How did the Dragon Boat Festival come from? The origin and legend of the Dragon Boat Festival
Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient traditional festival with a history of more than 2000 years. The Dragon Boat Festival actually started earlier than Qu Yuan. However, for thousands of years, Qu Yuan's patriotism and touching poems have been widely rooted in the hearts of the people. Therefore, people associate the Dragon Boat Festival with commemorating Qu Yuan. How did the Dragon Boat Festival come about? What are the legends of the Dragon Boat Festival? Let's have a look.
From the memory of Qu Yuan
According to the historical records' biographies of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng ', Qu Yuan was a minister of King Huai of Chu in the spring and Autumn period. He advocated giving talents, enriching the country and strengthening the army, and urged the United Qi to resist the Qin Dynasty. He was strongly opposed by the noble Zilan and others. Qu Yuan was greedy to leave his job, was driven out of the capital and exiled to the yuan and Xiang river basins. In exile, he wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen and nine songs, which are concerned about the country and the people, with unique style and far-reaching influence (therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival is also known as the poet's day). In 278 BC, the Qin army broke through the Kyoto of the state of Chu. Seeing his motherland invaded, Qu Yuan was as heartbroken as a knife, but he could not bear to give up his motherland. On May 5, after writing his final work Huai Sha, he threw a stone into the Miluo River and died, composing a magnificent patriotic movement with his own life.
It is said that after Qu Yuan's death, the people of Chu were very sad and rushed to the Miluo River to pay tribute to Qu Yuan. The fishermen rowed their boats up and down the river to salvage his real body. A fisherman took out the rice balls, eggs and other food prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river 'plop, plop', saying that if the fish dragons, shrimps and crabs were full, they would not bite Dr. Qu's body. People followed suit. An old doctor poured a jar of realgar wine into the river, saying that he wanted medicine to stun Jiaolong water animals so as not to hurt Dr. Qu. Later, for fear that the rice balls would be eaten by Jiaolong, people came up with the idea of wrapping rice with neem leaves, wrapped with colored silk, and developed into brown seeds. Later, on the fifth day of May every year, there was the custom of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine; To commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.
From the memory of Wu Zixu
The second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival, widely spread in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, commemorates Wu Zixu in the spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC). Wu Zixu was a famous member of the state of Chu. His father and brother were all killed by the king of Chu. Later, Zi Xu abandoned the secret and turned to the bright and rushed to the state of Wu to help Wu defeat Chu. He entered the capital of Chu in five wars. At that time, King Ping of Chu was dead. Zixu dug up the tomb and whipped the corpses for 300 to avenge the killing of his father and brother. After the death of King Helu of Wu, his son Fu Chai succeeded to the throne. The morale of the Wu army was high, victorious and defeated the state of Yue. Gou Jian, king of Yue, asked for peace, and Fu Chai Xu. Zixu suggested that the state of Yue should be completely eliminated. Fu Chai did not listen. The great ruler of the state of Wu was bribed by the state of Yue and slandered to frame Zixu. Fu Chai believed it and gave Zixu a sword. Zixu died. Zixu, who was loyal and good, regarded death as a return. Before he died, he said to his neighbors, 'after I died, I dug out my eyes and hung them on the east gate of Wu Jing to see the Yue army enter the city and destroy Wu', so he cut himself to death. The husband was so angry that he ordered to take Zixu's body in leather and throw it into the river on May 5. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also the day to commemorate Wu Zixu.
From commemorating the filial daughter Cao E
The third legend of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Cao E, a filial daughter of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 23-220), who saved her father and threw herself into the river. Cao E was from Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father drowned in the river and didn't see the body for days. At that time, her filial daughter Cao E was only 14 years old and cried along the river day and night. After 17 days, he threw himself into the river on May 5, and took out his father's body five days later. It was passed on as a myth, and then it was passed on to the governor of the county government, who ordered Dushang to erect a monument for it and asked his disciple Handan chun to eulogize it.
The tomb of the filial daughter Cao E is in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. It is said that the monument of Cao E was written by King Yi of Jin Dynasty. In order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety Festival, later generations built Cao E temple where Cao E threw himself into the river. The village where she lived was renamed Cao E Town, and the place where Cao E died was named Cao E river.
It originated from the totem festival of ancient Yue nationality
A large number of unearthed cultural relics and Archaeological Studies in modern times have confirmed that there was a cultural relic characterized by geometric impression pottery in the Neolithic Age in the vast areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. According to experts, the clan of the remains is a tribe that worships the totem of the Dragon - the Baiyue nationality in history. The decorative patterns and historical legends on the unearthed pottery show that they have the custom of cutting hair and tattoos. They live in a water town and compare themselves to the descendants of dragons. A large number of its production tools are stone tools, as well as small pieces of bronze such as shovels and chisels. In the pots and pans as daily necessities, the imprinted pottery tripod for cooking food is unique to them and one of the symbols of their ethnic group. Until the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were Baiyue people, and the Dragon Boat Festival was the festival they founded to worship their ancestors. In thousands of years of historical development, most Baiyue people have been integrated into the Han nationality, and the rest have evolved into many ethnic minorities in the south. Therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival has become a festival of the whole Chinese nation.