Why is the Dragon Boat Festival holiday?

Why is the Dragon Boat Festival a holiday? When did the country start to stipulate the Dragon Boat Festival holiday?

The Dragon Boat Festival holiday is stipulated by the state. Since 2008, the Dragon Boat Festival has been listed as a national statutory holiday, and the Dragon Boat Festival in China has been closed for one year.

the introduction of the Dragon Boat Festival

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the traditional Dragon Boat Festival in China, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival and Dragon Boat Festival. This festival began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Together with Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, it is called the three major festivals in China.

"The end is the beginning." Therefore, the fifth day is also the Dragon Boat Festival. In ancient times, May was "noon moon" and "Dragon Boat Festival" was also written as "Dragon Boat Festival". The word "noon" on May 5 is repeated, so it is also called "heavy noon". The ancients also regarded "noon" as. Yang Chen ",so" Dragon Boat Festival "can also be said to be" Duanyang ".

There are different views on the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. The most influential thing is to commemorate Qu Yuan. On May 5th, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River in Hunan. In order to save him, people rowed to find it and threw zongzi into the water. This statement has always been dominant.

Mr Wen Yiduo, a modern scholar, thinks that the Dragon Boat Festival is a dragon festival, that is, a totem festival held by the ancient Wuyue people and a dragon totem tribe. Continuous tattoos, an ordinary person in ancient wuyue, like a dragon, held a totem festival on May 5th every year.

Others believe that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the summer solstice, that is, the summer solstice festival in the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Ye Fan's Book of the Later Han Dynasty holds this view.

The main activity of the Dragon Boat Festival is dragon boat racing, and its main purpose is also. Save Qu Yuan. Wu Jun of the Liang Dynasty wrote in "Continuation of the Peace of Qi": "Chu doctor Qu Yuan died in the Miluo River, and the Chu people mourned it and saved it with a boat. Playing in Duanyang is a legacy. "Qu Yuan was born in Lepingli, Sanjian, Zigui County, Hubei Province, and was a Chu man in the Warring States Period. Because of his profound knowledge, his knowledge of dealing with chaos and his rhetorical skills, he became a leftist in Chu Huaiwang. He advocated "invigorating talents and empowering people" at home, "making great efforts to govern" and "uniting Qi and opposing Qin" abroad, and finally achieved the goal of unifying China. However, his political views were opposed by a group of traitors and thieves in Chu, excluded and framed, and exiled to Hunan by the king of Xiang. He lives near Dongting Lake. Soon, he heard the news that the capital of Chu was attacked by Qin Jun. The pain of national subjugation was unbearable, so he died in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

What are the customs of Dragon Boat Festival?

1, Dragon Boat Race

Dragon boat race is the main custom of Dragon Boat Festival. It is said that it originated from the ancient Chu people, reluctant to part with the sage Qu Yuan and threw himself into the river. Many people rowed to catch up and save. They rushed to catch up with each other and disappeared at Dongting Lake. After that, on May 5th every year, a dragon boat was rowed as a memorial to disperse the fish in the river and prevent them from eating Qu Yuan's body.

Step 2 hang wormwood

Dragon Boat Festival is the first festival after summer, and the temperature is rising, which is a period of frequent diseases. People often hang several mugwort plants at home. Because of its special fragrance, people use it to ward off evil spirits, prevent mosquitoes and ward off evil spirits. At the same time, the ancients planted mugwort and calamus to a certain extent, and these activities also reflected the fine tradition of the Chinese nation.

Step 3 eat zongzi

Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of China people. According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, millet was wrapped in leaves into horns, which were called "horny millet". Rice packed in bamboo tubes is sealed and baked, which is called "tube zongzi". At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, millet soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contains alkali, the millet is wrapped in leaves into a quadrilateral, and when cooked, it becomes Guangdong sour rice dumplings.

Step 4 drink realgar wine

There is a folk saying that "drinking realgar wine will eliminate all diseases." Therefore, on the Dragon Boat Festival, most parts of China have the custom of drinking realgar wine. As for children, the elders put realgar wine on their faces or bodies to drive away insects and dirt. In fact, realgar is a toxic mineral, which can be sterilized for external use, but it is easy to cause cancer by direct drinking, so it is not recommended.

5. Wear sachets

Children wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival, which not only means to ward off evil spirits, but also adorns them with their heads. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine. It is wrapped in silk and the fragrance is overflowing. Then it is tied into a rope with five-color silk threads to make a string of different shapes and exquisite.

6, hanging five-color silk thread

Ying Shao's "Customs Pass" records: "On May 5, the arm was tied with colorful silk, one with a long life, one with a long life, one with five colors, and one with a Zhu Suo, so that people were not ill." In ancient China, five colors were worshipped, and they were considered auspicious colors (some people said that five colors represented five dragons). Therefore, in the early morning of the festival, the first important thing for adults after getting up is to tie five-color lines on their wrists, ankles and necks. Children are not allowed to talk when tying the thread. The five-color line cannot be broken or discarded at will, and can only be thrown into the river during the first heavy rain in summer or the first bath. It is said that children wearing five-color thread can avoid the harm of snakes and scorpions; Throwing it into the river is to let the river wash away plagues and diseases and make children safe and healthy.