What to do before Dragon Boat Festival in Zhongxing Town, Anhui Province?

In Huizhou (Huangshan City, Anhui Province), in addition to eating zongzi and mung bean cake, there are also customs such as eating Huang Wu (cucumber, eel, yellow croaker, realgar wine and salted egg yolk), hanging mugwort leaves, inserting calamus, hanging sachets and racing dragon boats. Among them, the custom of hanging "zongzi sachet" and "multicolored sachet" is very special. Some sachets are made into various totems, and some sachets are filled with Chinese herbal medicines, which have the connotation of blessing birthdays, preventing epidemics, expelling drugs and hoping for good luck and happiness.

Villagers in some villagers' groups near Yansi Town in Huizhou District spontaneously performed a folk performance that has been followed for many years-dancing Zhong Kui and Zhong Kui, which is a kind of folk dance, also known as "beating Zhong Kui", and is popular in Huizhou District and Shexian County of Huangshan City. This custom existed in these places during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, these places will "hit Wei Xiao" in order to exorcise evil spirits and bless villagers. There are many contents in Zhong Kui Dance, such as "patrol", "marrying a girl", "catching snakes" and "eliminating five poisons". The moral of dance is to get rid of five poisons, pests and reduce happiness, peace in the four seasons and longevity.

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, many people are sick, and the plague is easy to spread, so Zhong Kui is invited to exorcise evil spirits and catch ghosts.