Besides eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival, what other customs have been forgotten?

The Dragon Boat Festival is coming, and everyone's first impression of the Dragon Boat Festival is eating zongzi. Besides making zongzi, what other forgotten customs are there in the traditional Dragon Boat Festival in China? Let's take a look at the traditional Dragon Boat Festival.

Sailongzhou

Dragon boat race is an important activity of Dragon Boat Festival. At first, it was a sacrificial activity of the ancient Yue people to worship the water god or the dragon god, and its origin may have begun at the end of primitive society. It has been circulating for more than two thousand years. According to historical records, the dragon boat race started in memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.

It can be seen that dragon boat racing is not only a kind of sports and entertainment, but also embodies patriotism and collectivism in people's hearts.

Peixiangnang

Children wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is said to mean to ward off evil spirits and plague. Actually, it is used to decorate the inner head. 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, and made into various shapes of strings, which are small and lovely.

In some cities in southern China, young men and women also use sachets to express their deep love.

Hanging wormwood

There is a folk proverb that says, "Willows are inserted in Qingming Festival, and Ai is inserted in Dragon Boat Festival". On the Dragon Boat Festival, people regard inserting wormwood and calamus as one of the important contents.

Every household should sweep the courtyard, put calamus and moxa sticks in the eyebrows of the door and hang them in the main room. Acorus calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, Liu Hua, Garlic and Dragon Boat Flower are made into human or tiger shapes, which are called Ai Ren and Ai Hu. It is made into garlands and decorations, beautiful and fragrant, and women compete to wear it to ward off evil spirits.

Diaozhong statue

It is the custom of Dragon Boat Festival for Zhong Kui to catch ghosts. In the Jianghuai area, bells and statues are hung in every household to ward off evil spirits.

Emperor Kaiyuan of Tang Dynasty returned to the palace after giving a lecture in Lishan, and malaria was rampant. He dreamed that two ghosts, one big and one small, were running around the temple wearing red crotch pants and stealing Yang Guifei's sachet and the jade emperor of the Ming Dynasty. GREAT GHOST, wearing a blue robe and a blue hat, caught the child, gouged out his eyes and swallowed it in one gulp. When asked by the Ming emperor, GREAT GHOST said: My surname is Zhong Kui, that is to say, I am the best martial artist. I am willing to exorcise evil spirits for your majesty. When the Ming emperor woke up, malaria was cured. So I asked Wu Daozi, the painter, to draw a portrait of Zhong Kui catching ghosts according to what I saw in my dream, and ordered all the people to post it on the Dragon Boat Festival to exorcise evil spirits.

Bolt five-color silk thread

In ancient China, five colors were revered and regarded as auspicious colors. Therefore, the morning of the Dragon Boat 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.

Yunnan realgar wine

Realgar is also a kind of medicinal material, which is said to kill all kinds of poisons. Therefore, during the Dragon Boat Festival, ancient people would soak realgar in wine and smear realgar wine on children's ears, nose, forehead, wrists and ankles. It is said that this practice can keep mosquitoes, snakes, scorpions, centipedes, geckos and spiders away from the body.