What holiday is June 6th? What are the customs of June 6th?

Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival is held every year on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month in Huyang Town, Dangtu County, Ma'anshan City, Anhui Province. Unlike dragon boat racing in other places, the Dragon Boat Festival in Huyang commemorates the birthday of Dayu, the hero of flood control, and worships the Dragon King much earlier than commemorating Qu Yuan. [1]

In Huyang, there is a saying that "the water falls in June". The fifth month of the lunar calendar is the flood season, and it often rains. When water is released upstream, it rises very quickly, but by June, the water level will drop, which is the so-called "head drop." This means that the most dangerous flood season this year has passed. It also coincides with June 6, the birthday of Dayu, the hero of flood control. So on this day, in order to thank the two great gods Dragon King and Dayu for their blessings, we pray for a good harvest in the coming year and no disasters during the Dragon Boat Festival on June 6th.

There are 24 villages in Huyang ***, ranging from one village to five villages depending on the size of the village. One month before the Dragon Boat Festival, each village begins to prepare for dragon boat rowing, training, dragon boat maintenance, dragon head preparation, etc. Taking Daxing Village as an example, handwoven faucets are dedicated to the village ancestral hall for a year. At the beginning of June next year, we will beat gongs and drums, burn incense and firecrackers, and invite the faucets to come out. The dragon boat team will walk through the streets and alleys of the village and put the dragon heads on the dragon boats. There are two young rowers in the bow of the dragon boat. There are rowers on both sides of the dragon boat, a trumpeter and a drummer in the middle, and a helmsman (dragon tail) at the stern.

On June 6, dragon boats sent by each village will drag the village gongs and drums along the village embankment. Villagers along the bank will set up tables and burn incense and fires. During the Dragon Boat Festival, picking cakes like square cakes on the stems means rising higher and higher, and tying red and green cloth on the stems means that the longer you hang, the more prosperous you will be.

When not competing, dragon boat racers will move forward steadily according to the beat of drums. Before the dragon boat leaves the shore, the drummer will slowly beat the gong several times to indicate that the rowers are ready. The drummer moves to the rhythm of drum~drum~drum~drum~drum~drum~drum~drum, accompanied by the very rhythmic tapping of the trumpeter. The trumpeter does not have set words, but improvises what he says. The main idea is a greeting or some funny joke. The rowers of the dragon boat have to wait for the trumpeter to finish shouting for a while before picking up the boat. A fixed trumpeter cannot be translated because it is in Wu dialect. It roughly means cheering yourself up.

The dragon boats from each village will gather along the embankment towards Tanggou River in Huyang. After the sacrifice and red flag-hanging ceremony, dragon boat races from each village will begin. There is a complete program for dragon boat racing in Huyang. Each village will be color-coded according to the number of dragon boats delivered. Therefore, the color of the dragon boat's head, the color of the stem, and the color of the dragon boat's clothing are all different. With the dragon boat gong as the command and the drum as the point, all the dragon boats lined up on the river. With an order, all the dragon boats started paddling. The drummer controls the rhythm of the drum: dong dong~, and the leading young seedling grower waves the paddle in front of the rowers to cheer them on and boost their morale. They rowed when necessary. The entire dragon boat team members shouted in unison; row, row~, the helmsman at the stern pressed the rudder steadily to control the direction and balance of the boat. [2]

On the 2016 Dragon Boat Festival, CCTV’s four columns "The Legendary Chinese Festival Dragon Boat Festival" came to Dangtu to broadcast the Dangtu Dragon Boat Race, and introduced the June 6th event in Huyang Town in the form of a short film During the Dragon Boat Festival on Sunday, the dragon boat made with traditional skills retained in the village and the special custom of dragon boat rowing were displayed.

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