- What is the Dragon Boat Festival?
“The Dragon Boat Festival approaches mid-summer, and the clear days and days grow longer.
The traditional customs of the Dragon Boat Festival have spread to Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and other places, in order to further guide the majority of children to understand and experience the traditional festival culture.
It is a traditional festival in the East Asian cultural circle. It is held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year. It is a summer festival to bid farewell to the five plague gods and drive away plagues. Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet of the Chu State during the Warring States Period, committed suicide by drowning himself in the river on this day, and later commemorated Qu Yuan.
The Dragon Boat Festival has a long history of hundreds of years. During this period, many folk songs about the Dragon Boat Festival were produced by different ethnic groups and different regions. example:
"The fragrance of palm seeds is fragrant in the kitchen. The fragrance of mugwort leaves fills the whole house. Peach branches are stuck on the door. When you go out, you can see the yellow wheat. Here is the Dragon Boat Festival, there is the Dragon Boat Festival, and there is the Dragon Boat Festival everywhere."
"The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival. There are moxa sticks on the door and the house is full of fragrance. We eat rice dumplings, sprinkle sugar, and race dragon boats. We are filled with joy."
- Dragon Boat Festival activities
2.1. Dragon Boat Festival-custom: dragon boat racing
The legend of dragon boat racing:
The most popular origin of dragon boat racing is that the people of Chu used dragon boats to disperse fish in the river to commemorate Qu Yuan, who committed suicide by throwing himself into the river, hoping to prevent the fish from eating Qu Yuan's body.
According to the "Biography of Qu Yuan Jia Sheng" in "Historical Records", Qu Yuan was a minister of King Huai of Chu during the Warring States Period.
His advocacy of promoting talents, enriching the country and strengthening the military, and uniting Qi to resist Qin met with strong opposition. Qu Yuan was greedy and resigned and was driven out of the capital.
In 278 BC, the Qin army captured Kyoto, the state of Chu. Qu Yuan could not bear to abandon his homeland, so he bouldered into the river and died.
Legend has it that after Qu Yuan died, the people of Chu State were extremely sad and flocked to the Miluo River to pay their respects to Qu Yuan. The fishermen rowed their boats and fished for his true body back and forth on the river. They scrambled to catch up and disappeared when they reached Dongting Lake. After that, dragon boat racing was held every May 5th to commemorate the event. He rowed dragon boats to disperse the fish in the river to prevent them from eating Qu Yuan's body.
2.2 Dragon Boat Festival – Folk Custom : Egg Standing
In the West, there are painted eggs for Easter, and in Asia, there are standing eggs for the Dragon Boat Festival.
The egg-standing game played at noon during the Dragon Boat Festival is widely spread in Foshan, western Fujian, Taiwan and Singapore.
It is said that at 12 o'clock at noon of the Dragon Boat Festival every year, the eggs can be stood upright on the ground. This kind of standing eggs can only be done on May 5th, and cannot be stood up at other times.
It is said that if you can stand the egg upright during the Dragon Boat Festival, you will have good luck in the coming year.
2.3 Dragon Boat Festival – Food custom : Zongzi
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According to folklore, during the Warring States Period, after Qu Yuan, the patriotic poet of Chu State, committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River (278 BC), in order to prevent fish from destroying Qu Yuan's body, people packed rice in bamboo tubes and threw it into the river so that the fish could eat the rice without biting Qu Yuan. 's remains.
2.4 Dragon Boat Festival – Custom : Wearing a sachet
Wearing sachets is one of the traditional customs of the Dragon Boat Festival. Children wearing sachets on Dragon Boat Festival not only have the meaning of warding off evil spirits and driving away plague, but also serve as decorations on their lapels. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar, and fragrant medicine, and is wrapped with silk cloth, which overflows with fragrance. Five-color silk strings are then tied into ropes to make various shapes and form a string, which is colorful and exquisite.
