What are the customs of Dragon Boat Festival?

Dragon Boat Festival is one of the four traditional festivals in China, which was selected as a World Heritage Site in 2009. Dragon Boat Festival has a long history and rich connotations, covering astrology culture and humanistic philosophy, and integrating various folk customs all over the country. This is a national grand festival. Let's introduce the custom of Dragon Boat Festival.

First, tie a five-color silk thread.

It is a unique custom to tie five-color silk thread during the Dragon Boat Festival. Multicolored thread is twisted with five colors of silk thread, and these five colors must be blue, white, red, black and yellow. In ancient China, five colors were worshipped and regarded as auspicious colors. Therefore, in the early morning of the festival, the first important thing for adults to do after getting up is to tie colorful silk threads on their wrists, ankles and necks. Children are not allowed to talk when tying the thread. Five-color silk thread shall not be broken or discarded at will, and can only be thrown into the river during the first heavy rain in summer or the first bath. It is said that children with colorful silk threads can avoid snakes and scorpions; Throwing it into the river is to let the river wash away plagues and diseases and make children safe and healthy.

Second, draw your forehead.

Painting the forehead is also very popular now. "Hequ County Records" also said: "Drinking realgar wine during the Dragon Boat Festival and applying it to children's forehead, hands and feet can prolong illness and prolong life." It means that you need to drink realgar wine during the Dragon Boat Festival and apply it to your child's forehead, hands and feet to get rid of illness and prolong life.

It is worth mentioning that children should draw the word "Wang" on their foreheads with realgar wine. Because realgar wine can drive away poison (this is the general cognition of the ancients). "Wang" represents the tiger, and it is almost invincible in the ancient forest. Taking advantage of the tiger's potential to eliminate disasters and ward off evil spirits is full of people's blessings.

Third, expel the five poisons.

People think that during the Dragon Boat Festival in May, there will be five poisons, namely scorpion, snake, centipede, gecko and toad. In order to prevent the five poisons from entering the house, people will sprinkle lime, spray realgar wine and burn medicinal cigarettes. In every corner of the house, at the same time, they will clean all parts of the house and clean up the long-standing garbage.

In ancient times, May was considered as a "poisonous month", because at this time, the weather became hotter and hotter, the rain gradually increased, people were prone to get sick, and many insects in nature also came out to move. The folk song says: "Dragon Boat Festival, the weather is hot, the five poisons wake up, and there is no peace." Therefore, there are many special customs of exorcism, disinfection and epidemic prevention among the people. Dragon Boat Festival drives "five poisons" to remind people to pay attention to disease prevention.

Four, hanging calamus and wormwood

There is a folk proverb that says, "Willows are inserted in Qingming Festival, and Ai is inserted in Dragon Boat Festival". On the Dragon Boat Festival, people regard inserting wormwood and calamus as one of the important contents. Every family sweeps the court, inserts calamus and moxa sticks at the door eyebrows and hangs them in the hall, which means eliminating diseases, driving away bad luck, attracting good luck and making family members healthy and auspicious.

Folium Artemisiae Argyi contains a lot of oil, has a unique smell and has a good mosquito control effect. Acorus calamus is a perennial aquatic herb, which can emit fragrance, drive away flying insects and clean up polluted air.

Five, wear sachets

It also has a long history to wear small objects such as decorations and sachets during the Dragon Boat Festival. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, and has the functions of expelling insects, avoiding epidemics and preventing diseases. Children wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival, which not only can ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters, but also can be used as decorations for inner heads. Because the sachet is made of colored silk thread or rags, it is exquisite and beautiful, and it has become a unique folk art of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Dragon Boat Festival can be regarded as a traditional medical care festival, and it is a festival for people to fight against diseases and poisonous insects. Today, these health customs should still be carried forward.