The Origin of Single Tree Dragon Boat Festival

The legend of canoe is different. Dragon boat races in most places of Han nationality in China are the records of Qu Yuan, a great patriotic poet. It is also said that it is to commemorate the practice of Gou Jian, the king of Yue, or to commemorate Wu Zixu and Cao E; The dragon boat races in Yunnan and Fujian are to commemorate local heroes; Dai people commemorate their ancient heroes. Miao race dragon boat with only one piece of wood, which comes from an ancient myth and legend. According to the collection of literature and history of Taijiang County compiled by the Learning Committee of Taijiang County Committee of China People's Political Consultative Conference, the only son of an old fisherman in Qingshui River was killed by a dragon. The old fisherman killed the dragon, and the Miao people in each village cut open the dragon meat and ate it with relish. Then it was dark, and the dragon reported his dream to the Miao people and asked the villagers to row dragon boats for sacrifice, which was passed down from generation to generation. This shows the distinct humanistic spirit of not being afraid of violence, ghosts and gods, and tenacious struggle with nature.

As far as anthropological research is concerned, the most precious thing of single-board dragon boat is the preservation of quite rich and complete traditional track instruments. There are a series of ritual witchcraft activities from making dragon boats to launching them every year and eating dragon meat before and after the start of the competition; Next to the location of the dragon boat shed, you can often see a small land temple; Quite unique is the "dragon-catching" ceremony of rowing a dragon boat to each village to inform relatives to send ducks, geese, pigs and cows: before the competition, rowing a boat to the shore pier with firecrackers along the way to accept gifts and toasts from the surnames represented on the boat or married relatives in the village. At this time, the athletes will perform fancy boating, and take the splash to the other side to watch, and the bead curtain will turn over at the same time, which is full of leisure and entertainment.

The canoeing and dragon boat of Miao nationality in Qiandongnan is similar to modern sports and has long been regarded as national sports. But what kind of sports activity it belongs to, whether it has the purpose and function of sports, and what kind of position and function it should have in the process of human development need to be studied. The Miao nationality single-plank dragon boat in Qiandongnan has been recorded frequently in ancient books. It was filmed by foreign film and television institutions half a century ago. In recent years, hundreds of related articles have been published, but valuable research results are rare. We believe that a wooden dragon boat is a typical example of China's colorful traditional national sports activities. Through the empirical study of sports anthropology, we can open up a brand-new space.