There is still a month to go to the Dragon Boat Festival. How much do you know about the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival? The most familiar customs of the Dragon Boat Festival should be eating zongzi and dragon boat racing! Besides these two Dragon Boat Festivals, what other customs are there? Let's learn!
Dragon Boat Festival Customs
1. Eating rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival
Eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of the Chinese people. Zongzi is also called 'jiaoshu' and 'tongzongzi'. It has a long history and various patterns. From the spring and Autumn period to today, every year in early May, Chinese people have to soak glutinous rice, wash the leaves and make zongzi. The custom of eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival has been popular in China for thousands of years, and spread to Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
2. Dragon Boat Race
Dragon boat racing is an important activity of the Dragon Boat Festival. It was originally a kind of sacrificial activity of the ancient Yue people to sacrifice water god or Dragon God. Its origin may have begun at the end of the primitive society. It has been around for more than 2000 years. According to historical records, the dragon boat race was launched to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. It can be seen that dragon boat racing is not only a kind of sports and entertainment activities, but also reflects the spirit of patriotism and collectivism in people's hearts.
3. Hanging wormwood
There is a folk saying: "insert willows during the Qingming Festival and AI during the Dragon Boat Festival.". In the Dragon Boat Festival, people take the insertion of Artemisia argyi and Acorus calamus as one of the important contents. Every household should sweep the courtyard, with calamus, moxa stick in the door eyebrow, hanging in the hall. They also use Acorus calamus, Artemisia argyi leaves, durian flowers, garlic and dragon boat flowers to make human or tiger shapes, which are called AI Ren and AI Hu; they are made into wreaths and ornaments, which are beautiful and fragrant. Women compete to wear them to drive away malaria.
4. Order realgar wine
Realgar is also a kind of medicinal material, which is said to kill hundreds of poisons. Therefore, during the Dragon Boat Festival, ancient people would soak realgar in wine and put realgar wine on children's ears, nose, forehead, wrists, ankles and other places. It is said that this practice can make mosquitoes, snakes, scorpions, centipedes, geckos, spiders and so on not get on.
Dragon Boat Festival Customs
5. Wearing Sachet
On the Dragon Boat Festival, children wear sachets, which are said to have the meaning of avoiding evil and driving away pestilence. In fact, they are used to decorate their lapels. There are cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine in the sachet. The sachet is wrapped with silk cloth, and the fragrance is overflowing. Then it is made of five color silk thread. It is made into various shapes and forms a string. It is small and lovely.
6. Five color silk thread
In ancient China, five colors were revered as auspicious colors. Therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival in the early morning. The first thing for adults to do when they get up is to tie five colored threads on their wrists, ankles and necks. Children are forbidden to speak when tying the thread. The five color line can not be broken or discarded at will. It can only be thrown into the river in the first heavy rain or bath in summer. It is said that children wearing five colored thread can avoid the harm of poisonous insects such as snakes and scorpions; throwing them into the river means letting the river wash away pestilence and disease, so that children can keep healthy.
7. Zhong Kui catching ghosts
Zhong Kui catching ghosts is the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. In Jianghuai area, the statue of Zhong Kui was hung in every family to drive away evil spirits. Emperor Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty came back to the palace from Lishan to talk about Wu. He had a lot of malaria. He dreamed of two ghosts, one big and one small. The little ghost wore red crotch less trousers, stole Yang Guifei's sachet and Ming emperor's Jade Flute, and ran around the palace. The big one wears a blue robe and hat, catches the little one, cuts out his eyes and swallows it. When the emperor of Ming asked, the big ghost said: the minister's surname is Zhong Kui, that is, he is not the first in the military examination. He is willing to get rid of demons for his majesty. When the emperor of Ming woke up, he recovered from malaria. So he ordered Wu Daozi, the painter, to paint a picture of Zhong Kui catching ghosts as he saw in his dream. He ordered the whole world to post it at the Dragon Boat Festival to exorcise evil spirits.