What's the story of Dragon Boat Festival?

Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanyang Festival, Noon Festival and May Festival, is the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year and is one of the most solemn traditional festivals in China. In this festival, there are customs such as eating zongzi, racing dragon boats, hanging calamus, inserting mugwort leaves and drinking realgar wine. Legend has it that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from people offering sacrifices to Qu Yuan. But do you know any other stories about the Dragon Boat Festival?

Dragon Boat Festival story 1: In memory of Wu Zixu Zixu, a native of Chu, he fled to Wu alone to avoid being killed. Later, he and Sun Wu worked for the State of Wu, and almost destroyed the State of Chu, digging up the body of King Chu Ping and flogging it. After He Lv, the king of Wu, Fu Cha ascended the throne. Wuyue strives for hegemony, Wu Jun defeats the state of Yue, and Gou Jian, the king of Yue, makes peace. Wu Zixu put forward that "chickens and dogs should not stay", but Fu Cha agreed to make peace. Then the state of Yue bribed the treacherous court official to frame Wu Zixu, and Fu Cha listened to the slanderers and sentenced him to death.

Before he died, Wu Zixu told people that after he died, he would dig out his eyes and hang them on the east gate of the capital, watching the Vietnamese army destroy Wu. Fu Cha was furious. On the fifth day of May, he put Wu Zixu's body in a leather bag and threw it into the river. Later generations missed Wu Zixu, so they started boating and throwing zongzi.

Dragon Boat Festival Story 2: In memory of Gou Jian, the son of Yue Wang Yunchang. After failing in wuyue's hegemony, he spent ten years reorganizing his army with the help of his friends, and finally defeated Wu.

During the Zionist movement, the Vietnamese made many ingenious arrangements, one of which was rowing dragon boats to exercise the water army. The army of Wu saw the Vietnamese rowing dragon boats all day, thinking that they were addicted to life and enjoyment and no longer had the fighting spirit to rejuvenate the country. In fact, the Vietnamese people did this because of Gou Jian's careful arrangement to keep Wu from knowing the idea of training troops in Vietnam. This is recorded in Yuejueshu.

It is said that because the method of rowing dragon boat adopted by Gou Jian in training helped the Vietnamese realize the national rejuvenation, later generations set up a dragon boat race on the Dragon Boat Festival to commemorate Gou Jian's bravery and cleverness.

Dragon Boat Festival Story 3: In memory of Cao E, a filial daughter, Cao E was a native of Shangyu in Huiji, Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father Cao Xu drowned in Shunjiang (now Cao E) on May 5th, and her body disappeared for several days. At that time, Cao E was only fourteen years old. She cried day and night along the river to find her father. 17 days later, she also threw herself into the river on May 22nd. Five days later, people found that Cao E's body surfaced with his father's body, which surprised everyone. For a while, it was passed down as a myth, and the county magistrate still erected a monument for it, and asked disciple Han Danchun to make a eulogy. Since then, the town where Cao E lived was renamed Cao E Town, and the river where he died was renamed Cao E River. People spontaneously donated money to build a temple to comfort his filial piety. Since then, the Dragon Boat Festival has also become a day to commemorate the filial daughter Cao E.

Dragon Boat Festival Story 4: In 278 AD, the State of Qin invaded the capital of Chu in memory of Qu Yuan. Seeing that his motherland was invaded, Qu Yuan could never give up his motherland. Finally, on the fifth day of May, he wrote his masterpiece Huai Sha and drowned himself in the Miluo River.

After the people heard about it, they organized people to row boats to rescue and salvage, and finally failed to find Qu Yuan's body.

In order to mourn, people rowed on the river to find Qu Yuan's body, and later it gradually developed into a dragon boat race.

Fearing that fish and shrimp would eat Qu Yuan's body, the people went home and threw rice balls into the river, which later evolved into the custom of eating zongzi. With the development of time, people set the fifth day of May as a festival to commemorate Qu Yuan.

In fact, no matter what the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival is, who the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate. This festival celebrates the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. Every spirit of the Dragon Boat Festival deserves the praise of China people. Little friends, do you know any other stories about the Dragon Boat Festival?