How did the Dragon Boat Festival come about?

The significance of dragon boat race on Dragon Boat Festival

"Dragon Boat Race" is a custom that existed during the Warring States Period. During the Warring States period, people carved dragon-shaped wooden boats with drums and held competitions to entertain gods and people. At this time, the dragon boat race is a semi-religious and semi-entertainment program in the ceremony. Sacrifice to Qu Yuan is closely related to dragon boat race in Hunan and Hubei areas. Perhaps after the deaths of Qu Yuan, Cao E and Wu Zixu, local people also used soul boats to send their souls for burial, so there is this custom. But besides commemorating Qu Yuan, the dragon boat race has been given different meanings in various places.

Before the dragon boat race, please invite dragons to offer sacrifices to the gods. For example, Guangdong Dragon Boat Festival, before the Dragon Boat Festival, you have to go out of the water, worship the Queen of the South China Sea in the Nanhai Temple, install the dragon tail, and then prepare for the race. And buy a pair of paper cocks and put them on the dragon boat, thinking that they can keep the boat safe. Fujian and Taiwan went to Mazu Tempel to worship. Some offer sacrifices to * * directly by the river, killing chickens and shedding blood in * *, such as Sichuan, Guizhou and other individual areas.

Before the dragon boat race, various sacrificial ceremonies and commemorative ceremonies will be held. Generally speaking, we light incense sticks, burn paper, eat chicken, rice, meat, fruit offerings and zongzi. Nowadays, these superstitious ceremonies are rare, but in the past, when people went to the Dragon Palace to offer sacrifices, the atmosphere was very serious, praying for a bumper harvest in agriculture, good weather, evil spirits and all the best, and wishing boating safety. In people's words, "to be auspicious" expresses people's inner good wishes.

The origin of dragon boat rowing on Dragon Boat Festival

Qu Dajun, a Guangdong scholar in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, recorded in Volume 18 of Guangdong New Language: "In May, the torrent surged, and it took a hundred miles. The villagers are the dragon boat meeting, and the viewer draws a boat cloud, ending in the topic, and the woman is like a mountain, riding the tide, and the day is already dusk. The dragon boat is more than ten feet long, seven or eight feet high, and the dragon needs water for two feet. There are six or seven people sitting on their foreheads and necks. There is a brocade pavilion in it. Just take it twice. No fewer than seventy or eighty people played flags, covered, drummed and smashed with radiation hammers. The game was stormy. The ship is gone, and the water mark can't be closed for a long time. I also travel to the point of luxury. The dragon boat in Guangzhong is the only one in Dongguan. From the new moon to the black of May, there is one in every cultural station. Peng Xia, for example, can be punished. Guangzhou-China (Pearl River Delta) dragon boat, but Dongguan is prosperous. There are villages and towns from the first day of May to the evening (the first day to the thirtieth day). "

"Dongguan County Records" records: "On the first day of May, drinking calamus realgar wine is an ominous sign. Eat corn and race dragon boats. By the fifth day, the participants will benefit the public. Recommended to family shrines with festivals. " "Many people in the city are sewing small sachets, saying that they are wrapped at noon." "From the new moon to hope, the race is full, and the dragon boat grows to more than ten feet. In the pavilion, the original paintings gather, and the tail is in the topic, taking advantage of the tide. When the sun goes down, the orchestral strings are not resting, and the drum town is a scene. "

Since the Song Dynasty, every year from the eighth day of April to the 30th day of May in the lunar calendar, Dongguan people row and wash dragon boats, enjoy the dragon boat scenery, eat dragon boat cakes, eat dragon boat meals and sing dragon boat songs, hence the name Dragon Boat Month. Every year on the first day of the fifth lunar month, John Wan will hold a large-scale dragon boat championship, which is known as the "Dragon Boat Scene in Dongguan", and there is a poem saying: "On the first day of the fifth lunar month, a dragon will get up and race on the John Wan River". After the Dragon Boat Show in Dongguan, all localities agreed to set their own dragon boat show days, such as Fenxi Show on May 4th, Xincheng Show on May 10, and Xincun Show on May 14. Each village in Wanjiang District holds a dragon boat race with its own characteristics, with the participation of the whole people. Until the end of the month, John Wan people were proud of the "Dragon Boat in Dongguan" and kept it.

Dragon boat race method on Dragon Boat Festival

1. Let's talk about getting on the boat first: don't underestimate getting on the boat. If you don't get on the boat, it will capsize. There are two kinds of boarding: one is from the bow; One is from one side of the boat. It is relatively easy to get from one side of the boat. There are people at the bow and stern. People on board don't have to think too much. Just sit in your seat and don't move, nothing will happen. There will be more places to pay attention to from the bow. Everybody line up first, and the helmsman goes first. After the helmsman sat down, the two men rowing the fifth paddle boarded the ship in order, and so did the others. After that, the drummer will get on the boat, but you must wait for the next person to sit down. Be sure to follow the center line of the ship when boarding, because the hull is light and it is easy to capsize when walking on both sides.

2. Drummer: Drumming is hard work, and the rhythm of drumming is very important. Generally speaking, two light and one heavy, "bang bang". Rowers must paddle with the frequency of drums. The frequency of fast strokes on the drum is fast, and the frequency of slow strokes on the drum is slow. If the rower doesn't paddle according to the drums, the rhythm of the whole dragon boat will be destroyed, so the rower must paddle.

3. Rower: There is a saying that ten strong men may not be able to row ten weak women. Why? In fact, the answer is simple: can you achieve the unity of slurry into water? Rowing a dragon boat is not just about seeing if you have the strength to row fast, it is a group project. Ten rowers must lift the oars, paddle and paddle in unison. As long as one rower is out of sync, you can't row fast. When rowing, an oar is very important. One paddle must follow the drum, two paddles look at one paddle, and so on. When rowing, the oars should be stretched forward as far as possible, full of oars and attached to the hull. Paddling requires not only the strength of the arm, but also the strength of the waist and abdomen, so the body should have a forward movement, that is, when paddling, it should lean forward, so that all the strength can be used.

4. Helmsman: Helmsman's posture includes standing with fixed rudder, standing with dynamic rudder and sitting with dynamic rudder. The helmsman is a very important role. A good helmsman can row the boat away without rowing. He is in charge of the direction of the ship. If you can't control your direction, jokes will come out. It's easy for a ship to turn around in the same place. Actually, turning around is not terrible. The terrible thing is that it is easy to have a collision accident if the rudder is not handled properly, and the consequences are terrible. There is also a cross-track. In the rules of the game, deviance is to cancel the ranking. You rowed very hard, and no matter how good your grades are, it won't help.

5. Ten rowers are divided into two teams, five on the left and five on the right. The weight of the left five adds up to the weight of the right five (of course, this is not absolute) to keep the balance of the boat. The heavy rower should sit at the back of the boat, and the light rower should sit at the bow, so that the bow can have a certain inclination, which can reduce the resistance and improve the speed of the boat walking in the water. In addition, several ships are neck and neck, and everyone shouts at the same time, and the rowers can't hear the drums of their own team at all. Therefore, the ten rowers and drummers should call the number and decide what to shout, but they must shout, which can improve the morale of the whole team, maintain the unity of rowers and paddlers, and thus improve their performance.