What is the origin and custom of Dragon Boat Festival?

Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient traditional festival, which started in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and has a history of more than 2,000 years. Every year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. According to the Chronicle of Jingchu, it is midsummer when the sun is on the mountain and it is midsummer in May. Its first afternoon is a sunny day to climb mountains in the sun, so the fifth day of May is also called "Duanyang Festival". In addition, the Dragon Boat Festival is also called "Noon Festival, May Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Bathing Orchid Festival, Poet's Festival" and so on. Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional cultural festival popular in China and other countries in the Chinese character cultural circle.

The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival

1, in memory of Qu Yuan: Qu Yuan was a poet and politician in the Warring States Period. Because he advocated political reform and violated the interests of aristocratic ministers, he was excluded from exile. Finally, Chu was defeated by Qin, and Qu Yuan jumped into the Miluo River in grief and indignation and died. In memory of Qu Yuan, people designated the day when he jumped into the river as Dragon Boat Festival.

2. In memory of Wu Zixu, the general of the State of Wu: According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu Zixu, a native of Chu, led Wu Jun into the capital of Chu and used 300 yuan to whip the dead body of King Chu Ping to avenge his father and brother. Later, he led Wu Jun to destroy the State of Yue, and Gou Jian, the King of Yue, vowed to be a man in the State of Wu. Wu Zixu persuaded Fu Cha, the prince of Wu, to kill Gou Jian, but Fu Cha wouldn't listen. Later, Fu Cha listened to the slanderers of Taizaibo and sent someone to send a sword to Wu Zixu to commit suicide. Before he died, Wu Zixu said to his neighbors, "After I die, I will gouge out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Jason Wu to watch the Vietnamese army enter the city and destroy Wu." Fu Cha, the prince of Wu, was furious and made Wu Zixu's body sink in Qiantang River on May 5th. To commemorate him, the local people packed jiaozi on this day and held a dragon boat race.

3. In memory of the filial daughter Cao E: According to legend, when Shangyu was in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao E's father threw himself into the river. After many days of searching, Cao E still couldn't find his father, so on May 5, 14-year-old Cao E jumped into the river to look for his father. A few days later, Cao E came out of the river with his father's body in her arms. In order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, future generations regard May 5 every year as a festival to commemorate Cao E. ..

The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival

1, Dragon Boat Race:

Dragon boat race is the main custom of Dragon Boat Festival. According to legend, people who originated in the ancient State of Chu were reluctant to part with the death of the sage Qu Yuan, and many people rowed boats to save people. They rushed to catch up with each other and disappeared at Dongting Lake. After that, I will row a dragon boat on May 5th every year to commemorate it. Rowing a dragon boat to disperse the fish in the river so as not to eat Qu Yuan's body. The habit of competition prevailed in wuyue and Chu.

In fact, the "Dragon Boat Race" existed as early as the Warring States Period. Carving dragon-shaped canoes in drums and playing race games are semi-religious and semi-entertaining programs to entertain gods and people in the ceremony.

Later, people everywhere not only commemorated Qu Yuan, but also gave different meanings to dragon boat racing.

Dragon boat rowing in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is to commemorate Qiu Jin, a local-born modern female revolutionary. The night dragon boat is decorated with lights and shuttles, and the scene is moving and interesting. The Miao people in Guizhou hold the Dragon Boat Festival from May 25th to 28th of the lunar calendar to celebrate the success of transplanting rice and wish a bumper harvest. Yunnan Dai compatriots competed in dragon boat races at the Water-splashing Festival to commemorate the ancient hero Yan Hongwo. Different nationalities and regions have different legends about dragon boat rowing. To this day, dragon boat races with different characteristics are held every year in many areas near rivers and lakes in the south.

In the 29th year of Qing Qianlong (1736), Taiwan Province Province began to hold dragon boat races. At that time, Jiang, the chief executive of Taiwan Province Province, held a friendly match in Fukeji Half Moon Pool in Tainan City. Now, Taiwan Province Province holds a dragon boat race on May 5th every year. In Hong Kong, races are also held.

In addition, dragon boat racing was first introduced to neighboring countries such as Japan, Vietnam and Britain. From 65438 to 0980, the dragon boat race was included in the national sports competition in China, and the "Qu Yuan Cup" dragon boat race was held every year. 1991June 16 (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month), the first international dragon boat festival was held in Yueyang, China, Qu Yuan's second hometown. Holding a "dragon head sacrifice" before the game not only retains the traditional ceremony, but also injects new modern factors. The "dragon head" was carried into Quzi Temple. After the athletes painted the dragon head red (tied with a red ribbon), the priest read out the sacrificial ceremony and "lit up" the dragon head. Then, all the people who participated in the Dragon Boat Festival bowed three times, and the faucet was carried to the Guluo River. This time, more than 600,000 people often participate in competitions, fairs and get-together activities, which is unprecedented. Since then, Hunan has regularly held the International Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon boat races will be widely spread all over the world.

2. Eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival

Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of China people. Zongzi, also known as "millet" and "Zongzi". It has a long history and various patterns.

According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, millet was wrapped into horns by leaves of zinia latifolia, which was 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.

In Jin Dynasty, Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, jiaozi also added Alpinia oxyphylla, and the boiled jiaozi was called "Yizhi jiaozi". According to the "Yueyang Local Records" written by Zhou people, "It is customary to wrap the millet with leaves, cook it and cook it thoroughly. From May 5 to the solstice in summer, there is a jiaozi and a millet. " During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, miscellaneous zongzi appeared. Rice is mixed with animal meat, chestnuts, red dates, red beans and so on. And there are more and more varieties. Zongzi is also used as a gift for communication.

In the Tang Dynasty, the rice used for zongzi was "white as jade", and its shape appeared conical and rhombic. There is a record of "Da Tang Zongzi" in Japanese literature. In the Song Dynasty, there was already a "candied jiaozi", that is, fruits entered jiaozi. The poet Su Dongpo has a poem "See Yangmei in Zongzi". At this time, there were also advertisements for building pavilions and wooden chariots and horses with zongzi, indicating that eating zongzi was very fashionable in the Song Dynasty. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the wrapping material of zongzi changed from leaves to leaves. Later, zongzi wrapped in reed leaves appeared, and additional materials such as bean paste, pork, pine nuts, dates and walnuts appeared, and the varieties were more colorful.

To this day, at the beginning of May every year, people in China have to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors. From the perspective of stuffing, there are many dates in the north, such as jiaozi; There are many kinds of fillings in the south, such as red bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk, among which Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi is the representative. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years and spread to South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.

3. Pei Xiangbao:

Wearing sachets is one of the traditional customs of Dragon Boat Festival. The sachet is usually filled with some Chinese herbal medicines with fragrance and resuscitation, which have the effects of fragrance, insect repellent, plague prevention and disease prevention. Duanyang tied his arm with four-color thread and wore a sachet, which was exquisite and exquisite. The sachet, also known as sachet, sachet and purse, is usually made by wrapping perfume with five-color silk thread, or cotton wrapped with colored satin or cloth, mixing powder of Chuanxiong, Radix Angelicae Dahuricae, Rhizoma Sparganii, Scutellariae Radix, Flos Caryophylli, Asari, Gan Song, Radix Angelicae Dahuricae, Glycyrrhrizae Radix, realgar powder, etc., and then embroidering with colored silk thread, with red, green and hanging at the bottom.

Children wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is said to mean to ward off evil spirits and plague. Sachet bags are made into different shapes and strung together, all kinds of small and lovely, and now they have become a common handicraft. In some cities in southern China, young men and women also use sachets to express their deep love.

4, hanging calamus:

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 family sweeps the court, puts calamus and moxa sticks between their eyebrows and hangs them in the class. 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.

Artemisia argyi, also known as Artemisia argyi and Artemisia argyi. Its stems and leaves contain volatile aromatic oils. Its unique fragrance can repel mosquitoes, flies, insects and ants and purify the air. Chinese medicine uses wormwood as medicine, which has the functions of nourishing qi and blood, warming uterus and dispelling cold and dampness. Processing Artemisia argyi leaves into "moxa wool" is an important medicinal material for moxibustion treatment.

Acorus calamus is a perennial aquatic herb, and its long and narrow leaves also contain volatile aromatic oil, which is a good medicine for refreshing, strengthening bones, eliminating stagnation, killing insects and sterilizing.

It can be seen that the ancients inserted wormwood leaves and calamus to have a certain disease prevention effect. Dragon Boat Festival is also a "health festival" handed down from ancient times. On this day, people sweep the courtyard, hang branches of Artemisia argyi, hang calamus, sprinkle realgar wine, drink realgar wine, stir up turbidity to remove rot, sterilize and prevent glass. These activities also reflect the fine traditions of the Chinese nation. It is a common custom for all countries and ethnic groups in China to collect herbs on the Dragon Boat Festival.