Dragon Boat Racing Prose

Every year as the fifth lunar month approaches, we begin to look forward to the rising waters of Jinhe River every day. Because as soon as the river water rises, the Dragon Boat Festival is coming on the fifth day of May; when the Dragon Boat Festival comes, the annual dragon boat race in my hometown kicks off on the wide Jin River.

In fact, the real dragon boat race starts far away from the Dragon Boat Festival, and every village is already gearing up and eager to try it. This competition is most related to the honor of the village. If the competition is successful, everyone in the village will be honored. If the competition is unsuccessful, everyone in the village will be harmed. Therefore, people attach great importance to this annual dragon boat race. Those who lost the previous year were determined to avenge their humiliation and worked hard to regroup and compete for the top spot; the team that won the championship last year did not dare to take it lightly for fear of being careless and losing Jingzhou, so they had to work together to defend the title again. Each village selected more than two dozen strong young men who could kick over bulls and defeat fierce tigers. They stopped all work and just practiced hard on the river every day. For a time, small rivers and large rivers were filled with drums and rales, and the atmosphere of competition was extremely tense.

The Dragon Boat Festival, where "every house is wrapped in brown rice and every house is planted with mugwort", has finally arrived. Before dawn, the roads and trails leading to the county town began to be commotion. The villagers brought their young and old together with their families. They hurriedly traveled dozens of miles to get into the city to occupy a good place with high ground and thick shade to watch the game. The people in the city acted calmly. Those who are near the water and the terraces get the moon first. They ate their breakfast carefully and asked their children to go out and set up their stools to wait for the game.

The sun is getting higher and the heat wave is coming. At this time, the open river embankment was already crowded with people and the water was suffocating. The girls all put on heavy makeup and flaunted their flowers, leaning on parasols on their shoulders and fanning themselves with fragrant handkerchiefs. They stood in groups on the river bank, laughing. The young men also dress up deliberately to appear smart. They are in groups, pointing and behaving informally. There are tens of thousands of spectators, dressed in different colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Looking from a distance, the flowers are clustered in a variety of colors, like a large colorful garden, which is really beautiful.

The dragon boat launching ceremony begins. A long string of deafening firecrackers burst out in all directions over the river water. After the smoke dissipated, the audience could see dozens of dragon boats about 15 meters long moored together under the starting platform, with people on each boat. There is a wooden carved dragon head with the word "king" engraved on the forehead. The dragon head stretches out its neck, raises its head and stares, with an air of dignity and dignity. It is so majestic. An elder stood on the bow of the ship holding a bright red flag, looking majestic. The two dozen or so people wearing colorful clothes decorated with dragon scales, golden headscarves on their foreheads, and strong and sturdy radial (rao, oar) hands were sitting in the small cabin in order of left and right radial hands, holding oars with both hands. , shouted loudly, to cheer up for themselves and their teammates.

The competition adopts a single round-robin elimination system. The top eight players from the previous session will be ranked according to the rules. The rest will be drawn into groups with two boats in each group. The group competition will win out of three games, and the winner will advance to the next round. rounds of finals until a champion and runner-up are determined. The competition is fierce, and if you miss one oar, you will be eliminated.

On the pontoon that was temporarily used as the starting platform, a small red starting flag was raised. The whole place fell silent for a moment. On the two boats that were preparing for the competition, the rowers bent over, holding the rafts tightly, and the gong and drummers were as calm as statues; the flag bearer sat on the bow, staring at the starter. As soon as the starting gun was fired, the flag bearer would He will command the ship to work together to overturn the sea and defeat the powerful enemy.

"Bang!" The starting gun rang out, and the small flag fell down. In the blink of an eye, the two long dragons rushed out more than ten meters away in a sea of ??dazzling white waves. "Crush the waves to highlight the popularity, jump over the waves and compete to be the first to fly away." The flag bearer kept waving the red flag rhythmically, the gong and drummers watched the conductor's movements and beat the drums and gongs, the radiators moved their arms to the drum beats and waved the oars vigorously, the helmsman concentrated on grasping the direction, and the entire crew worked together to make the dragon boat like a sharp arrow. Surf through the waves and fly forward with a "whoosh". Audiences on both sides of the Taiwan Strait waved straw hats, stomped their feet and clapped their hands, shouted thunderously, and roared loudly.

The race starts from the pontoon bridge, goes under the stone bridge, turns around the bridge pier, and ends at the pontoon bridge. The total length is about one kilometer. When we set off, we were swimming down the river. We had accumulated enough energy and suddenly burst out. The conductor shouted loudly and paddled around the hand quickly. The dragon boat was driven into a roaring wind and the competition seemed relaxed and free.

When the boat arrived under the stone bridge, turned around the pier and rowed back against the current with the rudder pressed, the conductor's shouts began to change from high-pitched to rough, and the rhythm of the gongs and drums changed from the rapid "dong bang, dong bang, dong bang" to With a solemn "dong, bang, dong, bang, dong, bang", the frequency of radial oar movement slowed down, and the speed of the boat was obviously much slower. But at this time, the people on the boat seemed more united and unified, because they knew clearly that in order to get out of this difficult and suffocating predicament as soon as possible, and to defeat their opponents and win the championship, they could only work together and rely on The collective strength strives hard.

Audiences on both sides of the Taiwan Strait seemed to realize some of the true meaning of life from this tragic march. The same sense of liberation suddenly brought them closer to the people on the boat. They kept in tune with the rhythm of the boat, shouting at the top of their lungs, as if only in this way they could inject some of their own strength to help them cut through the waves and drive the oars.

After a period of fierce competition, the two boats are evenly matched, and it is difficult to tell the difference. Whoever can be brave and superior at this last moment will win the championship and return home triumphantly. The people on the ship are physically exhausted and have difficulty concentrating their thoughts. It is often at this time that many ships are eager to win, have impatient commanders, and mess up the rhythm with their hands. As a result, they are left behind by their opponents, and all their previous efforts are wasted. Since it is a competition, there will be a winner and a loser in the end. A certain boat took the lead and crossed the finish line, winning the banner. A gong sounded, and the race ended one by one. As a result, the winner danced with joy, forgot all about it and cheered and shouted, with his hands on his hips soaring to the sky; the loser stood dejectedly, full of grievances, and secretly said goodbye next year.

In this way, under the cool sun and in the heat wave, the road to the championship is getting shorter and shorter, there are more and more eliminations, and the enthusiasm of the audience is getting higher and higher. When the golden bird falls in the west, the river is full of sunset, and the seats for the championship, second and third place are arranged, at this time, as the final winner, the championship team uses a bamboo pole to jump high with the medal flag, and then symbolically rows back and forth along the race route. He accepted the congratulations from the audience on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and expressed his gratitude to the audience. Then, the annual Dragon Boat Festival came to an end.

It is late at night, and the Jinhe River, which has been noisy all day, has calmed down, with colorful shadows and gentle waves, and it has fallen into sleep. But the bravery of the dragon chasing the waves and the charm of the flying and elegant dragon have been deeply engraved in people's hearts.

Dragon boat racing took place during the prosperous times, and people lived happily.