Zongzi is a common food in daily life, which many people like to eat. Zongzi is a festival food of traditional Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. What's the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival?
The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival
The worship and belief of dragon totem in ancient Baiyue area.
The Dragon Boat Festival originated in Baiyue, South China. It is an ancient folk festival. It originated in China. At first, it was a festival for the dragon totem worshiping tribes in Baiyue area in ancient China to sacrifice the Dragon ancestors in the form of dragon boat race. There are also some sayings that originated from the evil moon and the evil day, summer season, bathing in orchids and commemorating Qu Yuan, Wu Zixu and Cao E.
What are the traditional customs of the Dragon Boat Festival
1. Dragon Boat
In Raoping County, Chaozhou City, Guangdong Province, during the Dragon Boat Festival, people use bamboo and paper to make dragon boats of six colors: pink, brown, green, purple, red and yellow. From the first to the sixth day of the fifth lunar month, they cruise in turn every day.
2. Smoked Atractylodes
Fumigating Atractylodes is one of the traditional customs of the Dragon Boat Festival. In the folk, Atractylodes is used to disinfect the air, that is, to bind the natural Atractylodes together. The thin smoke generated after burning will not only emit fragrance, but also drive away mosquitoes, making people feel refreshed.
3. Water at noon
It is a traditional custom popular in the coastal areas of southern China to draw water at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival. It means to draw water from a well between 11 and 13 noon on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. The ancients regarded the water as lucky water, which is the best time to ward off evil spirits. At noon on the double noon day, Yang is added to Yang, so 'noon water' has the name of 'extreme Yang water'; it is also called Longmu water, Zhengyang water, etc. On this day, Yang Qi is the most abundant at noon, and the Dragon Boat Festival is the best time to expel evil spirits, which has the effect of expelling evil spirits, purifying body and removing obstacles.
4. Collecting herbs
Collecting herbs is one of the ancient customs of the Dragon Boat Festival. According to the folk opinion, it is the most powerful day of the year for plants and plants to have vigorous Yang Qi at noon, and the Dragon Boat Festival is full of herbs. Dragon Boat Festival, when in midsummer, when also, all things grow, its potential is very prosperous, is the time when herbs grow vigorously.
5. Avoid five poisons
The Dragon Boat Festival in the eyes of the ancient northerners is a poisonous day, evil day, in the folk belief, this idea has been passed down, so there are all kinds of peace, avoid five poison customs. Five poisons refer to centipede, poisonous snake, scorpion, gecko and toad. These five kinds of animals are the five most popular poisons in the north in ancient times.
6. Amount of painting
The custom of daubing children's forehead with realgar during the Dragon Boat Festival can drive away poisonous insects. The typical method is to use realgar wine to draw the word "Wang" on children's forehead. One is to use realgar to drive away poison, and the other is to use tiger (tiger is the king of beasts, because it is used to replace tiger) to suppress evil. "Every time we arrive at the Dragon Boat Festival, we will take realgar and wine and sprinkle it on the first day of the lunar new year. We will apply it to children's collar, nose and ears to avoid poison. "In addition to the forehead, nose and ears, it can also be applied to other places with the same purpose. "Hequ County annals" of Shanxi Province says: "during the Dragon Boat Festival, drink realgar wine, and apply it on children's forehead, hands and feet. '
7. Hanging statue of Zhong Kui
Zhong Kui catching ghosts is a popular custom of Dragon Boat Festival in Jianghuai area. In Jianghuai area, the statue of Zhong Kui was hung in every family to drive away evil spirits. It is said that emperor Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty, when he came back to the palace from Lishan, had a great deal of malaria. He dreamed of two ghosts, one big and one small, wearing big red crotch less trousers, stealing Yang Guifei's sachet and Ming emperor's Jade Flute and running around the palace. The big ghost wears a blue robe and hat, catches the little ghost, gouges out his eyes and swallows it in one gulp. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty asks, and the big ghost says: the minister's surname is Zhong Kui, which means that the martial arts examination is No.1. He is willing to get rid of demons for his majesty. After the Ming emperor woke up, his malaria was cured, 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.
8. Soaking in dragon boat water
During the Dragon Boat Festival, it is a traditional custom in the south of the five ridges to soak in dragon boat water. Because Dragon Boat means good luck, people think that the water that the Dragon Boat glides over is' auspicious water '. According to the traditional saying, soaking in dragon boat water means good luck and everything goes well. The rain during the Dragon Boat Festival is called Dragon precipitation, or dragon boat water or dragon boat water. Every year when dragon boat water comes, people will take their families to the river to wash the water. The ancients believed that dragon boat water can ward off evil spirits, purify themselves, wash away bad luck and bring good luck.
9. Five color silk thread
In baopuzi written by Ge Hong in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there is also a description of the witchcraft of hanging five color paper in the mountains to summon the spirits of the five sides. It is probably that the five colors symbolize the spirits of the five sides to protect, which originated from the concept of the five elements in ancient China. It may be related to the tattoo custom of the ancient southerners. Five color silk is tied on the arm, or it is the custom of tattoo.
In the book of geography of the Han Dynasty, it is recorded that Yue people's literary style is broken, so as to avoid the harm of Jiaolong; in the book of Shishuo by Liu Yiqing of Jin Dynasty, it is recorded that five colored silk is wrapped around zongzi, so as to throw into the river, which is feared by mosquitos and dragons.
10. Wearing Sachet
On the Dragon Boat Festival, children wear sachets, which is said to have the meaning of avoiding evil and driving away pestilence. Sachet for a variety of different shapes, forming a string, various, small and lovely, has become a common handicraft. In some cities in southern China, young men and women also use sachets to express their deep love.
Sachets are also called sachets, sachets and pouches. They are usually filled with spices, wrapped with five color silk thread, or wrapped with colored silk or cloth wrapped with cotton, mixed with chuanxiong, Baizhi, paicao, qincao, clove, shanai, Xixin, Gansong, Baizhi, Gancao, realgar powder and other traditional Chinese Medicine powder, and then embroidered with colored silk, with red, green, green, blue, purple threads hanging down, Wear in front of the chest, aroma.
11. Yulan soup
Yulan Tang is an ancient custom recorded in the book of rites of Dadai written by the late Western Han Dynasty rites scholar Dai De. But the orchid here is not orchid, but the orchid or herbal medicine of Compositae. It has fragrance and can be boiled and bathed. There is also a sentence in "Nine Songs: cloud king" that "bath orchid soup will be fragrant". Later, they usually took a bath by frying Pu, AI and other herbs.
12. Artemisia argyi and Acorus calamus
In the Dragon Boat Festival, people take the insertion of wormwood and Acorus calamus as one of the important contents. Every family sweeps the court, and uses Acorus calamus and moxa stick to insert in the eyebrow of the door and hang in the hall. Acorus calamus is a perennial aquatic herb. Its long and narrow leaves also contain volatile aromatic oil, which is a medicine for refreshing and resuscitating, strengthening bones and removing stagnation, killing insects and sterilizing. The leaves of Acorus calamus are sword shaped, which can be inserted at the door to avoid evil, so the alchemists called it 'water sword', and later the custom extended to 'Pu sword', which can kill thousands of evil. Wormwood stands for zhaobaifu. It is a kind of herb that can cure diseases. If it is inserted at the door, it can make people healthy.
Traditional food of Dragon Boat Festival
1. Eating palm at Dragon Boat Festival
Eating rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese custom. Zongzi, also known as' jiaoshu ','zongzhen','tongzong ', has a long history and many patterns.
2. Realgar wine
There is an old saying: drinking realgar wine can exorcise evil spirits. Realgar wine is made from fermented grains and realgar powder.
In ancient times, it was believed that realgar could detoxify all poisons, effectively kill insects and exorcise evil spirits. Therefore, we all drink realgar wine on the Dragon Boat Festival.
3. Tea egg
It is a custom to eat tea eggs on the Dragon Boat Festival in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province.
People dye the shell of boiled tea eggs red, put them in colorful net bags, and hang them around children's necks. People believe that this can bring good luck to children.
4. Monopterus albus
Eating Monopterus albus is the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival in the central part of Wuhan. During the Dragon Boat Festival, Monopterus albus is plump, tender and nutritious.
5. Frying pile
A pancake is a kind of doughnut made of flour, rice, and other sweeteners. In Fujian Province in eastern China, every family eats fried piles on Dragon Boat Festival.
Is the Dragon Boat Festival off
The Dragon Boat Festival is a holiday.
The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, Chongwu Festival, Wuri Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Zhengyang Festival, Yulan Festival and Tianzhong Festival, is one of the four traditional festivals in China. The Dragon Boat Festival originated from the worship of celestial phenomena and evolved from the Dragon sacrifice in ancient times. The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival contains profound cultural connotation and carries rich historical and cultural heritage in the process of inheritance and development.
How many days is the Dragon Boat Festival off this year
Three days.
According to China's past practices and regulations, the Dragon Boat Festival is a holiday, and it takes three days. The main customs are hanging wormwood, soaking dragon boat water, washing herbs, tying colorful thread, etc. the festival food mainly includes zongzi, Wuhuang, etc.