Brief introduction to the origin of Dragon Boat Festival

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival, which is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation. There are several theories about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, among which the theory of commemorating Qu Yuan has the widest and deepest influence.

Qu Yuan was a patriotic minister of Chu during the Warring States Period and a great patriotic poet in history.

Qu Yuan's integrity and patriotic behavior were rejected and slandered by the nobles at that time. He was removed from office and exiled. He wrote such famous poems as Li Sao, Tian Wen and Jiu Ge, all of which are concerned about the country and the people.

In 278 BC, Chu was defeated and Qu Yuan was heartbroken. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, about 62-year-old Qu Yuan came to the Miluo River and threw himself into the river with a stone.

After the local people knew it, they rowed boats to salvage and rescue, but they found nothing. People are worried that fish and shrimp in the water will eat Qu Yuan's body, so they take rice balls from home and throw them into the river to feed the fish and shrimp.

Gradually evolved into the custom of eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon Boat Festival is also considered as a festival to commemorate Qu Yuan.

Legendary stories (illustrated stories)

(A) Qu Yuan into the river

In memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, in order to prevent Qu Yuan's body from being eaten by fish and shrimp, residents threw a lot of rice (zongzi) wrapped in bamboo leaves into the river and competed to find Qu Yuan's body.

(2) Cao E found her father's body.

Cao E, a dutiful daughter of the Eastern Han Dynasty, died because Cao Fu threw herself into the river. /kloc-when she was 0/4 years old, she cried by the river. 17 days later, Cao Fu's body is still missing. She threw herself into the river on May 1 day, and five days later, the two bodies closed and floated, and were sacrificed by the villagers.

(3) Legend of White Snake

Legend has it that Empress White Snake married Xu Xian in return for her kindness. It is said that on the Dragon Boat Festival, the white snake drank realgar wine, which was almost snake-shaped. It is a famous folk drama, together with The Legend of the White Snake in Fahai and the flooded Jinshan Temple.

(4) The anniversary of Wu Zixu's death.

Legend has it that after Wu Zixu helped Wu attack Chu, He Lv died and Fu Cha succeeded to the throne, winning a great victory. Ju Jian, the King of Yue, invited him to make peace and Wu Zixu fought the main battle. Fu Cha did not listen, but listened to the treacherous court official and committed suicide for Wu Zixu. On May 5th, he threw the body into the river. After that, people offered sacrifices to Wu Zixu on the Dragon Boat Festival.

Second, related customs.

The Dragon Boat Festival is also called the Mid-Autumn Festival, because after the fifth month of the lunar calendar, the weather is getting hotter, mosquitoes and flies breed, and infectious diseases are prone to occur, so the ancients called May "evil month" or "poisonous month". On the Dragon Boat Festival, the sun is the hottest and all kinds of poisons come out. The ancients used five kinds of plants-Acorus calamus, wormwood, pomegranate flower, garlic and Shandan-to detoxify, which can be said to be an ancient health festival in China.

After the founding of the Republic of China, it was designated as "Summer Festival", also known as "Poet's Festival" to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Dragon Boat Festival is called "Universal Festival" because every household hangs calamus to ward off evil spirits.

The customs related to the Dragon Boat Festival are as follows:

(1) Eat zongzi

It was because Qu Yuan threw himself into the river that people were afraid that Qu Yuan's body would be eaten by fish and shrimp, so they packed rice in bamboo tubes and threw it into the river. Later, it evolved into being wrapped in bamboo baskets and bamboo leaves and thrown into the river to feed fish and shrimp.

(2) Drink realgar

After the Dragon Boat Festival, various insects became active and the plague gradually increased. Realgar has the effect of eliminating epidemic diseases. It is precisely because of the story of the white snake that after drinking realgar wine, the white snake is almost snake-shaped, so the people play a role as effective, hoping to receive the role of exorcism.

(3) hanging branches of Folium Artemisiae Argyi, Acorus calamus and Ficus.

There are reasons for hanging wormwood, calamus (Pujian), pomegranate and garlic at the entrance of Dragon Boat Festival. Usually mugwort leaves, banyan trees and calamus are tied into a bundle with red paper and then inserted or hung on the door. Because Acorus calamus is the first of the five auspicious symbols in the sky, it symbolizes the ominous sword, because the growing season and shape are regarded as "the breath of a hundred yin", and the leaves are sword-shaped and can be inserted at the door to ward off evil spirits. Therefore, the alchemist called it "water sword", and later the custom extended to "general sword", which can cut off all evil. In the Qing Dynasty, Gu Tieqing recorded in Jia Qinglu that "chopping Pu as a sword, chopping Peng as a whip, and hanging peach stalks and garlic on the bed are all used to exorcise ghosts". However, in the local records of the Jin Dynasty, "I mourn for the tiger, or cut the ribbon for the tiger, with leaves of mourning attached, and I strive to cut it. In the future, it will be calamus, or it will look like a human figure or a small sword, called Pujian, to drive away evil spirits. "