. Because of the legend of the Warring States period of the Chu poet Qu Yuan jumped Miluo River on the 5th of May to kill himself, and later people will also be the Dragon Boat Festival as a festival to commemorate Qu Yuan; also commemorates Wu Zixu, Cao E and Jie Zi Tui and other sayings.

Overall, the Dragon Boat Festival originated in the ancient ancestors to choose the "dragon ascending to heaven" on the auspicious day of sacrifice to the dragon ancestor, injected into the summer seasonal "disease prevention" fashion, the Dragon Boat Festival as a "bad month and bad day" originated in the northern central plains, attaching the The Duanwu is the first time in the history of the world to be commemorated by a historical figure such as Qu Yuan.

Duanwu custom formation can be said to be the product of the fusion of northern and southern customs. The term "Dragon Boat Festival" first appeared in the Western Jin Dynasty's "Record of Wind and Earth": "Midsummer Dragon Boat Festival is the fifth day of the fifth month, and the popularity of this day, and the summer solstice."

Duan, the ancient Chinese language has the beginning, the initial meaning, said "Duanwu" is also known as "the first five". The "Shuowen Jiezi": "end, the first born of the title also", that is, the end of the meaning of the first, so the first five days of May is known as "Duanwu Festival". The times of the year and wide record" said: "the capital city dust people, the first day of May for the end of one, the second for the end of two, the number to five is called the end of the five." Ancient people used to refer to the first few days of May as Duan respectively. Therefore, the first noon of the month of five (noon), called the Dragon Boat Festival.

But the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival have long been there, such as dragon boat racing ritual custom, has long existed. The ancients to the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches to serve as a carrier, the Heavenly Stems to carry the way of heaven, the Earthly Branches to carry the way of the earth, set up the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches to the deed of heaven and earth and the movement of the personnel. Ancient chronology, chronological month, the day, the time general Tian Gan Di Zhi, according to the calendar, according to the twelve branches of the Earth's order of projection, the fifth month that is "noon", noon noon day is called "heavy noon", and the noon day and the "yangchen ", so the Dragon Boat Festival is also known as "Duan Yang".

The Dragon Boat Festival began to spread mainly in the south of the Wu-Yue area, and as a "totem sacrifice". The ancient ancestors used the dragon as a totem and chose to worship it at the Dragon Boat Festival, which was actually a festival for the ancestor of the dragon at that time.

Stories about the Dragon Boat Festival

? Commemorate Qu Yuan said?

Duanwu Festival is the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar every year, also known as the Duanyang Festival, Wuzhi Festival, May Festival, Wuzhi Festival, Ai Festival, Duanwu, Chongwu, Wuzhi, and Summer Festival, which was originally a summer festival to drive away the plague. Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival of the Han Chinese people in China, this day essential activities gradually evolved into eating zongzi, dragon boat racing, hanging calamus ` Artemisia annua, moxa, fumigation of Cangzhu, Angelica dahurica, and drink xionghuang wine.

It is said that the Dragon Boat Festival to eat rice dumplings and dragon boat racing custom, is to commemorate the history of China's great poet Qu Yuan, it is precisely because of this liberation after the Dragon Boat Festival had been named "Poet's Day".

Qu Yuan is one of China's greatest romantic poets, and is also the earliest known famous poet in China and a world cultural celebrity. He created the genre of "Chushu" and the tradition of "Vanilla Beauty". His representative works include "Li Sao" and "Nine Songs". In China's history, the Dragon Boat Festival has been celebrated in honor of Qu Yuan for more than 1500 years. According to legend, after Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River, the local people immediately rowed their boats to rescue him, but they never saw his body until they reached the Dongting Lake. At that time, it was a rainy day, and the boats on the lake gathered together by the pavilion on the shore. When people learned that it was to salvage the wise minister Qu Daifu, once again braved the rain, scrambling to row into the vast Dongting Lake. In order to send their condolences, people swing boat on the river, and then gradually developed into a dragon boat race. The people are afraid of the river fish eat his body, they have to go home to bring the rice ball into the river, so as to avoid fish and shrimp spoiled Qu Yuan's body, and later became the custom of eating rice dumplings.

? The memorial Wu Zixu said?

The second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival, which is widely circulated around Jiangsu and Zhejiang, commemorates Wu Zixu in the late Spring and Autumn period.

Wu Zixu's ancestor, Wu Ju, was famous for his uprightness in advising King Zhuang of Chu, so his descendants were also famous in Chu. The Wu Zixu family was persecuted in Chu and defected to Wu. He was highly utilized by King Helu of Wu, who defeated Chu, subdued Qi and Jin in the north, and subdued the Yue in the south, and was rewarded with the title of Duke of Xiangguo.

Wu Zixu believed that the state of Yue should be annihilated in one fell swoop, but Wu Zixu, who was slandered by great fortune-tellers, refused to listen to the idea of "uniting Qi and fighting against Yue", and gave Wu Zixu a sword to kill himself in 484 BC. In 484, Wu Zixu was given a sword to kill himself. Zixu was so angry that he killed himself, but he left his family to gouge out his eyes after his death and hang them on the east gate of the city, so that they could watch the Yue army destroy Wu.

Wu Zixu's body was wrapped in owl leather and thrown into the Qiantang River. When Wu was destroyed by King Goujian of Yue, Fu-chai was ashamed to see Wu Zixu in the underworld, and covered his eyes with a white cloth before he raised his sword to kill himself.

Since Wu Zixu's body was sunk in the Qiantang River before Qu Yuan's death, some literature suggests that the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is associated with Wu Zixu, not Qu Yuan.

? Honoring the filial daughter Cao E said?

The third legend of the Dragon Boat Festival commemorates Cao E, a filial daughter of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who saved her father by throwing herself into the river.

Cao E (130-143), the Eastern Han Dynasty, Huiqi Shangyu people, his father Cao Xu, on the fifth day of the fifth month to welcome the Wu God (Handan Chun compiled "Cao E Stele" that is, the cloud: "the fifth day of the fifth month, when to welcome the Wu Jun." The "Wujun" refers to "Wu Zixu") drowned in the Shun River during the ritual activities, and the body was not seen for several days. At that time, the filial daughter Cao E was only fourteen years old, and she cried along the river day and night.

After seventeen days, she threw herself into the river on May 22, and five days later, Cao E's body surfaced with her father's corpse in her arms. The story spread as a myth, and it was passed on to the governor of the county, who ordered Du Shang to erect a monument for it, and his disciple Handan Chun to write a eulogy in praise of it.

Later, the village where he lived was renamed Cao'e, and the river where he was martyred was called Cao'e River, and a temple was built to honor his filial piety.

There are also legends that Cao E threw herself into the river on the 5th of May, without investigating the time of her father's drowning.

Customs of the Dragon Boat Festival:

? Dragon boat racing?

Dragon boat racing, is the main custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. Legend has it that it originated in ancient times, when the people of Chu could not bear to see the wise minister Qu Yuan throw himself into the river to die, and many of them chased after him in boats to save him. They scrambled and chased him to Dongting Lake without a trace. After that, they rowed dragon boats on May 5 every year to commemorate it. People used the dragon boat to disperse the fish in the river so as not to eat Qu Yuan's body. The habit of racing is prevalent in Wu, Yue and Chu.

? Eating brown?

Duanwu Festival to eat zongzi, which is another traditional custom of the Chinese people. Zongzi, also known as "corn", "tube dumplings". It has a long history, a variety of patterns. The morning of the Dragon Boat Festival, families eat zongzi to commemorate Qu Yuan, usually the day before the zongzi package, cooked at night, eaten in the morning.

? The first thing you need to do is to take a look at the color of the bag and the color of the bag.

Duanwu Festival children wear scented pouches, the legend has a meaning of the evil spirits to drive away the plague (in ancient times, people thought that they were sick because of the body of the demons and ghosts), is actually used for lapel head embellishment decoration. Incense capsule inside the cinnabar, andrographis, incense medicine, wrapped in silk cloth, fragrant, and then the five-color silk string buckle into a rope, for a variety of different shapes, knotted into a string, colorful, small and lovely.

? The first is to make a string of different shapes, colors and colors, and then to make a string of different shapes.

The folk proverb says: "insert the willow at Qingming, insert the wormwood at the Dragon Boat Festival". In the Dragon Boat Festival, people take the insertion of moxa and calamus as one of the important contents. Households have to sweep the courtyard, with calamus, moxa inserted in the door eyebrow, hanging in the hall. And with calamus, moxa, pomegranate, garlic, dragon boat flower, made of human or tiger-shaped, known as Ai man, Ai tiger; made of wreaths, ornaments, beautiful and fragrant, women compete to wear, to drive away miasma. Dragon Boat Festival is also passed down from ancient times, "Health Festival", people in this day to clean the courtyard, hang ai sticks, hanging calamus, sprinkle andrographis water, drink andrographis wine, and stir up the corrosion, sterilization and disease prevention.

? Tie five-colored silk thread?

Ying Shao "Customs" recorded: "May 5, to colorful silk tie arm, the name of the long-life wisp ......, to avoid soldiers and ghosts, the fate of the people do not disease plague."

In traditional Chinese culture, the five colors "green, red, white, black and yellow", which symbolize the five elements of the five directions, are regarded as auspicious colors. Therefore, in the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival, the first thing adults do after waking up is to tie five-colored threads around children's wrists, ankles and necks.

When tying the line, it is forbidden for children to speak. The colorful threads cannot be broken or thrown away arbitrarily, and can only be thrown into the river during the first heavy summer rain or the first bath.

It is said that children wearing the five-color thread can avoid the harm of snake and scorpion-type poisonous insects; throwing it into the river means letting the river wash away the plague and diseases, and the children can thus preserve their health and well-being.

The Dragon Boat Festival, as a traditional festival of the Chinese nation, carries a thick history and culture, rich in humanistic spirit, in which we can y feel the long history and profoundness of Chinese culture. Since ancient times, people have been singing and dancing to express their blessings. When the Dragon Boat Festival comes, we should also express our blessings and respect in various ways, and pray for the prosperity of the motherland, social harmony and stability, and people live in peace and work in contentment.