The story about Qu Yuan's Dragon Boat Festival

Six Views on the Origin of Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Festival is one of the five major folk festivals in China (Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival), which is widely valued by people all over the country. It has many aliases, including Dragon Boat Festival, Duanyang Festival, Pujie Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Daughter's Day, Poet's Day, Mulan Festival and so on. There are many versions of the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, and the following six are known:

1. In memory of Qu Yuan. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 278 BC, the patriotic poet Qu Yuan threw himself into the river. People who were deeply sorry made zongzi and held a dragon boat race to commemorate him, and then it gradually evolved into the Dragon Boat Festival. This is the most popular saying.

2. The custom of offering sacrifices to earth wax in Taoism. The Taoist book says, "May 5th is Dila, so you can apologize on this day. Please change your official title and pay homage to your ancestors.

3. Gou Jian practiced the water army. "The Origin of Everything" records that on May 5 every year, the weather gets warmer and you can go into the water. Gou Jian, the king of Yue, began to practice the water army on this day and finally defeated Wu.

4. In memory of the filial daughter Cao E. Record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record, record,

5. Commemorative meson push. According to legend, in order to commemorate meson push, Jin Wengong ordered that the torch should not be lit on May 5th. Because the weather is warm at this time, you can eat cold food. Cold food before this day is easy to get typhoid fever and difficult to treat. & lt

6. In memory of Wu Zixu. The Chronicle of Jingchu: "On May 5th, Wu Jun will be welcomed." Wu Zixu devoted himself to being killed, and his body was thrown into the river and turned into a pottery god. On the fifth day of May every year, menarche appears at the mouth of Qiantang River, and people follow the tide by boat, hoping to see Wu Zixu.

The custom of Dragon Boat Festival:

China people celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival grandly, and there are various activities to celebrate it. Common activities are as follows: Dragon Boat Race:

Dragon boat race is the main custom of Dragon Boat Festival. According to legend, people who originated in the ancient State of Chu were reluctant to part with the death of the sage Qu Yuan, and many people rowed boats to save people. They rushed to catch up with each other and disappeared at Dongting Lake. After that, I will row a dragon boat on May 5th 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.

In fact, the "Dragon Boat Race" existed as early as the Warring States Period. Carving dragon-shaped canoes in drums and playing race games are semi-religious and semi-entertaining programs to entertain gods and people in the ceremony.

Later, people everywhere not only commemorated Qu Yuan, but also gave different meanings to dragon boat racing.

Dragon boat rowing in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is of great significance to commemorate Qiu Jin, a native-born modern female democratic revolutionary. The night dragon boat is decorated with lights and shuttles, and the scene is moving and interesting. The Miao people in Guizhou hold the Dragon Boat Festival from May 25th to 28th of the lunar calendar to celebrate the success of transplanting rice and wish a bumper harvest. Yunnan Dai compatriots competed in dragon boat races at the Water-splashing Festival to commemorate the ancient hero Yan Hongwo. Different nationalities and regions have different legends about dragon boat rowing. To this day, dragon boat races with different characteristics are held every year in many areas near rivers and lakes in the south.

In the 29th year of Qing Qianlong (1736), Taiwan Province Province began to hold dragon boat races. At that time, Jiang, the chief executive of Taiwan Province Province, held a friendly match in Fukeji Half Moon Pool in Tainan City. Now, Taiwan Province Province holds a dragon boat race on May 5th every year. In Hong Kong, races are also held.

In addition, dragon boat racing was first introduced to neighboring countries such as Japan, Vietnam and Britain. From 65438 to 0980, the dragon boat race was included in the national sports competition in China, and the "Qu Yuan Cup" dragon boat race was held every year. 1991June 16 (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month), the first international dragon boat festival was held in Yueyang, China, Qu Yuan's second hometown. Holding a "dragon head sacrifice" before the game not only retains the traditional ceremony, but also injects new modern factors. The "dragon head" was carried into Quzi Temple. After the athletes painted the dragon head red (tied with a red ribbon), the priest read out the sacrificial ceremony and "lit up" the dragon head. Then, all the people who took part in the Dragon Boat Festival bowed three times, carried the dragon head to the Guluo River and hurried to the dragon boat race. More than 600,000 people participated in competitions, expositions and evening activities, which is unprecedented. Since then, Hunan has regularly held the International Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon boat races will be widely spread all over the world.

Eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival.

Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of China people. Zongzi, also known as "millet" and "Zongzi". It has a long history and various patterns.

According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, millet was wrapped into horns by leaves of zinia latifolia, which was called "horny millet". Rice packed in bamboo tubes is sealed and baked, which is called "tube zongzi". At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, millet soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contains alkali, the millet is wrapped in leaves into a quadrilateral, and when cooked, it becomes Guangdong sour rice dumplings.

In Jin Dynasty, Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, jiaozi also added Alpinia oxyphylla, and the boiled jiaozi was called "Yizhi jiaozi". According to the "Yueyang Local Records" written by Zhou people, "It is customary to wrap the millet with leaves, cook it and cook it thoroughly. From May 5 to the summer solstice, one is Zongzi and the other is Xiaomi. " During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, miscellaneous zongzi appeared. Rice is mixed with animal meat, chestnuts, red dates, red beans and so on. And there are more and more varieties. Zongzi is also used as a gift for communication.

In the Tang Dynasty, the rice used for zongzi was "white as jade", and its shape appeared conical and rhombic. There is a record of "Da Tang Zongzi" in Japanese literature. There was a kind of "candied zongzi" in the Song Dynasty, that is, fruit was put into zongzi. The poet Su Dongpo has a poem "See Yangmei in Zongzi". At this time, there were also advertisements for building pavilions and wooden chariots and horses with zongzi, indicating that eating zongzi was very fashionable in the Song Dynasty. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the wrapping material of zongzi changed from leaves to leaves. Later, zongzi wrapped in reed leaves appeared, and additional materials such as bean paste, pork, pine nuts, dates and walnuts appeared, and the varieties were more colorful.

To this day, at the beginning of May every year, people in China have to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors. From the perspective of stuffing, there are many dates in the north, such as jiaozi; There are many kinds of fillings in the south, such as red bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk, among which Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi is the representative. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years and spread to South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.

Pei Xiang Bao:

Children wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is said to mean to ward off evil spirits and plague. Actually, it is used to decorate the inner head. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, wrapped in silk cloth, and the fragrance is overflowing, and then tied into a rope with five-color silk thread to make a string of different shapes, all kinds of exquisite and lovely.

There is a folk proverb that says, "Willows are inserted in Qingming Festival and Ai is inserted in Dragon Boat Festival". On the Dragon Boat Festival, people regard inserting wormwood and calamus as one of the important contents. Every family sweeps the court, puts calamus and moxa sticks between their eyebrows and hangs them in the class. Acorus calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, Liu Hua, Garlic and Dragon Boat Flower are made into human or tiger shapes, which are called Ai Ren and Ai Hu. It is made into garlands and decorations, beautiful and fragrant, and women compete to wear it to ward off evil spirits.

Artemisia argyi, also known as Artemisia argyi and Artemisia argyi. Its stems and leaves contain volatile aromatic oils. Its unique fragrance can repel mosquitoes, flies, insects and ants and purify the air. Chinese medicine uses wormwood as medicine, which has the functions of nourishing qi and blood, warming uterus and dispelling cold and dampness. Processing Artemisia argyi leaves into "moxa wool" is an important medicinal material for moxibustion treatment.

Acorus calamus is a perennial aquatic herb, and its long and narrow leaves also contain volatile aromatic oil, which is a good medicine for refreshing, strengthening bones, eliminating stagnation, killing insects and sterilizing.

It can be seen that the ancients inserted wormwood leaves and calamus to have a certain disease prevention effect. Dragon Boat Festival is also a "health festival" handed down from ancient times. On this day, people sweep the courtyard, hang mugwort leaves, hang calamus, sprinkle realgar wine, drink realgar wine, stir up turbidity, remove rot, sterilize and prevent diseases. These activities also reflect the fine traditions of the Chinese nation. It is a common custom for all countries and ethnic groups in China to collect herbs on the Dragon Boat Festival.

Stories and legends of Dragon Boat Festival

The fifth day of May is a festival in China-Dragon Boat Festival.

This festival is the day when we make zongzi. On this day every year, many people make zongzi, and in this season of zongzi, there will be many different flavors of zongzi.

In fact, there have been different opinions about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. Some people think this is to commemorate Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet who voted for the Miluo River on the fifth day of May. Some people say that in ancient times, this festival was a day to disinfect and avoid epidemics.

According to the records in the literature and many customs of Dragon Boat Festival passed down from generation to generation, May is regarded as "poisonous month" and "evil month", and the fifth day of May is the first of the nine poisons. Therefore, many special customs of exorcising evil spirits, disinfecting and avoiding epidemics spread on this day, such as inserting leaves of Pu 'er, drinking realgar wine and offering sacrifices to five plague messengers.

Later, the meaning of the Dragon Boat Festival changed. In order to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan's patriotic spirit and lofty personality, people forget the original intention of the Dragon Boat Festival, and associate some customs such as rowing dragon boats and making zongzi with him, which are not necessarily to commemorate Qu Yuan.

Now most people only remember that the Dragon Boat Festival is related to Qu Yuan, but in fact, some young people of a new generation have little impression of Qu Yuan's story. All they know is that this is a festival to eat zongzi, that's all.

As for the Dragon Boat Festival, it is actually not the arrival of the Dragon Boat Festival now, and dragon boat races are everywhere. From exorcising evil spirits and avoiding epidemics to commemorating Qu Yuan, the significance of the Dragon Boat Festival has changed greatly.

The original intention of this festival has been gradually "eroded" in the social changes year after year.

Today, this festival has become a festival of China cuisine. From the production of corn and zongzi in the past to the colorful jiaozi today. Many places have incorporated their own local food characteristics into zongzi.

In fact, the main custom of the Dragon Boat Festival is dragon boat racing. As for the dragon boat race, the written record began 500 years ago with "He Xu" written by Wu Jun of Liang Dynasty. Later, written records about dragon boat races can be found in many records. Among thousands of local chronicles in China, * * * has 227 records of dragon boat races.

There is a saying about rowing and racing dragon boats on the Dragon Boat Festival that "the masses set out by boat and rushed to save Qu Yuan." And "a loud cry of drum music scared away the dragon." . These are all reminiscent of Qu Yuan.

Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese people in the north and south of China and Nanyang also hold dragon boat races to advocate the Dragon Boat Festival.

Legend of Dragon Boat Festival

During the Warring States period, Chu and Qin fought for hegemony, and the poet Qu Yuan was highly valued by the King of Chu. However, Qu Yuan's ideas were opposed by the old school headed by the above officials, doctors and Shanxi merchants, and he constantly vilified Qu Yuan in front of Chu Huaiwang. Chu Huaiwang gradually alienated Qu Yuan, and Qu Yuan, who had great ambitions, was deeply distressed. With uncontrollable sadness and indignation, he wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao and Tianxiang.

In 229 years before Wu Gong, Qin captured eight cities in Chu, and then sent envoys to invite Chu Huaiwang to make peace with Qin. Qu yuan saw through the plot of the king of Qin and risked his life to enter the palace to state his interests. Chu Huaiwang did not listen, but expelled Qu Yuan from the capital. Chu Huaiwang attended the meeting as scheduled and was imprisoned as soon as he arrived in Qin. Chu Huaiwang was filled with remorse and died in the state of Qin three years later. Shortly after the King of Chu ascended the throne, the King of Qin sent troops to attack the State of Chu. The King of Chu retreated hastily and Qin Jun captured Ying City. On the way to exile, Qu Yuan heard the bad news of sudden death and the attack on Tancheng, but he was so desperate that he sighed and jumped into the turbulent Guluo River.

Fishermen on the river and people on the shore heard that Dr. Qu Yuan threw himself into the river and came to the river to salvage Qu Yuan's body. They brought zongzi and eggs into the river one after another, and some of them poured realgar wine into the king, so that the medicine could make the dragon and water beast unconscious and prevent Qu Yuan from being hurt. Since then, every year at the beginning of May-Quyuan was martyred in the river, the people of Chu all went to the river to row dragon boats and throw zongzi to commemorate this great patriotic poet, and the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival was thus handed down.