What is the meaning of Dragon Boat Festival?

Eating zongzi is the most popular custom in the Dragon Boat Festival. In ancient times, it was a sacrifice to Qu Yuan who threw himself into the river. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, people in Jingchu will cook glutinous rice or steamed zongzi cakes and throw them into the river. Fearing that fish would eat them, people came up with the idea of wrapping rice with zongzi leaves and colored silk. The following is the significance of the Dragon Boat Festival organized by Bian Xiao. I hope it helps you!

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What is the main significance of the Dragon Boat Festival?

1, Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival for the Han people in China to commemorate Qu Yuan. It spread to all parts of China around Qu Yuan, a talented and independent doctor of Chu. Folk culture never tires of it, and Qu Yuan's celebrity is well known, bearing the noble feelings of the Chinese nation.

Dragon Boat Festival is a festival founded by the ancestors of Baiyue in ancient times to worship their ancestors. According to legend, Qu Yuan, a Chu poet in the Warring States Period, committed suicide by jumping into the Miluo River on May 5th. Later, people also took the Dragon Boat Festival as a festival to commemorate Qu Yuan.

Generally speaking, the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the ancestors of Baiyue in the south who chose "Dragon Ascending to Heaven" as an auspicious day to worship their ancestors, and injected the seasonal fashion of "getting rid of diseases and preventing diseases" in summer. Dragon Boat Festival is considered as an "evil moon day", which originated in the northern part of the Central Plains. The formation of the Dragon Boat Festival custom can be said to be the product of the integration of North and South customs.

2. Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Mid-Autumn Festival are also called the four traditional festivals in China. Dragon Boat Festival culture has a wide influence in the world, and some countries and regions in the world also celebrate it.

Dragon Boat Festival is a very popular folk festival in China. This is a traditional custom of the Chinese nation since ancient times. Due to the vast territory and numerous stories and legends, not only many different festival names have been produced, but also different customs have been observed in different places.

The Dragon Boat Festival is a mixture of various folk customs, such as avoiding evil spirits and epidemic prevention, so some people think that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the ancient people's festival of "avoiding evil spirits and epidemic prevention". China has a long history and profound culture, and ancient festivals are an important carrier of traditional culture.

3. Dragon Boat Festival is a very popular folk festival in China. Celebrating Dragon Boat Festival has been a traditional habit of the Chinese nation since ancient times. In traditional festivals, there are many and varied folk customs, or only the Dragon Boat Festival can be compared with the Spring Festival. Both festivals have rituals and customs such as praying for blessings and eliminating disasters, which have pinned people's desire to welcome auspicious blessings and ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters.

The Dragon Boat Festival has integrated a variety of folk customs in its historical development and evolution. There are many customs of Dragon Boat Festival, with various forms, rich and colorful contents, and lively and festive. Due to different regional cultures, the content or details of customs vary from place to place in China.

Performing traditional folk activities during the Dragon Boat Festival can not only enrich people's spiritual and cultural life, but also inherit and carry forward traditional culture. As an important part of China traditional culture, Dragon Boat Festival culture embodies the long history and profoundness of China culture.

The Origin and Legend of Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the third traditional festival after the Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, which has been handed down by our ancestors for thousands of years. This major festival contains a very important commemorative significance, and the whole country is celebrating and beaming, which is of great significance. To this end, the state has specially stipulated that in recent years, like the Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, there will be a special festival to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival!

According to the research of China folklorists, there are many opinions about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: in memory of Qu Yuan; In memory of Wu Zixu's theory; In memory of Cao E; From the three generations of summer solstice festival; The theory of exorcising evil days on the moon, the theory of national totem sacrifice in wuyue and so on. Each of the above has its own source. According to more than 100 ancient books and archaeological studies by experts listed in Wen Yiduo's Dragon Boat Festival Examination and Dragon Boat Festival History Education, the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival is a totem festival held by Wuyue people in the ancient south of China, earlier than Qu Yuan. But for thousands of years, the Dragon Boat Festival was specially set up to commemorate the great ancient poet Qu Yuan. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in China, Qu Yuan, a great patriotic poet, was famous at home and abroad for his famous sentence "I will go up and down to seek". Qu Yuan's patriotic spirit and touching poems have been deeply rooted in people's hearts, so people "regret and comment on the world and pass it on from generation to generation". Therefore, the theory of commemorating Qu Yuan has the widest and deepest influence and occupies the mainstream position. In the field of folk culture, China people associate dragon boat racing and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival with commemorating Qu Yuan.

Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient traditional festival, which started in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and has a history of more than 2,000 years. There are many legends about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. Here, based on a large number of literature and history materials, only the following four kinds are introduced for readers.

Starting with the memory of Qu Yuan. According to the historian Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng, Qu Yuan was a minister of Chu Huaiwang in the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated the use of talents, empowerment, and prosperity, and advocated joint resistance to Qin, which was strongly opposed by others. Qu Yuan was forced to leave his post, was driven out of the capital and exiled to the Yuan and Xiang river basins. During his exile, he wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen and Tian Wen, which have a unique style and far-reaching influence (therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival is also called the Poet's Day). In 278 BC, Qin Jun conquered Kyoto of Chu. Seeing that his motherland was invaded, Qu Yuan was heartbroken, but he was always reluctant to give up his motherland. On May 5th, after writing his masterpiece Huai Sha, he died in Miluo River and wrote a magnificent patriotic movement with his own life. 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 homage to Qu Yuan. The fisherman paddled the boat and fished for his real body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out rice balls, eggs and other foods prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river, saying that ichthyosaurs, shrimps and crabs were full and would not bite the doctor. People followed suit after seeing it. An old doctor took an altar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying that he would stun the dragon water beast with medicine so as not to hurt Dr. Qu. Later, people were afraid that rice balls would be eaten by dragons, so they came up with a way to develop zongzi by wrapping rice with neem leaves and wrapping it with colored silk. After that, on the fifth day of May every year, there is the custom of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. In memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Mr. Guo Moruo, a great modern writer in China, once created and adapted a large-scale historical drama and film Qu Yuan, which artistically reproduced the glorious image of this great poet and revealed the great significance of commemorating Qu Yuan on the Dragon Boat Festival in May, with far-reaching influence!

From Wu Zixu's memory. The second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival, which spread in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, commemorates Wu Zixu in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). Wu Zixu, a famous Chu national, and his father and brother were all killed by the King of Chu. Later, Zixu abandoned the dark and went to Wu to help Wu to attack Chu, and entered the capital city of Chu in the Five Wars. At that time, King Chu Ping was already dead. Zixu dug a grave and whipped 300 bodies to avenge his father's murder. After the death of He Lu, the king of Wu, his son Fu Cha succeeded to the throne. Wu Jun's morale was high and he was defeated by Yue. Gou Jian, the King of Yue, made peace, and Fu Cha agreed. Zi Xu suggested the complete elimination of Yue, but Fu Cha didn't listen. Wu was massacred and bought by the state of Yue. He was framed by slanderers. Fu Cha believed him and gave him a sword. Zi Xu died. Zixu, a loyal minister, feels like death. Before he died, he said to his neighbors, "After I die, I will gouge out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Jason Wu, watching the Vietnamese army enter the city and destroy Wu." Then he killed himself. Fu Cha was furious after hearing this. On May 5th, he wrapped Zixu's body in leather and threw it into the river. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also a day to commemorate Wu Zixu.

The third legend of Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the filial daughter Cao E who saved her drowning father in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 23-220). Cao E was a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father drowned in the river and didn't see her body for several days. At that time, Cao E, the filial daughter, was only fourteen years old, crying day and night by the river. 17 days later, he also threw himself into the river on May 5, and fished out his father's body five days later. This was passed down as a myth, and then to the governor of the county government, who made it a monument for disciple Han Danchun to make a eulogy. The tomb of the filial daughter is in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today, and there is a monument made by Jin. Later, in order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, Cao E Temple was built where Cao E threw himself into the river. The village where she lived was renamed Cao E Town, and the place where Cao E died was named Cao E River.

Totem sacrifice originated from the ancient Yue nationality. A large number of cultural relics unearthed in modern times and archaeological studies have confirmed that in the Neolithic age, there was a cultural relic with geometric prints and pottery ruins in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. According to experts' inference, the remaining clan is Baiyue clan, a clan that worships dragon totem in history. The decorative patterns and historical legends on unearthed pottery show that they have the custom of tattooing constantly, live in a water town and compare themselves to the descendants of dragons. Among its production tools, there are a large number of stone tools, as well as small bronzes such as shovels and chisels. As daily necessities, the printed pottery ding used for cooking food is unique to them and is one of the symbols of their ethnic group. Until the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were still more than 100 Vietnamese people, and the Dragon Boat Festival was a festival for their ancestors. During thousands of years of historical development, most Baiyue people have integrated into the Han nationality, and the rest have evolved into many ethnic minorities in the south. Therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival has become a festival for the whole Chinese nation.

No matter what the origin and legend are, the Dragon Boat Festival, as a tradition of more than 2,000 years, has been deeply rooted and preserved. Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is still a very popular grand festival in China. On the basis of retaining traditional customs, absorbing the essence, eliminating the dross, keeping pace with the times, has also given new content and spirit of the times. Let China's long-standing traditional culture and excellent folk customs continue to be carried forward, and let foreign advanced cultures such as Father's Day, Mother's Day and Valentine's Day be introduced and integrated with China's national culture. We will unswervingly follow the correct policy of "making the past serve the present, making foreign things serve China, letting a hundred flowers blossom and bringing forth the new", and everyone will practice socialism.

The meaning of the name of Dragon Boat Festival

The original meaning of the word "Duan" in Dragon Boat Festival is "Zheng" and "Wu" is "Zhong". "Dragon Boat Festival" and "Chiang Kai-shek" are also right, and noon on this day is right in the middle. The ancients took heavenly stems and earthly branches as the carrier, and the heavenly stem carried the way of heaven, and the earth supported the way of the earth. Heavenly stems and earthly branches was established to contract the fate of heaven and earth, and the times are universal in heavenly stems and earthly branches. In midsummer afternoon, the flying dragon is in the sky. At this time, Long Xing is in the south middle school, which is the most "suitable" position to run on Sundays all year round. It is both "right" and "right" and a symbol of good luck. The ancients always advocated the middle way and the right way, and the "middle way" was vividly displayed here. In addition, the end also means "early", so the first noon of the fifth month is also called Dragon Boat Festival.

According to statistics, the name of Dragon Boat Festival is the most popular among all traditional festivals in China, reaching more than 20, such as Dragon Boat Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Midsummer Festival, Ai Festival, Shangri-La Festival, May Festival, Acorus Festival, Tianyi Festival, Herbal Festival, Magnolia Festival, Noon Festival, Dila Festival and Zhengyang Festival. The origin of several names of Dragon Boat Festival;

● Duanyang Festival

The ancients used heavenly stems and earthly branches to represent calendar year, calendar month, calendar day and calendar time. According to the official calendar and the order of the twelve branches, May is "noon month" and noon is "sunshine", so the Dragon Boat Festival is also called "Duanyang".

● Noon Festival

Midsummer Dragon Boat Festival: The Seven Nights of the Black Dragon are located in the south meridian, with the most "positive" and "middle" position. In addition, because of the Dragon Boat Festival, the position of the sun in the sky is the highest in a year in the Tropic of Cancer and the south.

● Mid-Autumn Festival

In ancient times, heavenly stems and earthly branches was the carrier, and the times were universal in heavenly stems and earthly branches. The Dragon Boat Festival was originally built in the first month of the lunar calendar at noon. The fifth month is noon, which is called heavy noon, and noon is also called "Zhongzheng". In the Han Dynasty, due to the unification of North and South and the change of calendar, the court decided to change the Dragon Boat Festival to the fifth day of the fifth lunar month to facilitate the festival.

● Dragon Boat Festival

The ancient Baiyue people took dragons as their totems. In order to show their "dragon" status, the two most important activities of the Dragon Boat Festival, eating zongzi and running, are all related to dragons. Zongzi are thrown into rivers and waters to offer sacrifices to the dragon gods, while dragon boats are used for competitions. They not only have the custom of "tattooing constantly" as "dragon son", but also hold a grand totem festival on May 5 every year. One of the activities is to depict a dragon-shaped canoe in the drums, compete on the water and draw a picture. This is the origin of the custom of dragon boat racing. Dragon boat rowing is an important activity of the Dragon Boat Festival, so it is also called Dragon Boat Festival.

● Herbal Festival

Noon is the strongest day of the year, and the Dragon Boat Festival is full of medicine. The herbs collected on this day are most effective in treating skin diseases and ward off evil spirits, hence the name.

● Dragon Boat Festival

In ancient times, Baiyue's ancestors held the Dragon Boat Festival on the Dragon Boat Festival, which was actually a "Dragon Boat Festival" at that time. Midsummer Dragon Boat Festival, Long Zaitian, the black dragon's main spark (Antares) is high in the south, and the dragon god (Yang God) is vigorous. Due to the transformation of Yin and Yang in the Book of Changes, the flourishing age is bound to decline. "Shang Jiu" (the sixth hexagram of dry divination) means "Kang Long has regrets"; As far as it is concerned, "going to the ninth grade" is the most sunny, and there is no room for improvement, which is bound to decline. The Ninth Five-Year Plan of Mid-summer Dragon Boat Festival is "Flying Dragon in the Sky", and Longxing is in the most "positive" position in the whole year, which means that everything is flourishing and thriving. The "dragon" mentioned in the Book of Changes and the Divination is essentially an exposition of the operation of the black dragon at four o'clock a year for seven nights.

● Bathing Orchid Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival has the folk custom of collecting herbs, boiling water and taking a bath, so it is also called Lan Festival. For example, in the Han Dynasty, it was written "Bath with Lantang in the afternoon".

● Shangri-La

The Dragon Boat Festival is called "Going to Japan" in some places, which means "God's Day". It also means good days and festivals.

● Acorus calamus Festival and wormwood Festival

The ancients believed that Acorus calamus and wormwood had the function of ward off evil spirits, and the spirit of Dragon Boat Festival was vigorous, and wormwood and Acorus calamus flourished. Every year, people have the custom of hanging calamus or wormwood on their doors to ward off evil spirits, so the Dragon Boat Festival is also called "Acorus calamus Festival" and "Ai Festival".

● 5 o'clock in the flood season.

In some rural areas of Shanghai, near the north bank of Hangzhou Bay, such as Fengxian and Nanhui, it is customary to call the Dragon Boat Festival "five o'clock in the flood season". There are also some areas called "noon in May".

● Hide in the afternoon.

In ancient times, there were different customs in the north and the south. In ancient times, the North called "May" a "bad month", so in some places, during the Dragon Boat Festival, parents would send their children under one year old to their grandmother's house to ward off evil spirits, so it was called "hiding in the afternoon".

● Dila Festival

Taoism divides the whole year into five waxes, the first day of the first month and the fifth day of May. According to "The Jade Book of the Imperial Road" and "Seven Stories on the Cloud", on the first day of May, on the day of the gathering of the five emperors, the five emperors will be in the southern part of China for three days to explore the good and evil done by the ancestors of strangers and the descendants of the world, so as to convict them and make them official titles. Taoism believes that several twelfth lunar months in a year are auspicious days, which are suitable for offering sacrifices to ancestors and praying for the gods.