During the Dragon Boat Festival, there will be many activities and many lively projects, and dragon boat rowing is one of them. So what is the origin of dragon boat rowing on the Dragon Boat Festival, and why is there this activity on this festival?

Dragon boat race is one of the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival in China, and it is also one of the most important festivals and folk activities of the Dragon Boat Festival. It is widespread in southern China, and there are also dragon boat races in cities near rivers and lakes in the north, and most of them are in the form of rowing and dancing dragon boats.

There are many theories about the origin of dragon boat race, such as offering sacrifices to Cao E, Qu Yuan, water god or dragon god, and its origin can be traced back to the Warring States period. Dragon boat race was first introduced to neighboring countries such as Japan, Vietnam and Britain, and it was the official event of the 21 Guangzhou Asian Games.

Source Legend

According to the biographies of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng in Historical Records, Qu Yuan was a minister of Chu Huaiwang in the Spring and Autumn 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.

It is said that after the death of Qu Yuan, 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 go to the Quzi Temple to worship the dragon head in the temple, put red cloth on the dragon head, and then race on the boat, so as to worship the dragon god and 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.