What are the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival in Huaihua?

What are the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival in Huaihua?

People in Huaihua regard the fifth day of May as the Little Dragon Boat Festival and the fifteenth day of May as the Big Dragon Boat Festival. Some value the small Dragon Boat Festival, and some value the big Dragon Boat Festival. In Hongjiang, there is also a festival based on the tenth day of the lunar month. On the Dragon Boat Festival, mugwort leaves and calamus are hung in front of every house in urban and rural areas to "ward off evil spirits"; at the same time, moxa leaves and calamus are smashed and mixed with realgar, and the juice is sprinkled on the walls and corners to disinfect. Young and old use decoction of various herbs to take baths to "prevent evil spirits". poison". Every household makes rice dumplings, boils salted eggs, and serves realgar wine for noon.

On this day, every family writes a curse on red paper: "On the afternoon of May 5th, the Heavenly Master rides the Aihu. With my strokes today, the insects and ants return to the underworld." Stick it on the wall to avoid snakes and ants.

It is said that hundreds of herbs can be used for medicine during the Dragon Boat Festival, and the herbs collected on this day have good medicinal properties. Folks use plantain, honeysuckle, perilla and mugwort leaves to cook soup and bathe in it to prevent sores. He also took toads and filled them with ink, hung them upside down to air-dry, and prepared them for the treatment of epilepsy and carbuncle. Therefore, as the saying goes: "The toad hides from the Dragon Boat Festival, the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, but not the fifteenth day." Jingzhou City rushes to the medicine market on the Dragon Boat Festival, and the streets and alleys are filled with Yingpu, moxa leaves and other medicinal herbs.

Dragon Boat Activities:

People living on both sides of the river have the custom of racing dragon boats to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. The most lively areas are along the riverside or on the water surface of Kuangkagang River in Shenling, Chenxi and other places in Huaihua. There are three types of dragon boats in Shenling City: red, yellow and white. Each team forms a team to compete. In recent years, black, flower and green types have been added, including more than 30 dragon boats.

Dragon boat racing, tens of thousands of people in the city gathered on the river beach to watch the race. Along the highway, people from Shen and Youshui rivers and from other counties took cars and boats to watch the dragon boats. The schedule starts from the fifth day to the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year.

Don’t eat loach during the Dragon Boat Festival:

You are not allowed to eat loach before the Dragon Boat Festival, and you are not allowed to go to the fields to catch loach. After eating rice dumplings, they were allowed to go to the fields to catch loach. From the beginning of summer to the fifth day of May in the lunar calendar, it is not allowed to say "loach" directly, but to say "short snake". Sometimes children are fishing in the creek. If they accidentally catch fish, they will say, "Snake, we don't want you. Don't come next time." They are not allowed to take it home or bring it into the house. Only after the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, loach fish is allowed to be eaten in honor of the ancestors.