Customs of Dragon Boat Festival in various places

Wall clock: Zhong Kui catches ghosts, which is the custom of Dragon Boat Festival. In the Jianghuai area, bells and statues are hung in every household to ward off evil spirits. Emperor Kaiyuan of Tang Dynasty returned to the palace after giving a lecture in Lishan, and malaria was rampant. He dreamed that two ghosts, one big and one small, were running around the temple wearing red crotch pants and stealing Yang Guifei's sachet and the jade emperor of the Ming Dynasty. GREAT GHOST, wearing a blue robe and a blue hat, caught the child, gouged out his eyes and swallowed it in one gulp. When asked by the Ming emperor, GREAT GHOST said: My surname is Zhong Kui, that is to say, I am the best martial artist. I am willing to exorcise evil spirits for your majesty. When the Ming emperor woke up, malaria was cured. So I asked Wu Daozi, the painter, to draw a portrait of Zhong Kui catching ghosts according to what I saw in my dream, and ordered all the people to post it on the Dragon Boat Festival to exorcise evil spirits.

Folium Artemisiae Argyi hangs calamus: On the Dragon Boat Festival, every household makes calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, pomegranate flower, garlic and dragon boat flower into human figures, which are called Ai people. Hanging mugwort leaves in the hall, cutting them into tiger shapes or ribbons, and sticking mugwort leaves on them, women compete to wear them to ward off evil spirits. Using calamus as a sword and inserting it on the lintel has the magical effect of exorcising ghosts.

Dragon Boat Race: At that time, Chu people couldn't bear the death of the sage Qu Yuan, so many people rowed to save people. They rushed to catch up, but when they arrived at Dongting Lake, there was no trace, because that was the origin of dragon boat racing, and then they rowed dragon boats on May 5 every year to commemorate it. Rowing a dragon boat to disperse the fish in the river so as not to eat Qu Yuan's body. The habit of competition prevailed in wuyue and Chu. Dragon Boat Race started in Taiwan Province Province in the 29th year of Qing Qianlong. At that time, Jiang, the chief executive of Taiwan Province Province, held a friendly match in Hexi Half Moon Pool in Tainan City. Now, Taiwan Province Province holds a dragon boat race on May 5th every year. There are boat races in Hong Kong. Recently, the British have followed China's example by organizing ghost teams and holding competitions.

Eating zongzi: On May 5th, people in Jingchu boiled glutinous rice or steamed zongzi cakes and threw them into the river to offer sacrifices to Qu Yuan, so they threw them in bamboo tubes for fear of fish eating them. Later, they gradually wrapped rice with zongzi leaves instead of bamboo tubes.

Drinking realgar wine: This custom is very popular among people in the Yangtze River valley.

Wandering all diseases: This custom prevails in the Dragon Boat Festival custom in Guizhou.

Wearing sachets: Children wear sachets during the Dragon Boat Festival, which not only means to ward off evil spirits and drive away epidemics, but also has decorative styles on the front. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, and it is wrapped in silk cloth, and the fragrance is overflowing: then it is tied into a rope with five-color silk threads, and made into strings of various shapes, which are exquisite and dazzling.

Customs of Dragon Boat Festival in various places

(Three Northeast Provinces)

Going for a walk in the suburbs, fields or parks early in the morning is called an outing. Fold some branches or buy some wormwood, tie up gourds of various colors and hang them on doors and windows. Paper gourds were originally made by people themselves, but now most of them are bought. Some people will also tie some small sticks and connect them with gourds to eliminate all diseases. The collected wormwood (wormwood) is washed in water. Children have "multicolored threads" on their wrists and hands, which are twisted together with thin lines of red, yellow, blue, green, black and white. Sachet bags are hung around the neck, and there are various colorful styles. Besides eating zongzi, you should also eat tea eggs.

[Hebei Province]

It is said that drilling well water is avoided in Beiping Dragon Boat Festival, and it is often pre-pumped before the festival, in order to avoid well poisoning. On Dragon Boat Festival, street vendors also sell cherry mulberries. It is said that they eat cherry mulberries on the Dragon Boat Festival and don't eat flies by mistake all year round. "Five Poison Cakes", which are cakes decorated with five poisonous insect patterns, are sold in various food stores. Luanxian county lets men and women in-laws give gifts to each other on the Dragon Boat Festival. On the Dragon Boat Festival in Zhao County, the local government will hold a banquet in the south of the city, inviting the literati in the city to feast and compose poems, which is called "stepping on the willow".

[Shandong Province]

On the Dragon Boat Festival in zouping county, everyone needs a drink every morning, which is said to ward off evil spirits. Rizhao Dragon Boat Festival wraps seven colors of thread around children, and it will take them until the first rain after the festival before they are untied and thrown into the rain. On the Dragon Boat Festival in Linqing County, boys under seven wear symbols (necklaces made of wheat barnyard grass), girls wear pomegranate flowers and yellow cloth shoes made by their mothers, and draw five kinds of poisonous insects on the vamps with a brush. It means killing five kinds of poisonous insects with Qu Yuan's ink. On the morning of Dragon Boat Festival, Jimo washes his face with dew.

[Shanxi Province]

On the Dragon Boat Festival in Xiezhou, men and women wear mugwort leaves, which is called "expelling diseases", while young children tie a hundred ropes around their necks. It is said that this is "tying dragons for Qu Yuan". During the Dragon Boat Festival in the Western Zhou Dynasty, villages would offer sacrifices to the Dragon King and hang paper in the fields. The Dragon Boat Festival in Huairen County is also called "Zhumen". The Dragon Boat Festival in Dingxiang County requires students to give gifts to their teachers. Lu 'an Mansion uses steamed dumplings made of wheat flour, called "white dumplings", and presents them to each other together with zongzi.

[Shaanxi Province]

On the Dragon Boat Festival in Xing 'an League, local officials lead their subordinates to watch the game, which is called "stepping on a stone". At the Dragon Boat Festival in Xingping County, a small corn is sewn with silk, and a small doll is sewn below it, which is called "playing with dolls". The Dragon Boat Festival in Tongguan County is called "town disease", and there are Pu Ai and paper cows sticking to the door.

[Gansu Province]

Picking roses on Dragon Boat Festival in Jingning area is mainly based on honey pickling. Zhenyuan county presented a fragrant fan, a Luo Qi, a towel handkerchief and a Ai Hu to the newlyweds during the Dragon Boat Festival. Children also invite their fathers and brothers to entertain their teachers, which is called "enjoying the festival". On the Dragon Boat Festival in Zhang Xi 'an County, the shepherd boy worships the mountain gods. Accumulated salary mountain, chicken calls before burning, commonly known as "burning mountain"

[Jiangsu Province]

During the Dragon Boat Festival in Jiading County, people, rich or poor, have to buy stone fish (commonly known as mandarin fish) to cook. There is also a saying in Yizheng County, "When pants, buy yellow croaker". On the Dragon Boat Festival in Nanjing, families use a box of clear water, plus a little realgar and goose eye money. The whole family washes their eyes with this kind of water, which is called "breaking the eyes of fire". It is said that it can protect them from eye diseases for a year. There is a dragon boat show in Wujin at night. In the evening, small lanterns are hung around the dragon boat, and flutes and drums sing harmoniously.

The Dragon Boat Festival in Gaoyou is very special. There are customs such as tying a hundred scorpions, sticking five poisons, sticking symbols, emitting yellow smoke and eating "Twelve Red". Children hanging "duck eggs" means choosing beautiful duck eggs, putting on colorful threads and hanging them on their chests.

[Sichuan Province]

Shizhu has the custom of "going out during the Dragon Boat Festival". Four people use two bamboo poles to lift the wide table covered with red carpet. A Taoist priest riding a tiger weaves bamboo sticks on the carpet. Beating gongs and drums, marching in the street. In ancient times, there was a custom of "beating plum blossoms" on the Dragon Boat Festival in western Sichuan. On that day, Chengdu people bought plums and threw them in the southeast corner of the city, attracting tens of thousands of spectators. In the 21st year of Guangxu (1895), this custom stopped because of the sudden conflict between Touli and foreign missionaries. Leshan, Xinjin and other places also hold grand commodity fairs during the Dragon Boat Festival.

[Zhejiang Province]

Students from rural schools in Tonglu County gave their teachers a gift on the Dragon Boat Festival, which was called "Remembrance". The doctor collects medicine at noon, and it is said that the doctor is in heaven that day.

[Jiangxi Province]

Jianchang Prefecture takes a bath with herbal water at noon to prevent scabies, and Xinchang County drinks realgar cinnabar wine, which is called "opening eyes".

[Hubei Province]

In Bahe Town, Huanggang City, people greet Nuo people on the Dragon Boat Festival and use tattoos of corollas and golden bells to drive away the epidemic. Dragon boat race in Yichang county, especially on May 13, 14 and 15. May 15, also known as "Daduanyang", people eat zongzi and drink Pu wine, just like the Dragon Boat Festival.

[Hunan Province]

On the Dragon Boat Festival in Youxian County, rich pregnant women eat with flowers, poor people prepare chicken wine, and collect money with bamboo clips in front of the dragon boat faucet to pray for safe production. The government of Yuezhou regards this game as a disaster and a disease. Also known as "sending plague", when the grass boat comes to flood.

[Fujian Province]

Fuzhou Dragon Boat Festival is an old custom, so the daughter-in-law gives shroud, shoes and socks, zongzi and fans to her in-laws. In Jianyang County, 5th is the King Day of Sun-drying capsules, and people make sauces on this day. During the Dragon Boat Festival in Shanghang County, the boat was tied with reeds and a dragon-shaped play was performed at the water's edge, which was called dragon boat race. After the Dragon Boat Race in Xianyou County, paper was presented at Huxiao Beach to commemorate Qi Jiguang's drowning here during Jiajing period. Before Shao Wufu's Dragon Boat Festival, women used crimson yarn as a bag. Five-color velvet is the winning surface, and the colored thread is tied. The girl hung upside down on her back and was called "Dou Niang".

[Guangdong Province]

After washing hands and eyes with boiling water at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival in Conghua County, it is called "sending disaster". During the Dragon Boat Festival in Xinxing County, people advocate welcoming and guiding idols' travel from neighboring temples. Wizards also use Dharma water and stickers to drive away evil spirits. During the Dragon Boat Festival in Shicheng County, children fly kites, which is called "disaster relief".

(Hainan Province)

During the Dragon Boat Festival, all parts of Hainan will hold dragon boat races and other activities as in the Central Plains. There are still two bright, slender and spirited dragon boats stacked on the two stone steps at the entrance of the 500-year-old Ming Chenghua ancient city in Ding 'an, the best-preserved ancient county. The ancestors of the island, during the Dragon Boat Festival, carried dragon boats on their shoulders and rushed to the river, sweating and racing in Nandu River ... The history has continued from an ancient Dragon Boat Festival to the present. Wenchang, known as the "hometown of coconuts", is the ancestral home of Soong Ching Ling, which is near the sea and the river. Since ancient times, local residents along the river have held dragon boat races every year on the Dragon Boat Festival to pray for peace. In addition to dragon boat racing, eating zongzi, hanging calamus and wormwood, there is another place in Hainan that is well known to the people on the island, that is, washing dragon water and taking herbal baths. Zheng Xiao, who lives in Hainan, said that since the Dragon Boat Festival, the smell of wormwood has been everywhere in the house. Mom hangs wormwood at home early, burns a large pot of wormwood water at night, and washes her face with wormwood, saying that it can ward off evil spirits and strengthen her body. Xiao Wu, who lives at the seaside, took him to the seaside to wash dragon water every year during the Dragon Boat Festival when he was a child. Folk believe that Mr. Qu Yuan has long been a dragon god, and washing "dragon water" helps children grow up healthily. People on the island have believed in seawater bathing since childhood-wiping their eyes with seawater can get rid of eye diseases; Washing your body with seawater can get rid of skin diseases. Chengmai County, Bohai Sea, in order to commemorate this characteristic folk custom, the "Dragon Water Festival" will be held in Yingbin Peninsula every Dragon Boat Festival. All the people from all over the island come here to "wash the dragon water" together. Ten thousand people travel * * *, the sea wonders of the Dragon Boat Festival. Have you seen it? The Dragon Boat Festival is also the day when Hainanese get together after Tomb-Sweeping Day. It is said that people on the island will return to their ancestral homes on this day as long as they can go home. Worship ancestors, greet parents and play with brothers and sisters. Women, as early as half a month ago, started to wrap zongzi in their hands. On the right day, every household gave zongzi, spreading peace and being very lively. The year on the island has entered a long summer with zongzi fragrance, dragon boat race and dragon water play.

Anhui province

Hefei, Anhui: inserting wormwood to attract wealth and ward off evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival.

When the Dragon Boat Festival comes, citizens in Hefei, Anhui Province, according to traditional customs, bought wormwood and put it on the door to attract blessings and drive away evil spirits. In a vegetable market on Huaihe Road in Hefei, a lady bought some sticks of wormwood and was going home to cook. She said that according to tradition, wormwood should be hung on the door to ward off evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival. On the roadside of Hefei Chenghuangmiao Market, Uncle Wang, who lives in the suburbs, pushes a tricycle to sell wormwood. His wormwood was collected from a nearby mountain, and several branches and other grass leaves were tied into a neat bundle to sell, four bundles of which cost one yuan. Wormwood gives off a special fragrance, and people come forward to buy it from time to time.

Wormwood is a perennial herb with alternate leaves, deep pinnate, green surface, thick white hairs on the leaves and special fragrance on the stems and leaves. In ancient China, wormwood was used as medicine. The moxibustion method of acupuncture was to put wormwood on the acupoint and cauterize it to treat diseases. Therefore, the ancients believed that wormwood could attract wealth and ward off evil spirits. It is recorded in an ancient book in China: "When chickens don't crow, people who collect wormwood like humans take it and use moxibustion to collect it, and the effect is very good. It is the day when Ai Cai became a man and hung on the door, which can poison gas. " In ancient times, it was thought that after the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather began to get hot, mosquitoes bred, and infectious diseases were prone to occur. So on this day, five kinds of plants, such as Acorus calamus, wormwood, pomegranate flower, garlic and Shandan, were used to drive away all kinds of poisons.

Shexian County, Anhui Province: Jumping the door to catch ghosts during the Dragon Boat Festival.

Shexian County, located in the south of Anhui Province, not only has the customs of eating zongzi, hanging wormwood and dancing dragon boats every year, but also has a unique Zhong Kui dance to catch ghosts. Zhong Kui kids hold signs of "Zhong Jinshi's Tour", "Silence" and "Avoidance", Zhong Kui holds a sword and an umbrella, and kids hold wine bowls and other folk performances.

It is understood that Zhong Kui dancing is one of the folk ways to ward off evil spirits. In the past, many villages in Shexian performed Zhong Kui on the Dragon Boat Festival. Zhong Kui's tour is limited to his own village, and he has to visit the intersection of the village head and the street to show the thoroughness of exorcism. Those who are prepared to pick up Zhong Kui in advance will set off firecrackers to cheer Zhong Kui up and pray for exorcism. Amid firecrackers, there was dust everywhere and the atmosphere was dignified. According to some data, in the works of China poets in the Qing Dynasty, there are poems chanting Zhong Kui during the Dragon Boat Festival. Perhaps it is because the weather is hot and humid at this time, many people are sick, and the plague is easy to spread, so Zhong Kui is invited to exorcise evil spirits and catch ghosts.

Yunnan province

People there celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival and eat peanuts, peaches and plums. But the meaning of these foods is different from that of southerners. Eating peanuts represents longevity, and eating plums symbolizes offspring reproduction. Some people think it can prevent heatstroke.

Taiwan Province Province, China

On the Dragon Boat Festival, every household also has the custom of playing "noon water". Noon water refers to the water that is drilled at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival. It is said that the water used to make tea and wine at noon is particularly mellow, and drinking raw water even has a miraculous effect on treating diseases. There is a proverb: "Wash your eyes at noon, and you will be as bright as a bird." He also said, "It is better to take a sip of water at noon and take tonic for three years."

Dragon boat festival decorations