It is said that the custom of eating garlic alone during the Dragon Boat Festival was handed down by a Li county magistrate who worked in this county in the early Tang Dynasty. Origin

Li county magistrate had a precious son named Defu. When Defu was ten years old, he got a diarrhea similar to chronic enteritis, and he had diarrhea more than ten times a day. Because the county magistrate is a good official praised by everyone, countless famous doctors come to offer prescriptions, but none of them work. The county magistrate saw his son dying, and he was heartbroken.

In a blink of an eye, on the Dragon Boat Festival, a rural doctor who had been helped by the county magistrate heard about it and took the initiative to go into the county government and told the county magistrate that he had a folk remedy that could cure the son's illness.

The doctor showed the written prescription to the county magistrate, and it read: "Steamed a bowl of garlic alone". The magistrate was suspicious when he saw this strange prescription, but he still steamed a bowl of garlic for his son at lunch with the mentality of "a dead horse is a living horse doctor". He was afraid that his son wouldn't eat it, and he sprinkled some brown sugar and sesame oil specially. Fude ate it all with relish.

Miraculously, the next day, the blessed diarrhea was obviously relieved, and it recovered after one week. The county magistrate also felt incredible: "I didn't expect ordinary garlic to be able to cure diseases.

after the story of "curing the strange disease of the county magistrate's son with garlic alone" spread, the people were inspired. So that every family would eat a bowl of "steamed garlic" to prevent diseases at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival every year. Some people who can't get used to the smell add sliced garlic as an ingredient to their dishes.

The Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient folk custom in China. Chinese people have the custom of eating zongzi, hanging wormwood, hanging garlic and rowing dragon boats during the Dragon Boat Festival. In addition, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei, Northeast China and other places have the habit of hanging peach branches or peach symbols, eating eggs and cooking garlic during the Dragon Boat Festival. In Jiangsu and Zhejiang, there is also the habit of eating garlic on the Dragon Boat Festival. Custom

There is a folk proverb in Wujiang, Jiangsu Province: "Don't eat garlic at the Dragon Boat Festival, the ghost will get in front of the door". Locals eat garlic on the Dragon Boat Festival. It is said that they can avoid the "five poisons" and ward off evil spirits and plague. "Stewed garlic with tofu" is an essential food on the Dragon Boat Festival table.

According to the old Nanjing custom, at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival, every family should cook the whole garlic in the stove, and then give it to the children at home. One child eats one alone, because it is homophonic and poisonous. The child ate burnt garlic, did not have diarrhea in summer, and there was no ascaris in the abdomen.

In Yunnan and Guangxi, there are also some places where "steamed garlic" is eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival. It is said that the unique "black garlic" in Yunnan was invented during the Dragon Boat Festival.

According to historical records, garlic has developed in China for more than two thousand years. Garlic originated in West Asia, and was brought back to the mainland by Zhang Qian when he went to the Western Regions in the Western Han Dynasty. Because it was bigger than the small garlic in the mainland, it was called garlic.

The traditional custom of the Dragon Boat Festival is to eat zongzi. Generally, on the Dragon Boat Festival, every family will eat zongzi, and the Dragon Boat Festival also has some meanings in memory of Qu Yuan, which has a long history. Eating garlic on the Dragon Boat Festival has the meanings of exorcism and disease prevention.