Is Dragon Boat Festival the earliest health and epidemic prevention festival in China?

Yes, the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the ancient Dragon Boat Festival in China. Primitive ancestors hoped to drive away all disasters and evils with the dragon's deterrent. Since then, the Dragon Boat Festival has been handed down in the form of eliminating diseases, avoiding soldiers and ghosts, and exorcising evil spirits and eliminating disasters.

Dragon boat race, wrapping hands and feet with colored thread, wrapping zongzi with neem leaves and reed leaves, picking mugwort leaves, washing your hair with calamus water, drinking realgar wine and cinnabar wine, picking herbs, wearing sachets, hanging portraits of Zhong Kui or symbols to ward off evil spirits, etc. Are closely related to the theme of the festival.

Every year in the fifth month of the lunar calendar, the sun's spirit suddenly rises, the weather begins to be hot and dry, and the plague is easy to spread. In addition, snakes and insects are more active and easy to bite. China's ancient book "Xia Zhengxiao" contains: "Store medicine this day to remove toxic gas." In the long run, it will become a custom. Not only the Han people will carry out a large-scale epidemic prevention and disease removal activity before the summer heat comes, but also many ethnic minorities.

Leaping in May does not "leap" the Dragon Boat Festival;

There are two "May 5th" in leap May. Does this mean there are two Dragon Boat Festival? In this regard, folklore experts said that the leap in May is not the "leap" of the Dragon Boat Festival. Chen Jing, director of the Folk Culture Research Center of Nanjing University, said that according to the relevant regulations of folk customs, any festival must have three elements: a fixed name, a fixed custom and a fixed date.

"Dragon Boat Festival" should be the "noon day" on the first day of the fifth lunar month, so only May 28th this year can be called "Dragon Boat Festival". As for the fifth day of the second May on June 27th, it can't be regarded as the Dragon Boat Festival.

The Dragon Boat Festival is the earliest "Health and Epidemic Prevention Festival" in China.