What is the origin and custom story of Dragon Boat Festival?

Origin: Qu Yuan was very sad to see the country perish. After writing his last words, on the fifth day of May, he sadly held a big stone and resolutely jumped off the Miluo River. Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival for the Han people in China to commemorate Qu Yuan. After Qu Yuan's death, people along the river rowed boats to salvage and put zongzi into the river to prevent fish and shrimp from eating him.

Dragon boat race is the main custom of Dragon Boat Festival. According to legend, people who originated in the ancient State of Chu were reluctant to part with the death of the sage Qu Yuan, and many people rowed boats to save people. They rushed to catch up with each other and disappeared at Dongting Lake. After that, I will row a dragon boat on May 5th every year to commemorate it. Rowing a dragon boat to disperse the fish in the river so as not to eat Qu Yuan's body.

During and after the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather is hot, mosquitoes and flies breed, poisonous gas rises, and epidemics germinate. The ancients believed that people who ate whole grains suffered from various diseases, and the diseases entered through the mouth, mostly due to evil and miscellaneous gas, which was inhaled through the nose and mouth. In the long-term struggle against various diseases, the ancients found that drinking realgar wine could kill all kinds of poisons. On the traditional Dragon Boat Festival, people will pour realgar into wine to drink.

Foreign influence

The Japanese have had the tradition of China Festival since ancient times. In Japan, the custom of Dragon Boat Festival was introduced to Japan from China after heian period. Since the Meiji era, festivals have been changed to Gregorian calendar days.

The Dragon Boat Festival in Japan is on May 5th in the solar calendar. After the custom of Dragon Boat Festival spread to Japan, it was absorbed and transformed into traditional Japanese culture. Japanese people don't row dragon boats on this day, but they eat zongzi and hang calamus in front of the door like China people. 1948, the Dragon Boat Festival was officially designated as the legal children's day by the Japanese government and became one of the five major festivals in Japan.

The above contents refer to Baidu Encyclopedia-Dragon Boat Festival