What does it mean to drink realgar wine on Dragon Boat Festival?

The custom of drinking realgar wine on Dragon Boat Festival is very popular in the Yangtze River valley. There is an old saying: "Drink realgar wine and all diseases will disappear". Realgar is a mineral, commonly known as "Jiguanshi". Its main component is arsenic sulfide and contains mercury, which is toxic. The common realgar wine is made by adding a small amount of realgar to white wine or homemade yellow wine, and there is no pure drink. Realgar wine has the functions of sterilization, insect repellent and detoxification, and traditional Chinese medicine is also used to treat skin diseases. When there was no disinfectant such as iodine in ancient times, soaking in realgar could detoxify and relieve itching. For children under drinking age, adults apply realgar wine on their foreheads, ears, ears, hands, feet and hearts to disinfect and prevent diseases. The ancient poem goes: "Only when I was a child, I didn't forget to hold Aifupu as the king." It means that on the Dragon Boat Festival, children hold mugwort leaves, put on calamus and write the word "king" on their foreheads with realgar wine to ward off evil spirits and prevent epidemics. Sprinkle realgar wine on corners, bed bottoms and other places to repel insects and clean the environment. However, modern scientific research shows that realgar wine is acceptable for external use, but harmful for drinking, so it must be used with caution.

Peixiang nanggou

When Dragon Boat Festival comes, it is very popular to wear sachets and wallets. Children wearing sachets not only have the intention to ward off evil spirits and drive away epidemics, but also have the wind of embellishing their heads. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, wrapped in silk cloth, and tied with five-color silk thread to make various shapes of strings, which are bright and beautiful, beautiful and fragrant, and can also prevent some infectious diseases. Before the festival, every family's daughter-in-law, girl and clever old lady should embroider different shapes of wallets with colorful silk thread, cloth, satin and other materials for relatives and friends to wear.