The word dragon boat was first seen in the pre-Qin ancient book "Biography of Mu Tianzi", Volume 5: Tianzi took a bird boat and the dragon boat floated in the marsh.
The sources of the custom of dragon boat racing are mainly as follows:
First, in memory of Qu Yuan
According to the biographies of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng in Historical Records, Qu Yuan was a minister of Chu Huaiwang during the Warring States Period. His advocacy of promoting talents and empowering people, enriching Qiang Bing, and uniting Qi against Qin met with strong opposition from Zi Lan, a nobleman, and Qu Yuan was driven out of the capital and exiled to the Yuan and Xiang river basins. When he was in exile, he wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen and Jiu Ge, which were concerned about the country and the people. In 278 BC, Qin Jun invaded Kyoto, Chu, and Qu Yuan could not bear to abandon his motherland. On the fifth day of May, after writing his masterpiece Huai Sha, he threw himself into the Miluo River and died.
Legend has it that after Qu Yuan's death, 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. They scrambled to catch up with each other and disappeared when they reached Dongting Lake. After that, I will row a dragon boat on May 5th every year to commemorate it. Dispel the fish in the river by rowing dragon boats, so as not to eat Qu Yuan's body.
In Miluo City, Hunan Province, before the race, you must first go to the Quzi Temple to worship the god Weng in the temple, put red cloth on the dragon head, and then race on the boat, both to worship the dragon god and to commemorate Qu Yuan. In Zigui, Qu Yuan's hometown in Hubei, there are also ceremonies to worship Qu Yuan. The custom of offering sacrifices to Qu Yuan is recorded in the Geographical Records of Sui Shu: it is swift and swift, and the songs are loud and noisy, and the audience is like a cloud. Tang Liu Yuxi's "Jingdu Qu" is self-explanatory: Jingdu began in Wuling, and now it is combined with it, and its sound is salty. Where is it? , the meaning of snouma Quzhi.
Second, to commemorate the dragon
Legend has it that a long time ago, there was no river on the west bank, only a small and dirty ditch. One day, a fisherman caught a small snake in a ditch. This little snake is very strange, with nine shining scales on its tail. When the fisherman touched the scales, the snake's eyes shone with begging light, which was very pitiful. The fisherman felt pity, touched its scales and put it back in the ditch. Who knows that the nine scales suddenly fell, and the little snake danced and turned into a little dragon. It turned out that it was a dragon in heaven. Because it broke the dogma and was punished by the Jade Emperor, it became like this. Nine locks were added to its tail-nine shining scales on the tail of a small snake. The jade emperor once said: this lock should be opened unless you get the yang of people. Just now, the fisherman inadvertently opened the Millennium shackles on Xiaolong. In order to thank the fisherman, Xiaolong kept turning in the ditch and spouted water from his mouth and poured it into the small ditch. Slowly, the small ditch became a big river (now the West Bank River), and the river brought abundant crops to the West Bank. In order to commemorate this dragon, people call the villages along the river Longtouzhai, Shanglongshou and other villages. On the day when the dragon ascended to heaven, that is, the Dragon Boat Festival, a dragon boat race was held to celebrate.
Third, in memory of Wu Zixu
The race in Wudi (Jiangsu area) in Qing Jia Lu originated from commemorating Wu Zixu.
In history, Gou Jian, the King of Yue, led the people in the name of paddling for boats, in order to avenge the destruction of the country by Fu Cha, the king of Wu, and practiced water warfare in secret. Wu Zixu, the general of the State of Wu, said. Wu Zixu was killed by Fu Cha, the king of Wu, because he was slandered by a disloyal minister. After his body was put into a leather bag and put into Qiantang River, he drifted with the tide without sinking. When the tide at the mouth of Qiantang River churned, people sailed with the tide, hoping to see Wu Zixu.
Suzhou therefore has the old habit of offering sacrifices to Wu Zixu at the Dragon Boat Festival and holding a race on the water to commemorate it. There are also ceremonies to commemorate Ma Yuan in Guangxi and Wang Shenzhi in Fuzhou.
In the 29th year of Qing Qianlong (1736), Taiwan Province began to hold dragon boat races. At that time, Jiang Yuanjun, the magistrate of Taiwan Province, hosted a friendly match in Banyuechi, Hokkeji, Tainan City. Taiwan Province holds a dragon boat race on May 5th every year. In Hong Kong, races are also held.
Fourth, in memory of Cao E and Qiu Jin
Zhejiang province commemorates Cao E with dragon boat races. According to Biography of Women in the Later Han Dynasty, Cao E died by throwing herself into the river, and folk legends say that she went down to the river to look for her father's body. There are many sacrifices in Zhejiang, and Dianshizhai Pictorial Worship Cao E depicts the scene of people sacrificing Cao E in Huiji area. It also has the significance of commemorating Qiu Jin, a local-born modern female democratic revolutionary.
Five, to commemorate the rock red nest
Yunnan Dai race dragon boats at the Songkran Festival to commemorate the ancient hero Yan Hongwo.
Six, Yuanling Pan Hu evocation.
Long before Qu Yuan, there were dragon boats in Yuanling. Yuanling Dragon Boat originated in ancient times, and the object of sacrifice was Pan Hu, the ancestor of all ethnic groups in Five Rivers. Pan Hu once settled in Banxishi Cave in Yuanling, gave birth to six children and six daughters, and the children married each other, and multiplied into six ethnic groups: Miao, Yao, Dong, Tu, She and Li. After Pan Hu's death, the Six Tribes feasted on the sorcerer and invited God to bring him back to life. Because of the dense water in Yuanling Mountain, the wizard didn't know where his soul fell, so he asked all ethnic groups to build a dragon boat and look for shouts by stream and river, which eventually evolved into a witch-worship activity of rowing to summon souls.
The above statements are mostly attached by later generations to commemorate their ancestors. There are three other scientific theories about the origin of dragon boat race:
One is that the dragon boat race is a sacrifice to the dragon totem.
Mr. Wen Yiduo said in "Duanjie Kao": The Dragon Boat Festival was originally a totem festival held by wuyue people, and the dragon boat race was a semi-religious and semi-entertaining festival. In primitive society, in order to resist the threat of floods and respect the imaginary powerful dragon as their ancestor and protector, the tribal people in the water town built the boat into a dragon shape, painted the dragon pattern, and held a race on the Dragon Boat Festival every year to show their respect for the dragon, and at the same time showed that they were descendants and descendants of the dragon. According to the examination, the dragon boat existed in Zhou Muwang in the Western Zhou Dynasty. For example, there is a man standing on a dragon boat on the silk painting of the Chu tomb of the Warring States period unearthed in Changsha, Hunan Province.
The second is that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from evil days.
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is an evil day in ancient folk customs. In summer, the ancients had many customs to drive away epidemics, all of which came from the evil month and day of the fifth day of May, such as throwing corn (zongzi) into the river, which was a witchcraft practice.
Third, it is considered that dragon boat racing is an entertainment activity of the Summer Solstice Festival.
Some people think that the beginning of the Dragon Boat Festival with written materials should be the summer solstice. The reason is that, in The Story of Jingchu Years Old, the custom of Dragon Boat Festival did not eat zongzi, but it was in the middle of the summer solstice. Du Taiqing, a native of Sui Dynasty, said in the book Jade Candle Collection that the race is an entertainment activity of the Summer Solstice Festival. Most traditional festivals in China have experienced the development process from simple to complex. The Dragon Boat Festival is a dragon festival, and it is also a taboo day for bad months. It originated very early, and later people will commemorate Qu Yuan and others, making the Dragon Boat Festival and dragon boat race a compound folk festival with many meanings.