Information introduction about Dragon Boat Festival

Of course, everyone is familiar with the Dragon Boat Festival, but there are other origins and various holiday customs. The following is the "information introduction about the Dragon Boat Festival" compiled by me for your reference only. You are welcome to read it.

Dragon Boat Festival introduces the traditional folk festivals in China, which are also called Duanyang, Pujie, Tianzhong Festival, Changjie, Mulan Festival, Daughter's Day, and Children's Day is on the fifth day of the fifth month in the summer calendar. It is one of the traditional festivals of the Han nationality. In addition, there are many nicknames for the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: Noon Festival, Chongwu Festival, May Festival, Magnolia Festival, Daughter's Day, Tianzhong Festival, Dila Festival, Poet's Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Ai Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Summer Festival, Chongwu Festival and Noon Festival. Although the names are different, on the whole, the customs of people everywhere are more similar than different. Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is still a very popular grand festival among the people of China.

Dragon Boat Festival is one of the four major festivals throughout the year. May is the poison month, the fifth day is the poison day, and the noon on the fifth day is the poison time, ranking at the bottom of the three poisons. The Dragon Boat Festival is also called "the end of May". May is the beginning of the whole hot day. Five poisonous snakes are active and ghosts are rampant, which will bring disaster to people, especially to children who have no scruples and no resistance. Therefore, people call the Dragon Boat Festival in May "Children's Day" or "Baby's Day".

For more than two thousand years, the Dragon Boat Festival has been a traditional habit of China people. Due to its vast territory and numerous ethnic groups, some Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, Miao, Yi, Zhuang, Buyi, North Korea, Dong, Yao, Bai, Tujia, Hani, She, Lahu, Shui, Naxi, Daur and Mulao. Its contents mainly include: daughter going back to her mother's house, hanging Zhong Kui statue, welcoming the ghost boat, hiding in the afternoon, sticking leaves in the afternoon, hanging calamus and wormwood, traveling in all diseases, wearing sachets, preparing sacrificial bowls, dragon boat races, competitions, hitting the ball, swinging, drawing children with realgar, drinking realgar wine, drinking calamus wine, eating poisonous cakes, salted eggs, zongzi and seasonal fresh fruits. Some activities, such as dragon boat racing, have made new progress, breaking through the boundaries of time and region and becoming international sports events.

Various traditional folk activities, dragon boat races.

The word "dragon boat" was first seen in Volume V of Mu Zhuan: "The son of heaven rides a bird boat and the dragon boat floats in the swamp." I said in "The First Nine Songs to Xiang Jun": "Drive the flying dragon north today, drive my way to Dongting", "The stone wrasse is shallow, and the flying dragon is graceful". The "dragon" in the article is the dragon boat. The prehistoric culture of Hemudu site and Tianluoshan site shows that canoes and wooden paddles existed as early as 5,000 to 7,000 years ago. The original prototype of the dragon boat was carved into a dragon-shaped canoe on a single wooden boat, and later it developed into a dragon boat made of wooden boards.

Before the dragon boat race, please invite dragons to offer sacrifices to the gods. For example, during the Dragon Boat Festival in Guangdong, it is necessary to launch from underwater before the Dragon Boat Festival. After the sacrifice, the dragon tail should be installed before the competition. Fujian and Taiwan went to Mazu Tempel to worship. In the past, when people sacrificed in the Dragon Palace, the atmosphere was very serious, praying for a bumper harvest in agriculture, good weather, evil spirits, excitement, happiness and all the best, and wishing boating safety. In people's words, "to be auspicious" expresses people's inner good wishes.

Dragon boat races have a long history, circulating for more than 2000 years. It is a traditional folk water sports and entertainment project in China, which is mostly held on festive festivals and is a multi-person collective rowing competition. After it was spread abroad, it was deeply loved by people all over the world and formed an international competition. [8] In Zigui, Hubei Province, Qu Yuan's hometown, there are also ceremonies to worship Qu Yuan.

Hanging wormwood and calamus

On the Dragon Boat Festival, all kinds of flowers and plants that can drive away evil spirits and diseases have long been arranged. The earliest example is hanging wormwood on the door. The Chronicle of Jingchu: "Ai Ai is a human being, hanging it on the door with poison gas." This is because mugwort is an important medicinal plant, and it can also be used for treating diseases, moxibustion at acupoints and expelling insects. Folium Artemisiae Argyi contains the most oil in May (it is in the vigorous period of warm growth at this time), so the effect is the best, and people are scrambling to pick folium Artemisiae Argyi. Several mugwort plants are often hung at home. Because of its special fragrance, people use it to ward off evil spirits, prevent mosquitoes and ward off evil spirits.

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. "Ai" is also known as mugwort and mugwort. Its stems and leaves contain volatile aromatic oils. Its unique fragrance can repel mosquitoes, flies, insects and ants and purify the air. The leaves of Acorus calamus also contain volatile aromatic oil, which is a medicine for refreshing the brain, inducing resuscitation, strengthening bones, dispersing stagnation, killing insects and sterilizing. It can be seen that the ancients planted Artemisia argyi and Acorus calamus to a certain extent, and these activities also reflected the fine tradition of the Chinese nation. The legend that wormwood can exorcise evil spirits has been circulating for a long time, mainly because it has the function of medicine. For example, Zonggu's Chronicle of Jingchu records that "when chickens are not crowing, those who pick wormwood look like people, take it and collect it with moxibustion, which is very effective." On this day, Ai Cai became a human figure, hung on the door, and could cast poison gas. "

Eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival.

Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional custom of China people. Zongzi, also known as "Jiao Shu", "Gu Zongban" and "Tong 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 the food of Dragon Boat Festival. 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 solstice in summer, there is a jiaozi and a millet. " 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 was a kind of "candied zongzi" in the Song Dynasty, that is, fruit was put into zongzi. By the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the wrapping material of zongzi had changed from wild leaves to wild leaves.

Up to now, at the beginning of May every year, every household in China has to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years and spread to South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.

Dragon Boat Festival Bath (Mulan Decoction)

Taking a bath at noon (Mulan soup) is an ancient custom recorded in Da Dai Li. But the orchids in this paper are not orchids, but flying grasses or compositae herbs, which have fragrance and can be cooked and bathed. "Nine Songs in the Cloud" also has the sentence "Bathing orchid soup will make you fragrant". "The Chronicle of Jingchu": "May 5th is called the Blue Bath Festival." "Five Miscellanies" records that people in the Ming Dynasty took a bath with five-colored grass at noon because "there was no orchid soup". Later, herbs such as cattail and wormwood were usually fried for bathing.

In Guangdong, children use wormwood wheat medicine or wormwood, cattail, impatiens, magnolia and other flowers to boil and wash, while teenagers and adult men take a bath on the river and beach, which is called dragon boat washing water to wash away bad luck. In Hunan, Guangxi and other places, cypress leaves, anemone roots, wormwood, calamus, peach leaves, etc. are boiled into liquid medicine for bathing, regardless of gender, age and family. Bathing on the Dragon Boat Festival still exists today and is widely circulated. It is said that it can treat skin diseases and eliminate evil spirits.

fly a kite

In southern China, children fly kites on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is called "disaster relief". Kites are paper kites. It is a toy. Paste paper or silk on a bamboo pole and other skeletons, and pull a long line tied to it, so that it can be lowered into the sky under the action of the wind. Belongs to an aircraft that only uses aerodynamic force. According to legend, Mo Zhai made wooden birds out of wood, which took three years to develop, and was the earliest origin of human kites. Later, Lu Ban used bamboo to improve kite materials in Mo Zhai. It was not until Cai Lun improved papermaking in the Eastern Han Dynasty that kites were made of paper, so they were called "paper kites".

Pei Douniang

In the past, there were five kinds of women's headdresses. More common in Jiangnan. Some areas are also called healthy people. This thing originated from ancient walking and is a different form of Ai people. Jia Qinglu quoted the Tang and Song Dynasties as saying: "The system of winning the first prize in five days in the north and south of Jianghuai is extremely ingenious. All the mugwort leaves are pressed and sold, or embroidered with fairy, Buddha, harmony, martial arts, insects, fish, beasts, sweet flowers and other shapes. Crepe spider, Mei Fong forest, cocoon tiger velvet tuo, lawn lizard, mantis cicada scorpion, gourd melon, vivid colors. Covered with a treasure, there are countless hydrangeas and hundreds of shapes of bells, or strung together. The name is Douniang, invincible. "

Tie five-color silk thread

In the traditional culture of China, the five colors "blue, red, white, black and yellow" symbolizing the five elements are regarded as auspicious colors. Multicolored silk thread may have originated from the custom of tattooing in ancient southerners. "History of Han Geography" records that the Yue people "saved the dragon by writing". Liu Yiqing, a native of A Jin, is the author of Shi Shuo and other books. In the book, rice dumplings are wrapped in five-color silk and thrown into the river, fearing mosquitoes and dragons. Although it is a legend, it reveals some interesting information. Five-color silk tied to the arm, or tattoos. It was once a popular holiday custom to tie one's arm with colored silk thread during the Dragon Boat Festival. These customs spread to later generations, that is, they developed into a variety of exquisite ornaments, which became increasingly exquisite and became a unique folk art of the Dragon Boat Festival.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, children should tie colorful silk threads on their wrists and ankles to ward off evil spirits. The five-color line cannot be broken or discarded at will, and can only be thrown into the river during the first heavy rain in summer or the first bath. It is said that children wearing five-color thread can avoid the harm of snakes and scorpions; Throwing it into the river means that the river will wash away plagues and diseases, which means that it can ward off evil spirits and bring good luck.

Drink water at noon

Dragon Boat Festival is the fifth day of May, and "May" (noon) is masculine. The ancients thought that noon was the most sunny day, and noon on the Dragon Boat Festival was the most suitable for exorcism. Therefore, there is a saying that "afternoon water" is used for cooking, boiling water and making soup, which has the effect of exorcising evil spirits, purifying the body and removing obstacles. [ 1 1]

Soak in dragon boat water

During the Dragon Boat Festival, the warm and humid air flow in the south is active, and when it meets the cold air from north to south in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan and other places, there will often be continuous and large-scale heavy precipitation. It is called "Dragon Boat Water" because it is during the Dragon Boat Festival. Soaking the dragon boat in water is a traditional custom popular in the southern coastal areas, because the dragon boat symbolizes auspiciousness, and the water that the dragon boat glides through is considered as "Universiade Water". According to tradition, soaking in dragon boat water means good luck and all the best.

Zhuyangxiang

In Lun Heng, written by Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the etiquette and custom of "casting the year of Yang" during the Dragon Boat Festival were recorded: "The year of Yang takes fire from the sky, and at noon in May, five stones are melted and cast into vessels, which makes them glow with excitement. When they rise to the sun, fire will come, which is also the way to get real fire. " The ancients thought that there were three fires at noon, when the sun was shining. At this time, it is the best time to melt gold and cast mirrors, and the cast bronze mirrors have incredible power.

Draw the forehead

The custom of daubing children's foreheads with realgar during the Dragon Boat Festival. Clouds can drive away poisonous insects. The typical method is to draw the word "Wang" on the child's forehead with realgar. One is to use realgar to drive away the poison, and the other is to use the tiger's forehead (the "king" is like a tiger, and the tiger is the king of all animals, because it is replaced by a tiger) to suppress evil. Fu Cha Dunchong's Chronicle of Yanjing in Qing Dynasty: "From the first day of the first lunar month, take realgar and sprinkle wine on the collar and nose and ears of children to avoid poison." In addition to the forehead, nose and ears, other places can also be painted, with the same intention. Shanxi Hequ county records: "Drinking realgar wine during the Dragon Boat Festival and applying children's forehead, hands and feet ... can prolong the illness."

Hide from the Dragon Boat Festival

Hiding on Friday refers to taking a newly married or married daughter home for the holidays, which is referred to as "hiding in the afternoon" or "hiding on Friday". In ancient northern customs, May and May 5th are evil months and days, so many things need to be avoided, because there is a custom of taking women home to escape during the Dragon Boat Festival. This custom seems to have been formed in the Song Dynasty. There is a line in Lu You's poem "Feng Sui" that "the goat cavity wine bears the burden of welcoming women, and the drum dragon boat is sent to compete with God". "Jiajing Longqing Zhi" also records a cloud: "Marry a woman and call her home for the holidays". Luan Zhou Zhi: "A woman bride welcomes the moon back, which is called" hiding from the Dragon Boat Festival ".

Accompanying roll-call brigade

Longevity wisp is a kind of jewelry worn on Dragon Boat Festival. Also known as life-prolonging thread, life-prolonging thread, life-prolonging thread, rope, colorful thread, etc. , with different names and similar shapes and functions. On the Dragon Boat Festival, it is said that it is made of five-color silk, hung at the door, worn around the child's neck, tied to the child's arm, or hung on the bed curtain, cradle and other places to avoid disasters and diseases and prolong life.

This festival has five shapes: simple five-color silk threads are combined into a rope and tied to the arm; Decorate Suk Kim ornaments on colorful ropes and hang them around your neck; Colorful ropes are folded into squares and decorated on the chest; Colorful knots are worn by portraits; Embroider the sun, moon, stars, black beasts and other things with colored silk thread to pay tribute to the elders. This custom began in the Han Dynasty. Ying Shao wrote "Lost Customs" in the Eastern Han Dynasty: "In the afternoon, tie your arms with colorful silks to avoid ghosts and soldiers, so that people will not get sick. One is a long-lived ghost fire, and the other is a soldier. " Later, the two gradually got used to it until modern times.

Wear a sachet

Wear sachets, also known as sachets, sachets, wallets, etc. Made of colored silk thread and sewn with rags. The perfume inside is put on your chest and smells delicious. Chen Shiliang's Chronicle of Years Old quoted Miscellaneous Notes of Years Old as saying, "The Dragon Boat Festival is red and white, like a bag, with colored lines running through it and shaped like a flower." Another kind of "mussel powder bell": "On the fifth day, mussel powder is placed in silk and decorated with cotton, if there are several beads. Let the children take it to absorb sweat. " The things in these carry-on bags have changed several times, from sweat-absorbing mussel powder, amulets to ward off evil spirits, copper coins and realgar powder to sachets filled with spices, and their production has become increasingly exquisite, becoming a unique folk art of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Wearing sachets is very particular. In order to prevent diseases and keep fit, the elderly generally like to wear plum blossoms, chrysanthemums, peaches, apples, lotus flowers, dolls riding fish, dolls holding cocks, double lotus flowers and other shapes, symbolizing birds and flowers, all the best, loving each other and family harmony. Children like birds and animals, such as tigers and leopards; Monkeys on telephone poles, cockfighting to catch rabbits, etc. Young people are most particular about wearing sachets. If they are lovers in love, affectionate girls will carefully make one or two sachets with their own characteristics a long time ago and give them to their lovers before the festival. The young man wore a sachet from his sweetheart, which naturally aroused the discussion of men and women around him and praised the ingenuity of the young man's object.

Avoid five poisons

Dragon Boat Festival is a poisonous day and an evil day in the minds of ancient northerners. This idea has been handed down in folk beliefs, so there are various customs of seeking peace and solving disasters. In fact, this is because the summer weather is hot and dry, people are easy to get sick, and the plague is easy to spread; In addition, snakes and insects bite easily, so be very careful, which forms this habit. People think that May is the time when the five poisons (scorpion, snake, centipede, gecko and toad) appear, and people should use various methods to prevent the harm of the five poisons. Generally, a map of five poisons is posted in the house, five poisons are printed on red paper, and then five needles are stuck on the five poisons, that is, the poisons are stabbed to death, and they can no longer be rampant. This is a witchcraft legacy to ward off evil spirits. Folk also embroidered five poisons on clothes and decorated five poisons on cakes, all of which meant expulsion [9].

Collecting herbs and making herbal tea

Collecting herbs is one of the oldest customs in the Dragon Boat Festival. "Xia Zhengxiao" contains: "Store medicine this day to remove toxic gas." Volume 22 of Miscellaneous Medicine Collection quotes the lost article of Miscellaneous Medicine Collection at the Age of Jingchu: "On May 5, competing for miscellaneous medicine can cure all diseases." In the miscellaneous notes of Qi Yaomin's Book at the end of Wei Dynasty, there is a record of catching toads in May, which is also used in pharmacy.

People all over China still generally believe that the drugs used in the Dragon Boat Festival are the most effective. The principle supporting this folk belief is naturally based on a cosmological explanation: on the Dragon Boat Festival or at noon on this day, due to the change of seasons, the sun is shining, but at the same time, all kinds of herbs grow most luxuriantly, so the herbs collected on this day are the most effective.

Drink Pu wine, realgar wine and cinnabar wine.

Drink Pu wine, realgar cinnabar wine and spray wine. Jingchu Chronicle: "Acorus calamus (a perennial herb, born by the water, has reddish roots underground and leaves shaped like swords and spikes." . The rhizome can be used as medicine or medicine) or carved or shredded to cool the wine. "Pu wine is fragrant and refreshing. Later, realgar and vermilion were added to the wine. Feng Ming Yingjing's Generalized Moon Order: "On the fifth day, cinnabar wine was used to ward off evil spirits and detoxify, and the forehead, chest, hands and feet were dyed with wine, so there was no danger of poisonous snakes (poisonous snakes mentioned in ancient books). Sprinkle water on walls, doors and windows to avoid poisonous insects. "This custom is very widespread.

Medicinal materials include Realgar, Zhu Lei, Semen Platycladi, Semen Persicae, pulp, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, etc. After soaking in wine, people dip Acorus calamus and Artemisia argyi in walls, doors, windows, beds and other corners. Then apply wine to the child's ears, nose and navel to drive away poisonous insects and ensure the safety of the child. In addition, in some areas, realgar wine powder is used to draw the word "Wang" on children's foreheads, so that children have the mark of tigers to ward off evil spirits. From a health point of view, these activities are still scientific and reasonable. Realgar mixed with water and wine can be disinfected indoors, and drinking general sprinkling is also quite beneficial.

It rains on Dragon Boat Festival.

It rains on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is called Dragon Boat Water in the south. Washing dragon boats can drive away bad luck and bring good luck. The north thinks that there is no rain in Duanyang, which is a good year. When it rains at noon, ghosts cause man-made disasters. The whistle sounded on May 5, and people were exposed to drugs. At the age of five, there was no disaster; Rain exposes ghosts and poisons, making people sick; 18 years old folk customs under inspection; As the saying goes, it is unlucky to rain on the Dragon Boat Festival. On the contrary, it is auspicious; This popular belief has long existed; Chen's Chronicle of Years Old quoted the Summary as saying: "On May 5th, people were poisoned, and at the age of eighteen, there was no disaster. It rains, ghosts expose drugs, and people are sick. " Also, Xu Yueqing's "Two Rhymes Shu People Li Shizhou Dragon Boat Festival" notes: "Linchuan people say that it rains in the afternoon and ghosts are happy; The self-annotation of Zhao Huaiyu's poems in Qing Dynasty also quoted the proverb "No rain in Duanyang is a good year".

Zhong Kui.

Dancing Zhong Kui and disturbing Zhong Kui: Since the Jin Dynasty, dancing Zhong Kui and disturbing Zhong Kui and Fuzhen House have been the important contents of Dragon Boat Festival and Spring Festival. Hanging pictures of the clock gate: The earliest hanging pictures of the clock gate are said to have been painted by Saint Wu Daozi.

According to Shen Kuo's Meng Qian Bu Bi Tan in the Northern Song Dynasty, "Emperor Tang Ming was ill for nearly a month and suddenly dreamed of two ghosts. The imp stole the purple sachets of the Jade Emperor and Yang Guifei and ran away. GREAT GHOST caught the little devil, gouged out his eyes, then smashed it and spit it out. ..... When Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty woke up and got well, he called the painter Wu Daozi and asked him to draw a picture of Zhong Kui catching ghosts according to the scene in his dream. The Taoist can use a brush. " Later, Zhong Kui's paintings gradually entered the folk, mostly painting in the Dragon Boat Festival in May or a few days before and after the Dragon Boat Festival. In the Qing Dynasty, most residents in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces south of the Yangtze River hung photos of Zhong Kui at the gate or hall in May of the lunar calendar to drive away evil and attract good luck.

Bean grass

Before the Han Dynasty, there was no grass fighting drama (Textual Research on Popular Events in Past Dynasties, Shang Dynasty). Its origin is unknown, and it is generally believed to be related to the emergence of traditional Chinese medicine. Ancient ancestors struggled to survive and lived a monotonous life. In their spare time, they amuse themselves by fighting insects, grass and wild animals. After harvest, competitions are often held to report the names of flowers and grasses to each other in a confrontational way. Most of them win, both interesting in plant knowledge and literary knowledge; Children hook, pinch and pull each other with petioles. If you break it, you lose, and then change a leaf to fight. Bai Juyi's poem "Watching Children's Play" says: "Making dust or mowing grass is fun all day long."

"Yuan" said: "It started in Hanwu". According to a story written by Zong Yi, a person from the Liang Dynasty, "On May 5, four people stepped on a hundred herbs and had a scene of fighting grass." Memories of the Years: "On the Dragon Boat Festival, build houses to store medicines, shoot herbs and wrap five silks."

It was called "stepping on a hundred herbs" in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and "fighting grass" or "fighting a hundred herbs" in the Tang Dynasty. "Liu Bin Jiahua" says: "In Tang Zhongzong, Princess Anle fought a hundred herbs for five days." In the Song Dynasty, it was extended to fighting at any time on weekdays. There are many descriptions of this in the works of scholars in past dynasties.

play polo

Polo is riding a horse and hitting with a stick. In ancient times, it was called bowing. There is no custom of dragon boat racing in northern China, but they shoot willows and play polo during the Dragon Boat Festival, which obviously comes from the competitive legacy of nomadic people in the north. Polo is riding a horse and hitting with a stick. In ancient times, it was called bowing.

Nine lions worship statue

In modern times, in Shangyou County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, the unique Hakka folk activity "Nine Lions Worship Elephants" held a joyful parade in the county seat. On the basis of traditional dragon lanterns, Nine Lions Worship Elephants highlights the modeling of lion dancing elephants. The "Nine Lions Worship the Elephant" has a history of more than 300 years, which is not only the inheritance of traditional culture, but also the cultural innovation of Hakka people, expressing the desire for a smooth, stable and happy life.