The Origin And Customs Of The Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Duanyang Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Tianzhong Festival, etc., originated from the worship of natural celestial phenomena and evolved from the sacrifice of dragons in ancient times. Let's take a look at the origin and customs of the Dragon Boat Festival below.

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival. For more than 2,000 years, the Dragon Boat Festival has been a multi-ethnic folk festival for the whole people to exercise, prevent epidemics and cure diseases, avoid plague and poison, and pray for health.

Zigui County is the birthplace of Qu Yuan and one of the places with the most profound culture of the Dragon Boat Festival in China. In many parts of China, there is only one Dragon Boat Festival, but Zigui has three Dragon Boat Festivals. Every Dragon Boat Festival, Zigui people have to commemorate Qu Yuan in their own way. The Dragon Boat Festival will recite Qu Yuan, race dragon boats to commemorate Qu Yuan, hold ceremonies to sacrifice Qu Yuan, hang mugwort, and calamus, eat rice dumplings, drink realgar wine, etc.

Every Dragon Boat Festival, in Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas of East China, people like to row dragon boats at night, with lanterns and colourful lanterns, going back and forth. , in order to celebrate the victory of rice transplanting and wish the harvest of crops; Yunnan Dai people race dragon boats in the "Water Splashing Festival" to commemorate ancient heroes.

In addition to the custom of dragon boat racing in the mainland of the motherland during the Dragon Boat Festival, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Taiwan also began to hold dragon boat races. At that time, Jiang Yuanjun, the prefect of Taiwan, hosted a friendly match at Banyuechi, Fahua Temple, Tainan City. Now Taiwan holds dragon boat races every year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. In Hong Kong, Macau and other places, the custom of dragon boat racing at the Dragon Boat Festival is also very popular.

The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Duanyang Festival and the Chongwu Festival, is said to be the day when Qu Yuan, the great ancient Chinese poet and one of the four major cultural celebrities in the world, threw himself into the Miluo River to die for his country. For more than two thousand years, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month has become a traditional festival to commemorate Qu Yuan. According to historical records, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 278 B.C., when Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet and doctor of the state of Chu, heard the news that the Qin army had conquered the capital of the state of Chu, he was filled with grief and indignation, and he resolutely wrote the masterpiece "Huaisha", bouldering. Throwing into the Miluo River, he sacrificed himself for his country. People along the river led boats to race to salvage them, evoking their souls along the water, and threw zongzi into the river to prevent fish and shrimp from eating away at his body. This custom has lasted for more than two thousand years.

For thousands of years, Qu Yuan's patriotic spirit and touching poems have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. People "cherish and mourn, the world talks about their words, and passes them on from generation to generation". In the field of folk culture, Chinese people have since then closely linked the dragon boat racing and eating rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival with the commemoration of Qu Yuan. With the increasing influence of Qu Yuan, the Dragon Boat Festival, which began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period gradually spread and became a festival of the Chinese nation.

There are many other names for the Dragon Boat Festival in China, such as Noon Festival, May Festival, Yulan Festival, Girls' Festival, Tianzhong Festival, Poet's Festival, Dragon Day and so on. Although the names are different, the customs of people around the world are similar. The main contents include the daughter returning to her mother's house, hanging the statue of Zhong Kui, hanging calamus, wormwood, wearing sachets, dragon boat racing, martial arts, hitting balls, swinging, painting realgar for children, drinking realgar wine, eating salted eggs, rice dumplings and seasonal fresh fruits, etc., except that the superstitious activities gradually disappeared, the rest of the customs have spread all over China and neighbouring countries.

Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu, is one of the biggest traditional festivals in my country. The meaning of "Duan" is the same as that of "Early", and it is called "Duanwu" just like "Chuwu"; the word "Wu" of Duanwu is also connected with "Wu". "moon. Because noon is "Yangchen", Duanwu is also called "Duanyang". On the fifth day of the fifth month, the month and the day are both five, so the weight of five is also called noon.

dragon boat and Zongzi

the raw material of Zongzi

the Zongzi in the south of china dragon boat festival

In addition, the Dragon Boat Festival has many other names, such as Summer Festival, Yulan Festival, Girls' Festival, Tianzhong Festival, Dila, Poet's Festival and so on. There are many nicknames for the Dragon Boat Festival, which indirectly explains the divergence of the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival.