The Dragon Boat Festival customs are what zongzi

Duanwu Festival in the development of inheritance mixed with a variety of folklore in many places as a whole, the festival is rich in customs, depending on the region and there are differences in the content or details of the customs.

The Dragon Boat Festival (symbolizing the Canglong dragon) and the Dragon Boat Festival (symbolizing the second star of the heart) are the two main themes of the Dragon Boat Festival, which have been passed down from ancient times in China and continue to be practiced to this day. Traditional festival ceremonies and related customary activities are important elements of the festival, carrying a rich and colorful cultural connotation of the festival.

Duanwu customary activities revolve around honoring the dragon, praying for good fortune, and suppressing evil and disasters, with colorful and festive contents and strong regional characteristics.

Specific customary activities include: steak dragon boat, hanging wormwood and calamus, gathering lunch, Dragon Boat Festival bath, paper kites, swinging, tie a hundred rope, gift fan, sun 100 days ginger, hanging yellow kudzu, painting forehead, wear a scented capsule, wear a long-life wisp, tethered to the five-color line, eating rice dumplings, picking medicines to make tea, standing eggs, Pei Dou Niang, sticking the five poisons figure, swimming in the dry dragon, rowing, playing the afternoon water, dipping the Dragon Boat Water, the Nine Lions to worship the Elephant, put the paper dragons, Ai, fumigate, grab the green, Mala skating, hanging Zhong Kui statue, taste flower feast and so on.

Festive foods such as rice dumplings, five yellow, mugwort cake, mochi, cake, fried piles, tea eggs, five poisonous cakes, calamus wine, xionghuang wine, tea at noon and so on.

Expanded information:

Origins and specific activities of the various customs:

1. Picking up the dragon boat is a traditional custom of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Legend has it that it originated in ancient times when the people of Chu could not bear to see the wise minister Qu Yuan throw himself into the river to die, and many people rowed after him to save him. They scrambled and chased him to Dongting Lake, but he was nowhere to be seen. After that, people rowed dragon boats on May 5 every year to commemorate it.

By rowing the dragon boat to disperse the fish in the river, so that the fish will not eat Qu Yuan's body. The practice of racing, prevalent in Wu, Yue, Chu. In fact, "dragon boat racing" has been around since before Qu Yuan.

Mr. Wen Yiduo's "Dragon Boat Festival" says that more than a thousand years before Qu Zi threw himself into the river, the custom of paddling a dragon boat already existed in the Wu and Yue water towns, the purpose is to sacrifice the totem - the dragon, in order to pray for the avoidance of common drought and floods.

In the ancient canonical records about the origin of the dragon boat, the earliest is appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty. According to "Things Primitive," "the race for the ferry, starting in Goujian, today's dragon boat is also."

The Han Dynasty Zhao Ye "Wu Yue Spring and Autumn Annals" also believes that the origin of the dragon boat "started in the Goujian, the cover pity Zixu's loyalty"? To date, experts recognize China's earliest "dragon boat racing" graphics, found in yinzhou district, ningbo city, zhejiang province, yunlong town a village?

According to the Hemudu site and Tianluoshan site of prehistoric culture, as early as 5,000 years to 7,000 years ago, there are canoes and wooden paddles; dragon boat is initially the original shape of a single wooden boat carved dragon canoes, and later developed for the wooden boards made of the dragon-shaped boat.

Dragon boat racing is divided into several parts such as inviting the dragon, sacrificing to the dragon god, swimming the dragon and collecting the dragon. Before the dragon boat racing, the dragon should be invited and sacrificed to the god. Before the Dragon Boat Festival, it should be raised from underwater, and after sacrificing to the gods, it should put on the dragon's head and dragon's tail, and then prepare for the race. And buy a pair of paper roosters placed on the dragon boat, that can bless the boat safe (vaguely corresponding to the ancient phoenix boat).

Min, Taiwan to the Mazu Temple worship. In Guangdong and Fujian areas, a variety of rituals, commemorative ceremonies, a bit of incense and candles, burning paper money, chicken, rice, meat, fruit, dumplings and so on. In the old days, people sacrificed to the Dragon God in a very serious atmosphere, and prayed for a good agricultural harvest, good weather, to go to the evil spirits, to make trouble, and to have everything go well.

2, hanging mugwort.

The folk proverb says: "Qingming willow, Dragon Boat Festival plug wormwood". In the Dragon Boat Festival, people to plug the wormwood and calamus as one of the important content, every family is sweeping the court, to calamus, moxa inserted in the door eyebrow, hanging in the hall.

Calamus is a perennial aquatic herb, its long and narrow leaves also contain volatile aromatic oils, which is a drug for refreshing the mind, strengthening the bones and eliminating stagnation, killing insects and sterilizing the body; the leaves of calamus are in the shape of a sword, which can be inserted in the doorway to ward off evil spirits, and that is why it was called "water sword" by the priests, and later on, it was extended to "bushel sword" by the custom. Later, the custom was extended to "bushel sword", which can cut off a thousand evils.

Mugwort represents the inviting of a hundred blessings, is a kind of herb that can cure diseases, inserted in the doorway, it can make the body healthy.

Mugwort has been a medicinal plant in ancient China, and the moxibustion method inside acupuncture, which uses mugwort as the main ingredient, is placed on acupuncture points to be cauterized to cure diseases. Every Dragon Boat Festival, people will always be placed in the home in order to "avoid evil spirits", after drying the plant soak fumigation in order to achieve disinfection and itching, women in labor more than the use of mugwort water bath or fumigation.

The legend that mugwort can drive away evil spirits has been passed down for a long time, mainly because it has the function of medicine. For example, the Security Department's "Jing Chu Years and Seasons" said, "When the chicken is not crowing, picking moxa looks like a human figure, and take it, and collect it to moxibustion, which is very effective. This is the day to pick the wormwood in the shape of a man and hang it over the house to avoid poisonous gas."

North and South are all over the Dragon Boat Festival hanging wormwood custom. Interestingly, whether the south as the heaven and earth pure yang auspicious day to drive away evil spirits, or the north as the evil day of the evil month to avoid evil to avoid poison, the hanging of mugwort, smoked mugwort, calamus, medicinal water bath and other customary connotations are similar.

3, the Dragon Boat Festival bath

Duanwu day bath (bath orchid), bath orchid soup, is the end of the Western Han Dynasty ritualist Dai De writings, "the Great Dai Li Ji" recorded ancient custom. But here orchids are not orchids, but pellitory orchids or herbs of the chrysanthemum family, which are fragrant and can be decocted for bathing.

The song "Nine Songs - The Lord of the Clouds" also contains the line "Bathing in orchid soup is a great way to share the fragrance of the orchid. The Jing Chu Chronicle: "The fifth day of the fifth month is called the Orchid Bathing Festival."

The Five Miscellaneous Chopping Block records that people in the Ming Dynasty bathed in orchid soup because it was unavailable, so they took five-colored grasses at noon and whisked them in the bath. Later on, it was common to fry bushes, mugwort and other herbs to take a bath.

In Guangdong, children use bitter herbs and wheat medicine boiled in water to wash, or with ai, bushes, magnolias and other flowers and plants boiled in water to wash; teenagers, adult men go to the river, the beach to take a bath, so-called wash the dragon boat water, to wash away the bad luck.

In Hunan, Guangxi and other places, with cypress leaves, wind root, mugwort, calamus, peach leaves and other boiled medicinal water bath, regardless of men and women, young and old, the whole family washed. Dragon Boat Festival bath, this custom still exists today, and widely popular, is said to cure skin diseases, go to the evil spirit.

4, Pei Xiangbao

Pei Xiangbao is one of the traditional customs of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Inside the bag is usually filled with some aromatic herbs, which have the effect of clearing the fragrance, driving away insects, avoiding the plague and preventing diseases.

Duanyang to four-color thread tie arm, and wear the scented sachet, small and exquisite can be seen.

Scented pouches, also known as scented bags, scented bags, wallets, generally filled with spices, twisted with five-color silk thread, or colorful satin or cloth wrapped in cotton, mixed with rhizoma ligustici, angelica dahuricica, row of grass, scullcap grass, cloves, mountain ai, fine Xin Xin, licorice, dahurica dahuricica, licorice, staghorn powder and other powdered Chinese medicines, and then embroidered with colorful silk, the lower side also draped with a variety of red, green, blue, blue, purple thread spikes, worn in front of the chest, the fragrance of the nose. The aroma is very fragrant.

Duanwu Festival children wear scented sachets, legend has it that the evil spirits to drive away the plague. Scented sachets for a variety of different shapes, knotted into a string, colorful, small and lovely, has become a common crafts. In some cities in southern China, young men and women also use scented pouches to express strong love.

5, casting flint

Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "on the balance" recorded the Dragon Boat Festival "casting flint" ceremonial customs: "flint fire in the sky, in May, C in the middle of the day, consuming five stone, casting as a device, Mo Li light, up to the day, the fire comes to the way to take the real fire! also".

The ancients believed that the month of noon noon with triple fire, is the time of Yang Qi is very strong, at this time to fire gold, is the best time to melt gold cast mirror, cast bronze mirror with incredible power.

6, bolted five-color silk thread

Five-color silk thread, also commonly known as five-color silk, colorful silk. Ancient common name for avoiding military bindings, Zhu Suo and so on. Tied to the mosquito net, cradle on the rope is also known as the Wan Wan, Jian rope.

Ying Shao "customs" said: "May 5, to five-color silk tied arm, the name of the long-life wisp, a renewed life wisp, one to avoid the soldiers Zeng, a five-color wisp, a Zhu Suo, to avoid the soldiers and the ghosts, the fate of the people do not get sick plague".

Ancient China revered the five colors, to five colors for the auspicious color. Therefore, early in the morning of the festival, the adults in each family get up the first big thing is in the children's wrists, ankles, neck tie five-color line. When tying the thread, children are forbidden to speak.

The five-color line cannot be broken or thrown away arbitrarily, and can only be thrown into the river during the first summer rain or the first bath. It is said that children who wear the five-colored threads will be safe from snake and scorpion-type poisonous insects; throwing them into the river means letting the river wash away plagues and diseases.?

In the East Jin Ge Hong's "Holding Park Zi" also recorded that there will be five-color paper hanging in the mountains, summoning the five sides of the ghosts and gods of sorcery, presumably with five colors to symbolize the five sides of the ghosts and gods come together to protect the meaning of China's ancient concept of the five elements.

May be related to the ancient southern people of the custom of tattooing, five-color silk tied to the arm, or for tattooing legacy.

Possibly related to the ancient custom of the southern people, the five-color silk tied on the arm, or the legacy of tattooing. "Han Shu - Geography" recorded Yue people "tattooed broken hair, in order to avoid the harm of the dumplings and dragons";

Jin Liu Yi-Qing, "Shishu" and other books, recorded five-color silk wrapped around the dumplings to be put into the river for the mosquitoes and dragons scorned.

Though the system of legends, but reveals a hint of information worth playing. The five colors of the five-color silk on behalf of the five elements, the Han Dynasty began to believe that the five elements of yin and yang, the five colors represent the five directions, and each other, with a mysterious role in driving away evil spirits and welcome auspicious.

The green color is wood, representing the east; the red color is fire, representing the south; the yellow color is earth, representing the center; the white color is gold, representing the west; and the black color is water, representing the north.

Taking animals as symbols, the green dragon is in the east, the vermilion bird in the south, the white tiger in the west, the Xuanwu (turtle and snake) in the north, and the yellow dragon in the center, all of which are spiritual beings. In fact, the symbolism that the five-colored silk can ward off evil spirits and plague is far more obvious than the actual function.

7, dip dragon boat water

Duanwu Festival during the dip dragon boat water is a traditional custom around the Lingnan area, because the dragon boat symbolizes good luck, the dragon boat slipped through the water people believe that is the "water of great good fortune," in accordance with the traditional saying that the dip dragon boat water means good luck, everything goes well.

The rain during the Dragon Boat Festival is known as the Dragon Water or Dragon Boat Water, Dragon Boat Water, every year, "Dragon Boat Water" to come, people will take their families to the river to wash the Dragon Boat Water, the ancients believe that the "Dragon Boat Water" has the role of warding off evil spirits, can be purified, washed away bad luck, bring good luck. Bringing good luck.

8, flying paper kites

In the cities along the south of China, kite flying on Dragon Boat Festival is also a custom. During the Dragon Boat Festival, children fly kites and call it "putting calamities". The kite is a paper kite.

It is a toy that is made of paper or silk on a skeleton made of bamboo gimlets and pulls on a long string tied to it, and can be flown into the sky by taking advantage of the wind, and belongs to a kind of flying machine that utilizes only aerodynamic power.

9, hanging Zhong Kui statue

Zhong Kui to catch ghosts, is popular in the Jianghuai region of the Dragon Boat Festival custom. In the Jianghuai area, every family hangs Zhong Kui statue, used to suppress the house to drive away evil spirits.

According to legend, the Tang Ming Huang Kaiyuan, from the Lixan lecture on martial arts back to the palace, malaria big hair, dreaming of two ghosts, a big small, small, small ghosts wearing big red crotchless pants, stealing Yang Guifei's sachet and the Emperor of the jade flute, around the temple and run.

The big ghost is wearing a blue robe and hat, caught the little kid, digging out its eyes, a mouthful of swallowed; Ming Huang asked, the big ghost said: I surnamed Zhong Kui, that is, the martial arts did not first, would like to remove the demons for His Majesty.

Ming Huang woke up, malaria cured, so the painter Wu Daozi, according to what I saw in the dream painted a picture of Zhong Kui catching ghosts, the world in the Dragon Boat Festival, all posted to drive away evil spirits.

10, painting forehead

Duanwu Festival when the custom of smearing the forehead of children with the male yellow, the cloud can be driven away from poisonous insects. Typical method is to use the male yellow wine in the children's forehead painting "Wang" word, a borrowing of the male yellow to drive away poison, the second borrowing tiger ("Wang" like the tiger's forehead, and tiger for the king of the beasts, because of the substitution of the tiger) in order to suppress the evil.

Qing Fuzha Dunzong "Yanjing times": "Every Duanyang, since the first day of the first day, take the andrographis sprinkled with wine, coated with children's collars and between the nose and ears, in order to avoid poisons." In addition to the forehead, nose and ears coated, can also be coated elsewhere, with the same intention.

Shanxi "Hequ County Zhi" cloud: "Dragon Boat Festival, drink xionghuang wine, coated with children's forehead and two hands, feet heart, ... said that the disease can be removed to prolong life."

11, wear long life wisp

Long life wisp is the Dragon Boat Festival when the aversion to winning jewelry, long life wisp is also known as renewed life wisp, renewed life wire, prolonged life wisp, longevity line, hundred of rope, Pai Bing Shao, colorful wisp, etc., the name is not the same, the shape, the utility of roughly the same.

The custom in the Dragon Boat Festival to five-color silk knot and into the rope, or hanging in the door, or wear children's neck, or tied to the arm of the children, or hanging in the bed net, cradle, etc., it is said that can be evil spirits, to avoid disaster in addition to the disease, longevity. This custom began in the Han Dynasty.

Eastern Han Ying Shao "customs - anonymous": "the afternoon, to colorful silk tie arm, to avoid ghosts and soldiers, people do not disease plague, a long life wisp, a Pai Bing Shao".

12, Pei Dou Niang

Pei Dou Niang is the headdress of women in the old Duanwu Festival. Mostly found in Jiangnan. Some areas are also known as Jianren. This thing is said to have originated from the ancient step rock, one said that the Ai people in a different form.

"Qing Jia Record" cited "Tang and Song dynasty records" cloud: "Jiang who north and south, five hairpin color wins the system, ready to very clever. Where to bind the pin Jian system Ai Ye, or save embroidery Xian, Buddha, Hop, Wu, insects, fish, the shape of the beasts, the eight treasures group of flowers and so on. [40]?

13, to avoid the five poisons

Duanwu in the minds of ancient northerners is a poisonous day, evil day, in the folk beliefs of this idea has been passed down, so there are all sorts of peace, to avoid the five poisons of the custom. The five poisons refer to centipedes, vipers, scorpions, geckos and toads, which were the five most poisonous animals prevalent in the north in ancient times.?

14, picking medicine

Picking medicine is one of the ancient Dragon Boat Festival customs. Folk believe that the midday noon yang qi is strong, is the most medicinal day of the year in grass and trees, the Dragon Boat Festival all over the medicine. Dragon Boat Festival, when in midsummer, when its time is also, everything grows, its potential to flourish, is a time of strong growth of herbs.

Duanwu period, many places in China have smoked mugwort leaves, hanging calamus, drinking wine and other customs, in which herbs play a vital role.

"Xia Xiaozheng" reads, "This day to store medicines, in order to remit the poisonous gas."

An anonymous article from the Jing Chu Chronicle of the Years and Times, cited in Volume 22 of the Chronicle of the Years and Times, reads, "On the fifth day of the fifth month, the race is on to collect miscellaneous medicines, which can cure a hundred illnesses."

Later Wei "qimin jiujutsu - miscellaneous records", there are May catch toad records, is also a pharmaceutical. There are many regions have the custom of catching toads in the Dragon Boat Festival, such as Jiangsu in the Dragon Boat Festival collection of toads, pricked its foam, the production of traditional Chinese medicine toadstools; Hangzhou people also eat toad to small children, said that it can be eliminated toad, cool, no summer sores.

There are also five days in the mouth of the toad plug ink ingots, hanging up to dry, that is, into the toad ingots, coated in pus sores can be dissipated. Picking medicine is because before and after the Dragon Boat Festival herb stems and leaves ripe, medicinal properties are good, only on this day to form this custom.

Chen Yuanliang "time and age" Volume 22 "together all the medicine" article cited "trivial record" "May on the epoch and the Dragon Boat Festival, waxing day, three days before New Year's Day and medicine, can be a long time without stopping the smell," is to say that the combination of the medicine at the time of the Dragon Boat Festival, the efficacy of the medicine will be maintained for a long time. The medicines made at the Dragon Boat Festival were popularized by calamus wine, moxa wine and xionghuang wine.

15, playing the afternoon water

Duanwu Festival "playing the afternoon water" is prevalent in the southern coastal area of the traditional customs, playing the afternoon water that is the day of the Dragon Boat Festival between 11:00 to 13:00 noon in the well to play water, the ancients to play up the afternoon water as a great good luck water, the water at this time of the year is the most able to ward off evil spirits.

Heavy noon of the day of noon, Yang on the Yang, so the "noon water" has "extreme Yang water" of the name; also known as the Longmei water, positive Yang water. The day of the noon of Yang Qi is the most prevalent, the Dragon Boat Festival at noon to drive away the best evil spirits, with the effect of warding off evil spirits, purify the body, in addition to obstacles.

Tainan has a tradition of taking the water at noon to make iron, and utilizing the yang energy of the water at noon can make all iron tools more durable.

16, fumigation Cangzhu

Fumigation Cangzhu is one of the traditional Dragon Boat Festival customary activities in the folk with Cangzhu disinfection of the air, that is, the natural Cangzhu bundled together, the burning of the thin smoke, not only will emit a fragrance, but also can drive away mosquitoes, refreshing.

17, nine lions to worship elephants, rowing happy boat, swimming dry dragon

In recent times, the country has also innovated in the inheritance, both in the traditional customs exhibition, but also added the flavor of the times. Nine lions and elephants, based on the traditional dragon lantern dance, highlights the shape of the lion and elephant dance; in Shangyu County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, during the Dragon Boat Festival, there is a unique local Hakka folklore activities "nine lions and elephants" parade performance.

Rowing happy boat, Hunan Louxing District Sun water basin around the traditional customs, every year on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival, the village's young and strong men, no matter where they are, will consciously return to the village to participate in the "rowing happy boat" activities.

The Dragon Boat Festival, which is held in Raoping County, Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province, is held during the Dragon Boat Festival and is made of bamboo and paper in six colors: pink, brown, green, purple, red and yellow, and is paraded from the first day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar to the sixth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar every day.

18, Dragon Boat Festival food dumplings

Duanwu food dumplings, is a traditional Chinese folk custom. Zongzi, also known as "corn", "zongzi", "tube zongzi", its long history, a variety of patterns. "The fragrance of mugwort leaves fills the hall; peach branches are inserted on the front door, and when you go out, you look at the yellow of wheat; here Duanyang, there Duanyang, everywhere Duanyang."

-This is an old popular ballad describing the Dragon Boat Festival. Duanwu Festival to eat dumplings, throughout the ages, all over China are the same. Zongzhi was initially used to offer sacrifices to ancestors and gods; in the Jin Dynasty, it became a Dragon Boat Festival celebratory food.

Every year at the beginning of May, the Chinese people's families have to dip the glutinous rice, wash the zongzi leaves, pack zongzi, its colorful varieties. In terms of fillings, the northern part of the country packs more small jujube Beijing jujube zong; the southern part of the country has a variety of fillings, such as bean paste, fresh meat, ham, clams and vulgaris, egg yolk and other fillings.

The custom of eating rice dumplings, for thousands of years, prevailing in all parts of China, and spread to North Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.

19, eat five yellow

Five yellow, that is, yellow fish, cucumber, eel, duck egg yolk, and xionghuang wine (xionghuang wine is toxic, usually drink ordinary yellow wine instead of xionghuang wine).

Eating five yellow is a Han Chinese folk custom, popular in Jiangnan and other places. In the fifth month of the lunar calendar, people in the south of the Yangtze River call it the month of the five huang, so named because there are five kinds of food with a "yellow" sound on the market.

Eating a five-yellow meal at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival means mixing five kinds of yellow-colored food together.

Because according to Chinese medicine theory, the Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, which is the time of the year when yang energy is at its peak, and noon, the time of the day when yang energy is at its peak, can be used to harness the power of the Dragon Boat Festival's qi to curb bad luck and boost one's energy.

20, drink Pu wine, Xionghuang, Zhuzha wine, to wine sprinkling spray

Xionghuang is also a kind of medicinal herbs, said to be able to kill a hundred poison. The custom of drinking Xionghuang wine at the Dragon Boat Festival was once extremely popular in the Yangtze River Basin area. As the old saying goes, "If you drink Xionghuang wine, all the diseases will be far away".

The Jing Chu chronicle of the times said: "to calabash or skeleton or chip, to cold wine." Pu wine flavor aromatic, have a refreshing feeling, and later added to the wine Xionghuang, vermilion and so on.

Ming Feng Yingjing, "Moonlighting Guangyi": "Five days with vermilion wine, to ward off evil spirits and detoxification, with the wine dyed forehead chest, hands, feet and heart, no will be vipers (an ancient book said a kind of venomous snake) of the disease. And also to sprinkle the walls, doors and windows to avoid poisonous insects." This custom is widely spread. Xionghuang water and wine sprinkled indoors can be disinfected and sterilized, drinking bushels of sprinkles is also quite beneficial.

Baidu Encyclopedia: Dragon Boat Festival Customs