What are the customs of Dragon Boat Festival? How did these customs come from?

Dragon Boat Festival is one of the three major folk festivals, which has been sought after by the people of China for thousands of years. Besides eating zongzi, dragon boat racing and smoking moxibustion, what else?

I. Names There are many names of the Dragon Boat Festival, which can be divided into several categories:

According to the seasons, it is called Dragon Boat Festival, Duanyang Festival, Chongwu Festival and Double Ninth Festival.

According to festivals, it is called Pujie, Zongzi Festival and Bitter Melon Festival.

According to festival folklore, it is called Dragon Boat Festival, Daughter's Day and Poet's Day.

According to the function of the festival, it is called medicine festival, earth wax festival and so on.

The Dragon Boat Festival has been designated as the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar since the Han Dynasty, and some are designated as the fourth day of May. The festival activities run through May.

Second, the source of the Dragon Boat Festival is the heavy five, which originated from the heavy noon. It was originally the first noon of midsummer month, which is also the noon of the summer calendar, so it was named Chongwu. The local custom of Jin people in Zhou Dynasty: "the end, the beginning".

After the number replaced the time of recording the dry branch, the heavy noon evolved into the heavy five, that is, the fifth day of May in the summer calendar. ①

Before the Han Dynasty, the Dragon Boat Festival was not a festival, but a widely accepted festival, which had three sources.

The first is to ward off evil spirits. The ancients thought that May was unknown, and Lv Chunqiu Midsummer Ji represented the official view of seasons. It believes that "it's the moon, the days are long, Yin and Yang struggle, and life and death are divided."

Therefore, children born in May "harm their father and mother", "they will never move away when May arrives", "Building a house in May will make people bald" and so on.

In this way, people need to drive away evil spirits. Exorcism is based on local materials, mainly some herbs and Chinese herbal medicines, such as wormwood, calamus and later realgar wine.

The second is to commemorate. "May, commonly known as evil month", gradually realized the story related to death. For example, according to the Chronicle of Jingchu, Qu Yuan died in the Miluo River on May 5th.

The year of Qu Yuan's death is recorded in different historical books, and there are also differences on the authenticity of Qu Yuan in academic circles.

But this does not prevent people from commemorating Qu Yuan.

Similarly, Cao E's monument records that Cao E's father died on May 5, and people along the Qiantang River also set Wu Zixu's memorial day on this day.

In short, everyone will find a spiritual idol to commemorate this day, mainly in memory of Qu Yuan.

The third is the race. Dragon Boat Race originated in the Warring States Period. Qu Yuan, Cao E, Wu Zixu and Gou Jian, the King of Yue, recorded the origin of racial hybridization in Jingchu Chronicle. ②

Jingchu commemorates Qu Yuan, wuyue commemorates Gou Jian's hardworking navy master, or Wu Zixu and his filial daughter Cao E, all of which are attached by later generations. The earliest race should be the totem worship of dragons.

Wen Yiduo's "Dragon Boat Festival Examination" points out that the Dragon Boat Festival is "a totem festival held by a dragon totem group in ancient wuyue, in short, the Dragon Boat Festival." ③

The above three sources interact. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, in order to commemorate Qu Yuan, Chu people gave patriotic content to dragon boat races, combined with folk customs such as exorcism, herb picking and festivals, and finally formed the Dragon Boat Festival. ④

The fourth is tradition. Seasonal customs are different from north to south, and so are Han people and other ethnic groups. There is little water in the north, and ethnic groups such as Liao and Jin in the northeast compete to ride horses and shoot willows, while in North China, it means "kissing". Married women go back to their parents' homes to visit relatives, so May 5 is called Daughter's Day.

After the Republic of China, the customs in the south gradually moved northward, and the northern tradition was gradually replaced by the southern tradition, forming the Dragon Boat Festival as far as Zongzi is concerned.

Third, folk customs and customs change with the climate change. In May of the pre-Qin period, there was a folk custom of "storing orchids and bathing" and collecting herbs and "removing poisonous gas", and the purpose of health and epidemic prevention was very clear.

In the early days of Dragon Boat Festival, according to Zonggu's records, folk customs mainly included stepping on a hundred herbs, picking wormwood, hanging doors and windows with calamus, running races, picking herbs, tying arms with colored silk, teaching myna to speak and eating zongzi.

These folk customs have disappeared now, such as picking herbs, tying arms with colored silk and teaching myna to speak. At that time, eating zongzi had to wait until the summer solstice, about half a month later than the Dragon Boat Festival.

To sum up, it can be roughly divided into:

Going for a walk to collect herbs, seasonal folk customs, gives people the feeling that they are looking for opportunities to go out to play. In ancient times, it should be the way to keep in good health. The Dragon Boat Festival in midsummer has a pleasant climate, so it is natural to be close to nature.

The so-called stepping on a hundred herbs and picking some herbs and Chinese medicines are used to drive away evil spirits and diseases. This custom was still maintained during the Republic of China. In the fourth year of the Republic of China, "Hankou Xiaozhi" recorded that "the tourists in the back lake are like ants", and the excitement can be imagined.

Or find someone to accompany you to Dabie Mountain.

Insert wormwood and calamus, stick paper-cut on doors and windows and insert wormwood and calamus. Insects and flies can't get in, and the fragrance is overflowing.

According to Jing Di Ji Sheng, in the Qing Dynasty, Beijing was decorated with Ai Hu, window stickers and auspicious gourds. ⑤

The book "Kyoto Customs" written in the late Qing Dynasty recorded the Dragon Boat Festival in Beijing. "Buy zongzi, cherries, mulberries, and worship the Buddha. Buy EPP, put it by the door, paste pictures of tigers, scorpions, frogs or celestial masters, and uncover it. That's a magical charm. " ⑥

Women took sachets and realgar wine, made them into tiger shapes with floral HongLing thread, strung them with Pu 'ai, melon beans, onions and garlic, and put them on their heads and children's braids.

"Yanjing Age" records that from the beginning of May, realgar and wine were dried and applied to children's forehead, nose and ears to detoxify. ⑦ According to Records of Hankou, Hankou people drink calamus wine and realgar wine during the Dragon Boat Festival, and apply vermilion and realgar to children's forehead and facial features to get rid of diseases. Cinnabar and realgar are also scattered on the ground to drive away snakes and insects.

Eating zongzi is also called handing in potatoes. Zongzi is a bamboo tube rice in the local customs of Zhou Dynasty. Wu Jun of Liang Dynasty recorded in Qi He Xu;

Qu Yuan went back to the dead room and told Changsha people that the bamboo zongzi had been stolen by Xiaolong, and it was necessary to seal it with water bamboo leaves and tie it with colored thread. Xiaolong is afraid of water bamboo and colored lines.

In this way, the present zongzi has a history of 1500 years.

"Hankou Xiaozhi" records "sticky rice wrapped in leaves". This is exactly the same as zongzi now. There are big boats and small boats in the dragon boat race, which are called "Feifu" and "Water Horse" respectively. As the name implies, people by the water treat boats as horses. It means driving fast.

During the game, state officials and people went to the water to watch the game.

"Geography of Sui Shu" said that Qu Yuan jumped into the Miluo River, and people chased him to Dongting Lake and rowed boats to save Qu Yuan, which has been handed down as a custom of dragon boat racing.

During the Republic of China, the dragon boat race in Hankou was characterized by "dozens of people driving a small boat, many people rowing Qi Fei, and the wind and rain were raging, and the drums corresponded to the sound of water, and the spectators on the shore were blocked".

When riding a horse to shoot willows, the south is busy racing dragon boats, and the north is not idle. Shooting willows originated from the custom of Liao and Jin Dynasties in Northeast China, where willow branches were inserted in the ground, marked with handkerchiefs, and archery was carried out on horseback. It is the best to shoot the willow branches and catch them, the second is to shoot them and not catch them, and it is negative to shoot them constantly.

It is also very exciting, but this custom gradually disappeared after the Qing Dynasty. ⑧

Tourism during the Dragon Boat Festival is mainly temple fairs in the north. The Chenghuang Temple in Beijing was lively for ten days at first. Eat, drink and be merry.

Hankou people have passed the Dragon Boat Festival for one year. "From the first day to the eighteenth day, drums, firecrackers and lights rang everywhere, day and night." From the first day of May to the eighteenth day, the carnival lasted for eighteen days.

On the fifth day of May, all industries have a day off, "Drink a toast".

At that time, there was a poem to prove it: "Peel off the leftover corn and have nothing to do. The pepper shop in the pharmacy will be closed. At noon, the black umbrella will cover your head and everyone will go to Guishan."

Hankou has been a famous trading port since modern times. People's minds are relatively liberated and they don't see too much oppression of women. During the Dragon Boat Festival, women will wear wormwood and sachets.

"There are also scholars and women sitting in a boat with four pillars and green curtains, hanging by the bamboo curtains, cooking and singing, and swimming to entertain." A school of Ying Ge's soft words, beautiful shadows and flowers. ⑨

To sum up, the Dragon Boat Festival is not a festival. It originated from the dragon totem worship in the south, from the life and military in the pre-Qin period, from the humanistic needs of the Han and Jin dynasties, and developed into the folk customs of later generations.

Today, the patriotic feelings contained in dragon boats and zongzi, the concept of harmony between man and nature advocated by wormwood and calamus, and the genes of affection, health preservation and folk diet have become deep complex in China people's hearts.

As the saying goes, a wanderer is at a loss, and a wisp of hometown is his hometown.