Stories and legends of Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanyang Festival, Chongwu Festival, Tianzhong Festival and Dragon Boat Festival. It is a folk festival integrating praying for blessings, offering sacrifices to ancestors and eating delicious food. The most popular legend about the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Secondly, it commemorates the legend of loyal minister Wu Zixu; There is also a legend to commemorate the filial daughter Cao E.

? Stories and legends of Dragon Boat Festival?

? 1. In memory of Qu Yuan?

Around 340 BC, Qu Yuan, a famous patriotic poet in China, was born in a noble family in Chu. He is not only knowledgeable, but also loves the world. When he was a doctor in Chu, he always put himself on the national interests of Chu. Qu Yuan strongly advocated the reform and rectification of official management at home. Foreign joint qi, * * * joint qin. However, a tree attracts the wind, and a series of reform measures carried out by Qu Yuan violated the interests of the old aristocratic class in Chu, and Qu Yuan himself was retaliated and attacked by the aristocratic class in Chu. They framed and discredited Qu Yuan in front of Chu Huaiwang, which led Chu Huaiwang to alienate Qu Yuan gradually, and drove Qu Yuan out of Beijing and exiled him to remote areas. In this regard, Qu Yuan wrote a famous sentence in Li Sao that "many women are jealous of Emei, and rumors are made of lewdness", expressing his contempt and disdain for the villain who falsely accused himself.

During his exile, he never gave up his motherland, hoping to be recalled by the monarch one day and serve the country again. After the capital of Chu was breached by Qin Jun, Qu Yuan realized that he could not serve the country, so he jumped into the Miluo River on the fifth day of May and committed suicide. Qu Yuan wrote a story with his own life. In memory of Qu Yuan, people eat zongzi and race dragon boats on the fifth day of May to express their praise for Qu Yuan's lofty patriotic spirit, which later developed into the Dragon Boat Festival.

? 2. In memory of Wu Zixu?

Wu Zixu was born in 559 BC, a native of Chu, and was a doctor of Wu in the Spring and Autumn Period. His father, Wu She, was a teacher of King Chu Ping before his death, but he was killed by King Chu Ping for being slandered. Wu Zixu fled to the state of Wu alone, and was displaced all the way. Fortunately, he met He Lu, the son of Wu State, and helped him ascend to the throne of Wu State. He Lv, the king of Wu, continued to reuse Wu Zixu after he succeeded to the throne, and Wu Zixu also tried his best to help Wu develop. First of all, he suggested that He Lv establish a capital city, set up garrison troops in the city, enrich the grain in the granary and forge weapons and armor. Today's Suzhou City is the capital of Wu, which was selected and planned by Wu Zixu himself.

During the reign of He Lv, the king of Wu, Wu Zixu won his trust, faithfully helped He Lv develop and strengthen the national strength of Wu, and introduced the famous strategist Sun Wu to the king of Wu to train soldiers for him. Wu Zixu cooperated with Sun Wu, led the Wu army to defeat the Chu army, breached the capital of Chu, dug up the cemetery of King Chu Ping, and whipped the corpse of King Chu Ping three hundred times to avenge his father. With the great talents of Wu Zixu and others, Wu broke Jingchu in the west and Qilu in the north, and its national strength reached its peak.

After He Lu's death, Fu Cha acceded to the throne. Wu Zixu continued to assist Fu Cha, the king of Wu, and defeated the invading State of Yue. He tried his best to persuade Fu Cha to perish from the state of Yue, but Fu Cha, the king of Wu, believed Bo's slanderers and gave the state of Yue a chance to breathe. He misjudged that Wu Zixu wanted to overthrow the rule of Wu with the help of Qi, and ordered Wu Zixu to commit suicide. Wu Zixu said bitterly to the guests before he died, "After I die, I will gouge out my eyes and hang them above the East Gate. I want to see with my own eyes how Wu died! " However, Fu Cha, the king of Wu, flew into a rage when he learned the news. He ordered Wu Zixu's body to be wrapped in fur and thrown into Qiantang River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

Later, as expected, Wu was defeated by Yue. Fu Cha, the prince of Wu, was ashamed, thinking that he had no face to face Wu Zixu in the underworld after his death, so he covered his eyes with a white cloth and drew his sword to commit suicide. To commemorate Wu Zixu, the people of Wu hold a dragon boat race on the fifth day of May every year, facing the waves and the "Wu Jun".

? 3. In memory of the filial daughter Cao E?

The third legend of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the filial daughter Cao E who rescued her father into the river during the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 23-220). Joey was from Sang Yu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father drowned in the river and her body disappeared for several days. At that time, the filial daughter Joy was only 14 years old and was crying by the river. At night. 17 days later, he was thrown into the river on May 5, and his father's body was fished out five days later. This story was handed down as a myth and spread to the current governor. In order to praise his disciple Han Danchun, the governor ordered Toussaint to erect a monument for him. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also a day to commemorate filial piety and joy.

? Dragon Boat Festival custom?

1. Hanging wormwood

Dragon Boat Festival is the first festival after summer, and the temperature is rising, which is a period of frequent diseases. Therefore, many years ago, people often hung several mugwort plants at their doorsteps. Because of its special fragrance, people use it to drive away diseases, prevent mosquitoes and ward off evil spirits.

2. Eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival

At the beginning of May every year, every household in China should soak glutinous rice, wash the leaves of zongzi and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors. From the perspective of stuffing, there are many dates in the north, such as jiaozi; There are many kinds of fillings in the south, such as red bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk, among which Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi is the representative. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years and spread to South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.

Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival in China with a long history and cultural background. Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional custom of China people with a history of more than 2,000 years. Due to the vast territory, numerous nationalities and numerous stories and legends, not only many different festival names are produced, but also different customs exist in different places.