The Dragon Boat Festival to commemorate Qu Yuan has long been camped in people's consciousness. However, there is another saying about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. In fact, the Dragon Boat Festival really commemorates him!
On the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, there are theories of commemorating Qu Yuan, Wu Zixu, Dragon Festival, evil day, summer solstice and so on. If it is verified from time and historical records, it is the first to commemorate Wu Zixu.
The Dragon Boat Race of the Dragon Boat Festival originated in commemorating Wu Zixu. Its main basis is that Handan Chun of the Eastern Han Dynasty said in Cao E monument that on the fifth day of May of the lunar calendar every year, the people of Shangyu, Zhejiang Province should welcome the waves and meet 'Wu Jun', and the so-called 'Wu Jun' is Wu Zixu. For thousands of years, Qu Yuan was so famous that people in the Central Plains gradually took the Dragon Boat Festival as a festival to commemorate Qu Yuan. The theory of commemorating Wu Zixu is unknown except in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The main activity of the Dragon Boat Festival is the dragon boat race. As early as the primitive society, the dragon boat race has been popular in the Taihu Lake Basin, which is a manifestation of the "dragon totem Festival". Since Wu Zixu was slandered and killed, the dragon boat race has been given the significance of commemorating characters and the fixation of festivals, which is clearly explained in the ancient works such as "Cao'e monument", "Jingchu suishiji", "Qing Jialu" and so on. Wu Zixu was born in the spring and Autumn period, It was more than 200 years earlier than Qu Yuan, and other customs of the Dragon Boat Festival, such as' fighting grass' and 'eating zongzi', all came from Wu.