Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Traditional customs - Which nationality is the Dragon Boat Festival?

Which nationality is the Dragon Boat Festival?

Dragon Boat Festival is a Miao festival.

1, historical origin

According to the records in Shibing County Records of the Republic of China, "The ship is long wood, with colors at both ends, rippling blue waves and magnificent momentum, which is quite enough to watch". The draft of "jiangmiao Wen Jian" recorded in Guangxu period of Qing Dynasty said: "Its ship is all wood, 50 to 60 feet long, with a faucet in front and a phoenix tail in the back, which can accommodate 20 to 30 people. Short radial water, walking like flying. " Qing Qianlong's "Zhenyuan County Records" records: "On May 25th, the Miao people also performed a dragon boat play, with a strange shape. One of the big trees dug a slot for the boat and the two trees were integrated. The ship is extremely long, about forty or fifty feet, and can carry thirty or forty people. "

2. Dragon boat structure

Dragon boat is simple, huge and unique. The hull was hollowed out by three tall Chinese fir trees. The single wood in the middle is the mother ship, with a diameter of about 70 cm and a length of about 24 meters. On each side, there are two sub-boats with a diameter of about 50 cm and a length of about 17 m. Usually the boat body is placed in a pavilion specially built at the entrance of the village, and the faucet is placed in the home of the drum master elected by the village. During the period of May 20-23 of the lunar calendar, a wizard conference will be held.

3. Special shape

First of all, the shape of the dragon boat is very special. A log Miao dragon boat is made by hollowing out three huge Chinese fir trees. Accurately speaking, the most primitive dragon boat should be tied with three logs. The middle boat is called the mother boat, which is more than 20 meters long, and the two boats on both sides are called the child boats, which are about 15 meters long. They are usually separated from each other. Before the race, everyone carried them into the water and tied the two sub-boats on both sides of the mother ship with hemp ropes or bamboo poles. The faucet is carefully carved with willow trees. It is tall and mottled in color, with longan, ears, nose, tongue and teeth, beads in its mouth and a beard on its cheeks.

The back of the dragon neck is carved with scales and decorated with multi-color paintings such as red, yellow, green, white and blue. Longjiao is a pair of big curved buffalo horns, which is a typical product of rice farming culture. The left and right corners are written with "peaceful country and people's safety" and "good weather" respectively. The uniqueness of the dragon boat with a single log is that it has a beautiful dragon head but no dragon tail.

Extended data:

Method of rowing dragon boat

Qiandongnan Miao canoe and dragon boat players stand and bend over to paddle. The widest part of the canoe dragon boat is less than 1.5 meters, but it can carry more than 40 people. In the competition, the contestants dressed in bright national costumes stood on the boats on both sides, paddling, beating gongs and drums and setting off firecrackers to gain prestige. During the race, when crossing the rapids and dangerous beaches, you need to poke the bottom with a long spoke piece of iron head, and forge ahead like a ship with Artemisia.

Qingshuijiang Miao people hold a dragon boat race from May 23rd to 27th every year in the lunar calendar, almost immediately after the Dragon Boat Festival of Han people, but obviously. The most special custom is that the festival ends with the clans of each village getting together to eat dragon meat.

Reference: Guizhou Miao Dragon Boat Festival-Baidu Encyclopedia