What are the customs of Dragon Boat Festival?

The custom of drinking realgar wine on Dragon Boat Festival used to be very popular in the Yangtze River valley. Realgar is a kind of Chinese herbal medicine, which can cure all kinds of insect poison, insect injury and animal injury. There is a folk saying that "drinking realgar wine will make all diseases disappear."

Second, Zhong Kui, bell statue.

Zhong Kui dance is a kind of folk dance, also known as "playing with Zhong Kui", which originated in the Northern Song Dynasty. It is a traditional folk performance left over from ancient Huizhou, which embodies people's good wishes of advocating Zhong Kui's integrity and praying for disaster relief. Among the people, Zhong Kui is a symbol of avoiding evil spirits and strengthening the body. Dancing in Zhong Kui during the Dragon Boat Festival means eliminating the five poisons, keeping the seasons safe and prolonging life.

Third, eat zongzi.

Eating zongzi is one of the important traditional customs of Dragon Boat Festival. The main materials are glutinous rice and stuffing, which are wrapped with bamboo leaves (or Hiragi leaves and bamboo leaves) into various shapes, such as sharp corners and squares. Because of the different eating habits in different places, zongzi can be divided into salty zongzi and sweet zongzi. The north eats more sweet brown, while the south prefers salty zongzi.

Fourth, the dragon boat race

Legend has it that the dragon boat race originated from the ancient Chu people who could not bear to be separated from the sage Qu Yuan and threw themselves into the river and died. Many people rowed after him to Dongting Lake, but there was no sign of him. Since then, they have been rowing dragon boats every year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month to commemorate Qu Yuan.

Dragon boat race is a multi-person collective rowing competition and an important activity of the Dragon Boat Festival, which is still very popular in the southern coastal areas of China. This is a form of worship of dragons in folk beliefs, which is used to pray for good luck and ward off evil spirits. Dragon boat races are divided into dragon invitation, dragon sacrifice, Youlong and dragon gathering. Before the dragon boat race, please invite dragons to offer sacrifices to the gods. Get out of the water before the Dragon Boat Festival, install the dragon head and dragon tail after the sacrifice, and then prepare for the competition.

Five, wear sachets

Wearing sachets is one of the traditional customs of Dragon Boat Festival. The sachet is usually filled with some fragrant Chinese herbal medicines, which have the effects of fragrance, insect repellent, plague prevention and disease prevention. Duanyang tied his arm with four-color thread and wore a sachet, which is small, exquisite and considerable, and has now become a common handicraft.

Children wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is said to mean to ward off evil spirits and plague. In some southern cities, young men and women also use sachets to express their deep love.