The origin and customs of the Dragon Boat Festival Dragon Boat Festival origin legend story

Introduction: China's four major traditional festivals is said to be the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, each of which has a variety of legends and customs, and each of which understand one, feel that these festivals are particularly interesting and magical. So, do you know the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival and customs? If you don't know, go with me to see the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival legend story.

The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival has always been different, and is still debated. To summarize, there are six sayings: First, it is a festival to commemorate the dragon, the second is to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, the third is to commemorate the Spring and Autumn period of the loyal ministers of the State of Jin Jie Zi Tui, the fourth is to commemorate the Spring and Autumn period of the Wu general Wu Zixu, the fifth is to commemorate the filial daughter of the Huiji Cao'e, and the sixth is to say that it is the origins of the May 5 of the evil month of the bad day of the taboos.

The above statements have a certain basis, but also with a certain regional and limitations. So far, the first, second and sixth statements are the most generally accepted, in the holiday customs continue.

According to scholarly evidence, the Dragon Boat Festival is the earliest festival to honor the dragon. In ancient times, the Wu-Yue ethnic people were using the dragon as a totem, and in order to express their identity as dragons, and to consolidate the authenticity of being protected by the dragon itself, they had a series of customs such as breaking their hair and tattooing their bodies.

Every year on the fifth day of the fifth month, the Wu-Yue ethnic people to hold a grand totem festival, will be all kinds of food in a bamboo tube or wrapped in leaves, one side thrown into the water to the totem god to eat, one side of their own food. Finally, to the sound of drums, paddling a canoe carved into a dragon, in the water to do the game of racing to the totem god. This is the oldest Dragon Boat Festival, the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival custom before Qu Yuan.

After the Warring States period, the significance of the Dragon Boat Festival gradually gave way to honoring the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan, who lived at the end of the Warring States period, was a patriotic poet and statesman immortalized for thousands of years. He was exiled in the area of Dongting Lake for advocating political reforms that ran afoul of the aristocratic ministers, and then went to the banks of the Miluo River, where he wrote his famous piece of writing, Li Sao, which is famous for thousands of years.

In 278 BC, seeing that he was unable to save his country, Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. It is said that after Qu Yuan threw himself into the river, the people's rescue boats sailed into the Miluo River and Dongting Lake from all directions. In order to make his body is not eaten by fish and turtles, people will be put into the river zongzi class of food, so that the Dragon Boat Festival "Dragon Boat Race" "Corner Corn Cast River" and other customs.

In the Dragon Boat Festival, in addition to eating rice dumplings, northerners also retained the custom of hanging mugwort on the door, which should have originated in the evil month of the evil day of the taboos, the meaning is to let the special smell of mugwort to prevent the evil things into the room, in order to be clean, calm and spend the summer.

After the Wei, Jin, North and South Dynasties period of the great migration and integration of peoples, the North and South festival customs gradually integrated and unified, coupled with the era of war and chaos, people miss the admiration of the great patriot Qu Yuan, so to the Tang and Song dynasty, after the Dragon Boat Festival on May 5 to commemorate the Qu Yuan and then no more controversy, which is precisely the result of the integration of the North and South customs.

History finally chose Qu Yuan, put him on the core position of the Dragon Boat Festival, "Dragon Boat Racing, in honor of Qu Yuan" forever engraved in the hearts of everyone.

Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Racing

Dragon Boat Racing is the main custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. Legend has it that the people of Chu could not bear to see the wise minister Qu Yuan throw himself into the river to die, and many people scrambled to catch up with the boat to save him. Chase to Dongting Lake when the trail is gone. After that, every year on May 5 to row a dragon boat to commemorate Qu Yuan.

Eat rice dumplings

Because Qu Yuan threw himself into the river, the people are afraid of Qu Yuan's body was eaten by fish, shrimp, so the bamboo tube filled with rice food into the river, and later evolved into a bamboo culm sheaths, bamboo leaves wrapped in a good put into the river to feed the fish and shrimp.

Dragon Boat Festival to eat zongzi, which is another traditional custom of the Chinese people. Zongzi, also known as "corn", "tube dumplings". Its long history, a variety of patterns. At the beginning of May every year, the Chinese people have to dip glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves, package zongzi, its color varieties are more varied.

From the filling point of view, the north more packages of small jujube Beijing jujube dumplings; the south has a variety of fillings such as bean paste, fresh meat, ham, egg yolk, etc., which is represented by the Zhejiang Jiaxing dumplings. The custom of eating zongzi, for thousands of years, in China prevailed, and spread to North Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.

Ai leaves, calamus and garlic

Ai, calamus and garlic are known as the "three friends of the Dragon Boat Festival".

In the North and South Dynasties, the Dragon Boat Festival was also known as the "Mu Lan Festival", and there was a custom of picking moxa around Jingchu. Pick Ai in the chicken before the departure, select the most humanoid Ai grass to take back to hang on the door, some will also be tied into a tiger-shaped Ai grass, and then paste Ai leaves on it. Mugwort and calamus contain aromatic oils, and they have the same antiseptic effect as garlic. During the Dragon Boat Festival, near the summer solstice, it is the time when the cold air and summer air interact with each other, from food to clothing, action must pay attention to. Baoshan County has a proverb: "did not eat the Dragon Boat Festival dumplings, cold clothes can not be sent; eat the Dragon Boat Festival dumplings, but also freeze three frozen." In ancient times, people lack of scientific concepts, mistakenly thought that the disease are made by the ghosts and evil Chong, so the Dragon Boat Festival this day, people to calamus as a sword, to Ai as a whip, garlic as a hammer, also known as the "three weapons", that you can back snakes, bugs, germs, and eliminate the demons.

Jiangnan region, some custom is to drink calamus wine at the Dragon Boat Festival, then its medicinal efficacy is more direct. Usually before the festival, the calamus is chopped up, accompanied by the male yellow, immersed in wine, the festival can be drunk.

Hitching the five-color thread

The five-color thread is green, red, white, black and yellow, which symbolizes the five directions and five elements in traditional Chinese culture and is regarded as an auspicious color. It was once a popular festival custom to tie arms with five-color threads at the Dragon Boat Festival. Passed to the later generations, that is, developed into such as long-life wisps, long-life locks, scented bags and many other kinds of beautiful ornaments, the production is also becoming more and more sophisticated, become the Dragon Boat Festival unique folk art.

On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, children should be tied on the wrists and ankles with five-color silk thread to drive away evil spirits. Traditional practice, with red, green, yellow, white and black thick silk thread rolled into a colorful rope, tied to the arm or neck of small children, since the 5th of May tie up, until the seventh anniversary of the birthday of the "seven mother mother", only to be dismantled along with the gold kozo burned. There is also a saying that in the first rainy day after the Dragon Boat Festival, the colorful line cut down and thrown in the rain, meaning that the river will be plague, disease, said to go to the evil spirits, disasters, will bring a year of good luck.