Why do people wear flower ropes on their limbs during the Dragon Boat Festival?

Flower rope is not only multicolored silk, but also commonly known as multicolored silk.

As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was recorded in Ying Shao's "Romance of Customs" that tying it to his arm could avoid soldiers and ghosts and prevent diseases and plagues. In the Book of Continued Han Dynasty and the Book of Later Han Dynasty, Zhu Suo and five-color seals were used as door decorations on the day of 3 pm, which was considered as a means to resist evil spirits.

The five colors of the five-color silk represent the five elements. In the Han Dynasty, they believed in the theory of five elements of yin and yang, and the five colors represented five directions, which had the mysterious function of exorcising evil spirits and welcoming good luck. Blue is wood, representing the East, red is fire, representing the South, yellow is earth, representing the Central Committee, white is gold, representing the West, and black is water, representing the North. Animals are symbols, with Qinglong in the east, Suzaku in the south, White Tiger in the west, Xuanwu (tortoise and snake) in the north and Huanglong in the middle, all of which are spiritual objects. The symbolic significance of five-color silk to ward off evil spirits and plagues is far more obvious than the actual function, because there is no specific explanation why these colors can eliminate disasters and diseases. It can be seen that this is a magical thing with magic and symbolic significance in folk beliefs, which is obviously different from the medical functions used by mugwort, calamus and realgar in festivals, purely for the needs of folk beliefs and good luck.

On the other hand, however, the five-color silk of the festival fully shows the significance of congratulations.

Children tie their necks, hands, feet and wrists with colored silk, commonly known as long-life rope, long-life rope, century-old rope and health rope. Women of northern nationalities in Liao Dynasty tied colorful silk on their arms at noon, commonly known as acacia knot. Women in Liao Dynasty tied colorful silk threads into human hair and tied them into a bun, also known as longevity thread. Emperor Liao and Jin wore five-color silk, also called longevity silk. Jiangnan folded the water chestnut square with paper and silk, then wrapped it with colorful silk, and gave each other gifts on holidays. Women wear this holiday ornament called Fangfang on their chests to show their achievements in women's work. These customs have little to do with avoiding soldiers and ghosts and eliminating diseases and plagues, but more to celebrate birthdays from the front. This is the positive theme of the Dragon Boat Festival to congratulate and pray for longevity while driving away evil spirits and avoiding epidemics.