Dragon Boat Festival customs:

1. Dragon boat racing

Dragon boat racing is the main custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. According to legend, it originated from the ancient Chu people who were reluctant to leave their virtuous minister Qu Yuan and threw himself into the river. Many people rowed boats to chase and save him. They scrambled to catch up and disappeared when they reached Dongting Lake. After that, dragon boat racing was held every May 5th to commemorate the event. He rowed dragon boats to disperse the fish in the river to prevent them from eating Qu Yuan's body. The custom of racing was popular in Wu, Yue and Chu.

2. Eating rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival

Eating rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of the Chinese people. Zongzi is also called "corner millet" and "tube rice dumpling". It has a long history and has many variations. On the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival, every family eats rice dumplings to commemorate Qu Yuan. They usually wrap the rice dumplings the day before, cook them at night, and eat them in the morning. Zongzi is mainly made of tender reed leaves that are abundant along river ponds. Bamboo leaves are also used in some areas, collectively called zongzi leaves. The traditional form of rice dumplings is triangular, and they are generally named according to the inner crumbs. Those made with glutinous rice are called rice dumplings, those with adzuki beans mixed in rice are called adzuki rice dumplings, and those mixed with red dates are called jujube rice dumplings. They are collectively called glutinous rice dumplings. The homophone of jujube rice dumpling is "zaozhong", so the most people eat it, hoping that children who are studying can win the first prize early in the exam. In the past, scholars would eat jujube rice dumplings in the morning on the day they took the imperial examination. Nowadays, some parents make jujube rice dumplings for the candidates to eat on the morning of the entrance exams for middle schools and universities.

3. Wearing sachets

Children wear sachets during the Dragon Boat Festival. Legend has it that they are meant to ward off evil spirits and dispel plague. They are actually used to decorate their lapels. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar, and fragrant medicine, and is wrapped with silk cloth. The fragrance is overflowing. Five-color silk strings are then tied into ropes to make various shapes and form a string. They are colorful, small and cute, and have now become a kind of sachet. Universal crafts. In some southern cities in China, young men and women also use sachets to express their deep love.

4. Hanging moxa

Folk proverb says: "Put willows during the Qingming Festival and moxa during the Dragon Boat Festival." During the Dragon Boat Festival, people regard planting mugwort and calamus as one of the important contents. Every household must sweep the courtyard, insert calamus and moxa sticks in the eyebrows of the door, and hang them in the hall. They also use calamus, mugwort leaves, pomegranate flowers, garlic, and dragon boat flowers to make human or tiger shapes, which are called mugwort people and mugwort tigers. They are also made into garlands and ornaments, which are beautiful and fragrant. Women rush to wear them to drive away miasma. The Dragon Boat Festival is also a "health festival" passed down from ancient times. On this day, people sweep the courtyard, hang mugwort branches, hanging calamus, sprinkle realgar water, and drink realgar wine to stimulate turbidity, remove decay, and kill bacteria and prevent diseases. These activities also reflect the fine traditions of the Chinese nation. Going to the mountains to collect herbs during the Dragon Boat Festival is a common custom among all ethnic groups in my country.

5. Hanging the statue of Zhongkui

Zhongkui catching ghosts is a Dragon Boat Festival custom. In the Jianghuai area, every house hangs a statue of Zhongkui to protect the house and ward off evil spirits. During the reign of Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty, when he returned to the palace from a martial arts lecture at Mount Li, malaria broke out. He dreamed of two ghosts, one big and one small. The little ghost wore bright red crotchless pants, stole Concubine Yang's sachet and Emperor Ming's jade flute, and ran around the palace. The big ghost wore a blue robe and a hat, caught the little ghost, gouged out its eyes, and swallowed them in one gulp. Emperor Ming asked, and the ghost said: "My surname is Zhong Kui. I failed in the military examination, and I am willing to eliminate demons for your majesty. After Emperor Ming woke up, he recovered from malaria, so he ordered the painter Wu Daozi to paint Zhong Kui catching ghosts according to what he saw in his dream. The portraits were ordered to be posted all over the world during the Dragon Boat Festival to drive away evil spirits.

6. Hanging purses and tying five-color silk thread

Ying Shao's "Customs" records: "On May 5, five-color silk is tied to the arm, and the name is long-lived, and the name is continued. The life threads, one is a soldier's spear, one is a five-color thread, and one is a Zhusuo, which protects soldiers and ghosts, and protects people from diseases."

In ancient China, five colors were revered and regarded as auspicious colors. Therefore, in the early morning of the festival, the first important thing that adults do after getting up is to tie five-color threads on their children's wrists, ankles, and necks. When tying the thread, children are prohibited from speaking. The five-colored thread cannot be broken or discarded at will. It can only be thrown into the river during the first heavy rain in summer or the first bath. It is said that children wearing the five-colored thread can avoid harm from poisonous insects such as snakes and scorpions; throwing it into the river means that the river water will wash away plagues and diseases, so that the children can stay safe and healthy.

Volume 8 of Meng Yuanlao's "Tokyo Menghua Lu" records: Dragon Boat Festival items include Bai Suo, moxa flowers, silver drums, colorful painted fans, fragrant candies, small rice dumplings, and white balls. Perilla, calamus, and papaya are all cut into velvet velvet, mixed with fragrant herbs, and wrapped in a plum-red box. Starting from May 1st and the day before the Dragon Boat Festival, peaches, willows, sunflowers, cattail leaves, and Buddha moxa are sold. The next day, every family laid it out at the front of the door and offered it with five-color water balls, tea and wine. He also nailed Ai Ren to the door, and the scholars and common people gave each other a feast.

Chen Yuanliang's "Sui Shi Guang Ji" quoted from "Sui Shi Za Ji" mentioned a kind of "Duanwu Festival made of red and white colors like a bag, with colorful threads running through it, making it look like a flower shape, or with a belt or nails on the door." Above, with a red mouth and a white tongue, it is also called twitching money." And another kind of "clam powder bell": "On the Dragon Boat Festival, put clam powder into the silk, and decorate it with cotton, like a few beads. Let the children wear it to absorb sweat." The contents of these portable bags have changed several times, from Clam powder to absorb sweat, talismans to ward off evil spirits, copper coins, and realgar powder to repel insects have developed into sachets containing spices, and their production has become increasingly sophisticated, becoming unique folk arts and crafts of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Similarly, there is drinking realgar wine: this custom is very popular among people in the Yangtze River Basin. Traveling with all kinds of diseases: This custom is popular in the Dragon Boat Festival customs in Guizhou area.

7. Order some realgar wine

Realgar is also a medicinal material and is said to be able to kill hundreds of poisons. Therefore, during the Dragon Boat Festival, people in Shaanxi will soak realgar in wine and smear realgar wine on children’s ears, noses, foreheads, wrists, ankles, etc. It is said that this method can repel mosquitoes, snakes, scorpions, centipedes, Geckos and spiders can't wait to catch you.

The Dragon Boat Festival is the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, May Festival, and Five-Day Festival...Before the Spring and Autumn Period, the Dragon Boat Festival was a time to cure diseases and prevent epidemics. The festival later evolved into a festival for Chinese Han people to commemorate Qu Yuan and remember the noble feelings of the Chinese nation because of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan who died for his country on this day. It has been followed to this day. Qu Yuan's fame has been immortalized and the patriotic spirit has spread to all parts of China. But there are exceptions. The Dragon Boat Festival in the Soochow area has never commemorated Qu Yuan, but commemorated Wu Zixu who was thrown into the river on May 5th. In addition, the customs of dragon boat racing and tribal totem sacrifices on this day in the Wuyue area preceded the Spring and Autumn Period. . During the Dragon Boat Festival, there are customs such as eating rice dumplings, racing dragon boats, hanging calamus, mugwort, mugwort leaves, smoking atractylodes and angelica, and drinking realgar wine. "Dragon Boat Festival" is one of the national statutory holidays and is included in the World Intangible Cultural Heritage List.