What is the origin of dragon boat?

The dragon boat was originally used to send disasters to plague ships, and later evolved into "soul ships" or "soul ships".

Most of the ancient southern rice-growing peoples were located in water towns, and the custom of offering sacrifices to water was formed about seven or eight thousand years ago. In fact, the dragon boat race is a relic of water sacrifice. The original function of the dragon boat is to "send a disaster boat" to ward off evil spirits and stir up disasters.

According to "Wuling Race" quoted in "Ancient and Modern Books Integration":

Nowadays, it is said that rowing a boat will come to an end, offering it with wine, paper and money, going straight to the bottom of the water, burning curses and cursing mistakes, and going with the flow, which is called "sending the bid"; However, without flags and drums, we rowed back to the high shore and set up a pavilion to cover it until next year, that is, this year. At that time, people took a boat to preheat the fire, or had diseases, all of which were paper boats. For example, the color of their dragon boat was burned in the water. ......

According to Hu Guangzhi's book, the state of Yuezhou "thought it was a disaster to attack the city boat race during the Dragon Boat Festival"; Huanggang County, "Bahe Town welcomes the Dragon Boat Festival, and Nuo people tattoo their crowns to sing gold to drive away the epidemic".

"A Record of Guangdong" also says: "When you enter the government in the south, you will charm the gods, crush the river, and the clouds will send a plague. Golden drum instruments, singing boat songs together. "

It can be seen that the original intention of dragon boat racing is to "send disasters to the epidemic", rather than competitive entertainment.

The word "dragon boat" probably appeared in the pre-Qin ancient book "Mu Zhuan": "The emperor rides a bird boat, and the dragon boat floats in the swamp." The "flying dragon" in "Nine Songs Xiang Jun" refers to the dragon boat.

In ancient southern China, the phoenix was worshipped as a totem, and dragons could only be used as attendants, cars or slaves of God-made couples. In Qu Yuan's ci-fu, the phoenix and the dragon appeared 24 times each, but the phoenix was the messenger and the dragon was just the mount of the phoenix. For example, "Driving eight dragons in a winding way, holding a cloud flag as a snake", the "coachman" is a husband and wife, and the dragon is a "carriage".

Later, imaginative southerners let dragons (dragon boats) play the role of "welcoming souls".

In ancient southern water towns, boats were mostly used instead of walking. People believe that after death, people's souls will return to the "wild goose village" between clouds and water, so they need a boat to meet them. Therefore, a custom of burying a soul-welcoming boat and a soul-welcoming bird was formed, that is, the grandmother of Luan Bird would send a soul-welcoming bird to "Goose Village" when someone died, and the role of the soul-welcoming boat had to be wronged by the dragon.

The original function of the dragon boat has evolved into a hearse equivalent to today's funeral home, which is dedicated to the sacred mission of transporting the deceased to heaven.

Jia Yi in the Western Han Dynasty once wrote "Bird Fu" in Changsha, which is the custom.

The two silk paintings of Dragon Warrior unearthed from Chu Tomb in Changsha should actually be "The Dead Ascend to Heaven". In one of them, the couple flapping their wings and claws proudly command the dragon to sail the boat of death. In another picture, the deceased sailed to heaven in a dragon boat, and the husband and wife stood at the dragon's tail as the helmsman and drove the dragon boat forward.

The flying clothes and silk paintings in Mawangdui tomb in the Western Han Dynasty depict the undead ascending to heaven in Ssangyong, while the bird spirit leisurely guards the ascension to heaven in Ssangyong.

This also reflects a custom of "sitting dead" at that time, that is, before the old man died, the whole family moved to nave and sat on a white cloth symbolizing the dragon (the boat that welcomes the soul), and the white cloth extended from the roof to symbolize path to god.

Later generations used dragon boat races to commemorate the wrongs of Qu Yuan, Wu Zixu and Cao E. In fact, they used dragon boats to sacrifice souls for burial, which is a continuation of the ancient dragon boat custom.

This custom of welcoming the soul boat has been circulated and gradually evolved into the custom of dragon boat racing.