What are the traditional customs of Chaozhou Dragon Boat Festival?

As we all know, the geographical environment of a region usually affects its food culture. For example, there is a custom of eating zongzi in Chaoshan area of China. Zhizong is a unique food culture in Chaoshan, but have you heard of other traditional customs of Chaozhou Dragon Boat Festival? Let's take a detailed inventory of the customs of the Chaoshan Dragon Boat Festival.

Chaoshan Dragon Boat Festival custom

1, Dragon Boat Race

There are three rivers in Chaoshan: Hanjiang, Rongjiang and Lianjiang. The tributaries are staggered and the water flow is gentle. This is the golden waters for dragon boat racing. During the Dragon Boat Festival, there are generally three kinds of dragon boat races in Chaoshan. One is a big dragon boat, 20-30m long, 1.4- 1.6m wide, with 20-30 pairs of paddles, and the whole body is painted with fish dragons. The other two are Caizhou (Raoping and Nan 'ao) and Dragon Boat Boy. In some places (such as Chenghai), people drink "dragon boat water" and eat "dragon boat rice" after the dragon boat race to pray for safety and health.

2. Worship ancestors first

In Chaoshan area of our country, this day is not only used to remember Qu Yuan, but also as a day for us to remember our deceased relatives. On this day, we will remember our relatives like Tomb-Sweeping Day, so as to cherish the traces of their lives and let the living know more about the people who came from the pacification day today.

3. Insert wormwood flower bath (eat) medicinal soup

Another major custom of the "Dragon Boat Festival" in Chaoshan is to insert wormwood flowers to bathe (eat) medicinal soup. On this day, wormwood (or roasted wormwood in some places) should be inserted on every door to ward off evil spirits. In addition, this day is called "holy day", and taking medicine is the most effective. Hipsters have the custom of eating "five fruit soup" for breakfast. "Wuguo Decoction" is made of lotus seeds, corn, ginkgo, soybeans and yam. The mother-in-law of an outsider must take a bath with moxa water to get rid of rheumatism during the Dragon Boat Festival.

4, wash the dragon and beard water

According to folklore, the fifth day of May is the birthday of the dragon. On this day, the water sprayed by dragons is called dragon beard water, which can cure diseases and make people strong. Therefore, in the past, Chaoshan people took water from pits, ditches and streams outside on the morning of Dragon Boat Festival and put it in their own tanks for the whole family to eat and drink. Now on Dragon Boat Festival, men prefer to swim in rivers, lakes and seas, while women wash their hair with water. At home, it is the housewife who prepares clean wormwood water for the whole family to wash their faces. These are all based on "washing the dragon and needing water" to pray for cleanliness, peace and good health.

5, eat real pearl cauliflower

Chaoshan people sometimes call the Dragon Boat Festival "the festival of excrement leakage (diarrhea)". At this time, in addition to eating St. Ganzhi and Pu Guo Zi, you should also eat real pearl cauliflower (white wormwood), "bitter orange" made of gardenia and Pujiang lime, or grass fruit made of Mesona blume.

Step 6 eat "cooked wheat"

According to Chaozhou County Records, "there are two thousand households, three thousand households, ten hundred households, one hundred town officials and 1,223 flag soldiers in big cities." These people come from the north and south of the river, and they also bring various customs, including eating customs. For example, after Tomb-Sweeping Day every year, it is popular to eat a kind of food called "cooked wheat". This kind of cake started in Tomb-Sweeping Day and is celebrated during the Dragon Boat Festival.

7. Eat dumplings

Chaoshan also has the custom of eating gardenia dumplings on Dragon Boat Festival. Gardenia zongzi is unique to Chaoshan. Mashing gardenia (commonly known as yellow branch or branch), soaking to remove residue. Yellow liquid seeps into Pujiang lye, and then into glutinous rice flour slurry. After stirring, pour it into the bamboo dumplings covered with bare cloth, which can help digestion, stimulate appetite and eliminate epidemics.

Historical origin of Chaoshan Zhijian

During the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather is very hot and there are many mosquito diseases. In the past, the medical level was not as good as it is now, and there were no medical institutions in rural areas. Several doctors in the village used some basic folk herbs to make gardenias when they saw someone sick. Although gardenia is bitter, it has a unique fragrance when eaten with brown sugar, and it has never been hidden.

In the old Chaoshan, people's living standard is very low, but there are many wise people. They kill two birds with one stone by fighting the disease in this way and making it a local delicacy. Now, with the improvement of people's living standards, hipsters no longer need to use gardenia to resist diseases, but the traditional craft of gardenia has been passed down from generation to generation by hipsters. This is the crystallization of ancient wisdom, and gardenia is used well.