Why does the Dragon Boat Festival commemorate Qu Yuan with zongzi?

Every year on the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, there are customs of eating zongzi and racing dragon boats all over China.

As we all know, this ancient custom handed down from generation to generation is to commemorate Qu Yuan. But why should we commemorate Qu Yuan in this way? It turns out that there is such an interesting story circulating in Qu Yuan's hometown.

One night after Qu Yuan threw himself into the river, people in Qu Yuan's hometown suddenly dreamed that Qu Yuan was back. As before his death, his face was slightly sad and haggard. The villagers were so happy that they rushed forward to pay tribute to him. Qu Yuan replied with a smile: "Thank you for your kindness. Chu people love and hate clearly. If you don't forget me, I will die without regret. " Let's not talk about the old room. When they found that Qu Yuan's health was much worse than before, they asked with concern, "Dr. Qu, have you eaten the rice we sent you?" Thank you ",Qu Yuan was grateful at first, then sighed and said," What a pity. The rice you gave me was eaten by fish, shrimp, turtles and mussels. "Hearing this, the villagers were very anxious:" How can you not let fish and shrimp eat? Qu Yuan thought for a moment and said, "If rice is wrapped in bamboo leaves and made into corn with sharp corners, the aquarium will think it is water chestnut and dare not eat it. "

The following year, during the Dragon Boat Festival, villagers wrapped a lot of corn in bamboo leaves and threw it into the river. However, after the Dragon Boat Festival, Qu Yuan said in his dream, "I ate a lot of corn you gave me, but many of it was taken away by the aquarium." Everyone asked him again, "What else can I do?" Qu Yuan said, "There is a way. Just stick a dragon card on the boat with the corn. " Because the aquarium belongs to the Dragon King, when the drums sounded and the oars turned, they thought it was from the Dragon King and dared not rob it again. "Corner millet is zongzi now.

Since then, the custom of making zongzi and rowing dragon boats has spread from Qu Yuan's hometown to the whole country, from ancient times to the present.

According to the historian Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng, Qu Yuan was a minister of Chu Huaiwang in the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated the use of talents, empowerment, and prosperity, and advocated joint resistance to Qin, which was strongly opposed by others. Qu Yuan was deposed, expelled from the capital, and exiled to the Yuan and Xiang river basins. During his exile, he wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao, Jiu Ge and Tian Wen, which had a unique style and far-reaching influence. In 278 BC, Qin Jun conquered Kyoto of Chu. Qu Yuan was heartbroken to see his motherland being invaded, but he couldn't bear to give up his motherland all the time. On May 5th, after he wrote his last poem "Huai Sha", he died in the Miluo River and wrote a magnificent patriotic movement with his own life.

In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Liang Wuyun wrote in the book "The Continuation of Qi and Harmony", "The Chu doctor Qu Yuan was slandered and died on May 5, and the Chu people mourned it. He sacrificed rice with a bamboo tube every day and ordered a boat to save him. " Later generations followed the custom of eating zongzi and racing dragon boats on the Dragon Boat Festival. In the Quzi Temple by the Miluo River in Hunan Province, there is a couplet written by Guo Songtao in the Qing Dynasty: "Mourning loneliness and loyalty, among the 300 articles, the unique family is elegant and the atmosphere is first; Two thousand years after Huai Sha sank here, only the sound of the beach sounded like the old days. It was Qu Yuan's "solitary loyalty" that won the support of the people at that time and later generations. Later, on the fifth day of May every year, there was the custom of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.

People like the Dragon Boat Festival because of Qu Yuan, who added a national spirit to the festival and made it have a long and lasting vitality. As a traditional cultural festival in China, we have a more dignified understanding and feeling. Forever "Li Sao" and forever Qu Zi, just like the annual "Dragon Boat Festival", leave us endless thoughts and aftertaste.

With the arrival of western festivals in China, there are more and more festivals in China. Traditional festivals have been diluted or even eroded in people's lives, especially among teenagers. The roses on Valentine's Day have drowned out the fragrance of wormwood and calamus during the Dragon Boat Festival. Santa Claus, holding a China passport, snickered at Dr. Qu Yuan's obstinate hand in hand with Huai Jin and his indomitable death. April Fool's Day in the West seems to be fooling people. Zongzi can be eaten all year round, and dragon boat racing is no longer the exclusive product of Dragon Boat Festival. An Asian country actually declared the Dragon Boat Festival as a cultural heritage to the United Nations, which made people wonder whether Qu Yuan also got a green card to emigrate abroad.

It is reported that Koreans "registered" the Chinese domain name of the Dragon Boat Festival, and some people spent hundreds of thousands to buy it back; South Korean "gangneung danoje festival" successfully declared the world intangible cultural heritage. It's sad that the traditional festivals of China people should be registered in other countries! Caused an uproar among Chinese people. In fact, the Dragon Boat Festival melts in the blood of China people. Our ancestors bathed in one meter of sunshine and drank a river. Miluo River is the cultural blood flowing in our veins and cannot be diluted.

With the arrival of the Dragon Boat Festival, the dispute between the surname Wu and the surname Qu in the Dragon Boat Festival has once again pushed people's attention.

According to the report of Modern Express on May 23rd, Suzhou Dragon Boat Festival, known as "the origin of Wu Zixu", entered the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists. This year, Suzhou will officially hold a large-scale sacrificial ceremony for Wu Zixu. Is the Dragon Boat Festival to commemorate Qu Yuan, a great patriotic poet, or Wu Zixu, a doctor of the State of Wu in the Spring and Autumn Period? What did these people do long ago in the dispute about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival? For such a long time, no one paid attention to the surname of Dragon Boat Festival. If Koreans don't "register" the Chinese domain name of Dragon Boat Festival, will China people still sleep? Local governments that can intervene are now arguing endlessly and enjoying it. Is it an honor to fight for it? In my opinion, this is a shame and a betrayal of modern civilization. Have the energy to fight for a name, why not do more tangible things to protect those ancient buildings that need to be repaired and maintained, why not carry forward Qu Yuan's patriotic spirit and dig out the cultural connotation that is helpful to the development of this world? .

From this year, June 10 is the national "Cultural Heritage Day". The government hopes to strengthen the protection of cultural heritage in an all-round way by setting up "Cultural Heritage Day". The protection of cultural heritage is not only related to the long history of our nation, but also related to how our nation moves towards the future. Qu Yuan can no longer be allowed to "go abroad" to get a green card. You can't let the Mid-Autumn Festival travel to other countries. Let alone let "Tomb-Sweeping Day" settle in other countries. This is the best way to commemorate the festival, and this is the best way to defend the cultural tradition of our ancient civilization.