The Origin and Customs of Dragon Boat Festival in Maanshan

The Dragon Boat Festival custom of Maanshan people.

Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month is a popular traditional festival, also known as Duanyang Festival, Wuyang Festival, Ai Festival and Summer Festival. Although the traditional Dragon Boat Festival customs of Ma 'anshan people are generally consistent with those of other places, they also have certain local folk customs in eating, wearing and playing.

Traditional festivals generally carry people's good wishes, and the Dragon Boat Festival is no exception.

In addition to commemorating Qu Yuan, on this day every year, Ma 'anshan People's Congress will place Folium Artemisiae Argyi and Acorus calamus on the main hall and incense table or insert them on the lintel. Take mugwort as an artifact and calamus as an Excalibur to pray for exorcism and detoxification. Many people also hang statues of Zhong Kui to drive away evil and pray for peace. On this day, the younger generation will take zongzi and other things to the new grave to pray for the safety of their families.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, dangtu county also has the custom of "giving big gifts to small gifts". Before or on the day of the festival, elders take the initiative to give their children gifts such as "Dragon Boat Festival", "Dragon Boat Festival" and summer clothes to ensure the healthy growth of younger children.

During the festival, rich food is an indispensable and important content. Dangtu people have always been very particular about eating during the Dragon Boat Festival.

On this morning, Dangtu people took mung bean cakes and candied cakes as snacks and sipped morning tea. Zongzi is the staple food for breakfast, and "five reds" are popular for lunch.

"Mung bean cake" takes mung bean as the main raw material (if there is no mung bean, it is replaced by broad bean), with yellow-green color and sweet and crisp taste; "Candied cake" is based on glutinous rice and sprinkled with sesame seeds. It has a round color and a sweet and greasy taste. Zongzi has various shapes and tastes. From the shape, there are feet, pillows, water chestnuts and cows. From the perspective of raw materials, glutinous rice is the main material, which can be divided into jujube dumplings, red bean dumplings, ham dumplings, shredded chicken dumplings and white zongzi due to different ingredients.

The so-called "five reds": one is salted duck eggs with red hearts, the other is eel, the third is river shrimp, the fourth is amaranth, and the fifth is realgar wine. Among the "five reds", there are meat and vegetables, food and drink, pickled and fresh, all of which are seasonal delicacies and delicious.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, the costumes of Dangtu people are also full of certain holiday characteristics.

On this day, traditional Dangtu women wear Dragon Boat Festival lines on their wrists, while children wear Dragon Boat Festival lines on their wrists and ankles, hang sachets on their chests, wear "cloth tigers" on their backs, wear "tiger shoes" on their feet and hold "Dragon Boat Festival dragons" to show evil spirits and avoid epidemics. The "Dragon Boat Festival Line" is surrounded by dozens of five-color silk threads and has a fragrance. "sachet" is an ornament made of colored silk thread, which is generally in the shape of a "red heart" and contains grains and spices. "Dragon Boat Festival Dragon" and "Cloth Tiger" are basically the same as "sachet" in production methods, but their shapes are slightly exaggerated and colorful.

According to the Ming Dynasty's "Mountain Hall Examination", it was after the Ming Dynasty to wear sachets during the Dragon Boat Festival. Now, from a scientific point of view, people think that the weather is sultry around the Dragon Boat Festival, and Mei Ri is coming. Wearing a "sachet" has the effects of removing sweat, preventing mildew and refreshing the brain.

Dragon boat race is the most popular entertainment in Dragon Boat Festival. Gu is the land of Zeguo in the east of the Yangtze River, with a long history. He thinks that the land, lakes on the Jingjiang River and dragon boat races also have a long tradition. Quarrying, supporting the river, the ancient sunrise and Huangchi in the river; Wang Bo and Populus euphratica are brave, while Danyang and Xinshi are skillful. During the Dragon Boat Festival, the dragon boat races in four townships and eight towns are regarded as victories and are very lively. At that time, dragon boat paintings and flags will be displayed on the water, and the poles on both sides of the strait will be hung and crowded. Heavy guns were fired at once, and all the ships fired in unison. With the sound of firecrackers, they accelerated and set off for colorful telephone poles. Beat the drum to command the rhythm, steer and grasp the direction, paddle hard, one drum and one pulp, neat and powerful, like an arrow leaving the string, break the waves and win the "color head" first. The people on the shore and the boatmen on the water, twitching from east to west, twitching from left to right, twitching from far to near, jerking back and forth, raised the "color head", causing the dragon boat to rush back and forth and compete for "color". The shore was crowded with people, shouting and cheering, so lively.

After being nervous, everyone sang boat songs, and "Rowing Dragon Boat" became an excellent folk song in Dangtu, and was selected as one hundred folk songs in Anhui, music textbooks for middle schools in Shanghai and Anhui Province, and books for compulsory education in junior high schools nationwide. In the sonorous and rhythmic sound of gongs and drums, one person leads the singer, and the paddlers sometimes accompany, sometimes entertain, and sometimes blow the trumpet. Singing and rhythm are full of local characteristics. The folk song "Dragon Boat Tune" circulating in Dagongxu and other places sings like this: Qingshui River is long, and people on both sides are crowded; The old man leans against Long Touzhang, and the girls are wearing flowery clothes; Ask what to do today, Duanyang Dragon Boat Race; Qinglong Huanglong comes to compete, and the river turns over the waves; The children jumped up and down and the girls laughed their heads off. ...

Since the reform and opening up, there has been a dragon boat race every year in Maanshan People's Dragon Boat Festival custom. Dangtu Dragon Boat Festival has won many championships in the province, and the national competition has also achieved third and fourth good results. In recent years, dangtu county has held dragon boat races on the moat every year. The moat was renovated, and the Dragon Boat Square with a strong folk flavor was specially built.