The Origin and Customs of Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanyang Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Zhengyang Festival and Tianzhong Festival, is a traditional folk festival in China. Dragon Boat Festival originated from the worship of astronomical phenomena and evolved from the ancient Dragon Boat Festival. On the midsummer Dragon Boat Festival, the black dragon spent seven nights in the sky, which is the day of the dragonfly. As the fifth poem in The Book of Changes and the Melon says, "The dragon is in the sky". At noon, Long Xing is both a "win" and a "right" and a symbol of good luck. The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival covers the ancient astrological culture, humanistic philosophy and other aspects, and contains profound and rich cultural connotations. In the process of inheritance and development, a variety of folk customs are integrated, and festival customs are rich in content. Picking dragon boats and eating zongzi are two major customs of the Dragon Boat Festival, which have been passed down in China since ancient times and have never stopped. [ 1][2][3][4]

Dragon Boat Festival, originally founded by the ancestors of southern wuyue, is a festival to worship the ancestors of dragons [5][6][7]. It is said that Qu Yuan, a poet of Chu State in the Warring States Period, jumped into the Miluo River on May 5th and committed suicide. Later, people also took the Dragon Boat Festival as a festival to commemorate Qu Yuan. There are also sayings in memory of Wu Zixu, Cao E and meson push. Generally speaking, the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the ancient ancestors' choice of "Dragon Ascending to Heaven" as an auspicious day to worship the dragon ancestors, and injected the seasonal fashion of "eliminating diseases and preventing epidemics" in summer. Dragon Boat Festival is considered as an "evil moon day", which originated in the northern part of the Central Plains to commemorate Qu Yuan and other historical figures. The formation of the Dragon Boat Festival custom can be said to be the product of the integration of North and South customs.

Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Mid-Autumn Festival are also called the four traditional festivals in China. Dragon Boat Festival culture has a wide influence in the world, and some countries and regions in the world also celebrate it. In May 2006, the State Council listed it in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list; Since 2008, it has been listed as a national statutory holiday. In September, 2009, UNESCO officially approved its inclusion in the representative list of intangible cultural heritage of mankind, and the Dragon Boat Festival became the first festival in China to be selected as a world intangible heritage.

Chinese name

Dragon Boat Festival

English name

Dragon Boat Festival (Dragon Boat Festival)

Another name

Dragon Boat Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Tianzhong Festival, etc.

Festival time

the 5th day of the fifth lunar month

Festival type

One of the four traditional festivals in China.