Explore the Dragon Boat Festival culture and understand the traditional custom prose.

Dragon Boat Festival, Worship for Martial Arts, Afternoon Festival and Summer Festival were originally the festivals to drive away the plague in summer.

Brief custom of Dragon Boat Festival

Wall clock: Zhong Kui catches ghosts, which is the custom of Dragon Boat Festival. In the Jianghuai area, bells and statues are hung in every household to ward off evil spirits. Emperor Kaiyuan of Tang Dynasty returned to the palace after giving a lecture in Lishan, and malaria was rampant. He dreamed that two ghosts, one big and one small, were running around the temple wearing red crotch pants and stealing Yang Guifei's sachet and the jade emperor of the Ming Dynasty. GREAT GHOST, wearing a blue robe and a blue hat, caught the child, gouged out his eyes and swallowed it in one gulp. When asked by the Ming emperor, GREAT GHOST said: My surname is Zhong Kui, that is to say, I am the best martial artist. I am willing to exorcise evil spirits for your majesty. When the Ming emperor woke up, malaria was cured. So I asked Wu Daozi, the painter, to draw a portrait of Zhong Kui catching ghosts according to what I saw in my dream, and ordered all the people to post it on the Dragon Boat Festival to exorcise evil spirits.

Folium Artemisiae Argyi hangs calamus: On the Dragon Boat Festival, every household makes calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, pomegranate flower, garlic and dragon boat flower into human figures, which are called Ai people. Hanging mugwort leaves in the hall, cutting them into tiger shapes or ribbons, and sticking mugwort leaves on them, women compete to wear them to ward off evil spirits. Using calamus as a sword and inserting it on the lintel has the magical effect of exorcising ghosts.

Dragon Boat Race: At that time, Chu people were reluctant to part with Qu Yuan, a saint, so many people rowed boats to catch up and save them. They rushed to catch up, but when they arrived at Dongting Lake, there was no trace, because that was the origin of dragon boat racing, and then they rowed dragon boats on May 5 every year to commemorate it. Rowing a dragon boat to disperse the fish in the river so as not to eat Qu Yuan's body. The habit of competition prevailed in wuyue and Chu. Dragon Boat Race started in Taiwan Province Province in the 29th year of Qing Qianlong. At that time, Jiang, the chief executive of Taiwan Province Province, held a friendly match in Hexi Half Moon Pool in Tainan City. Now, Taiwan Province Province holds a dragon boat race on May 5th every year. There are boat races in Hong Kong. Recently, the British have followed China's example by organizing ghost teams and holding competitions.

Eating zongzi: On May 5th, people in Jingchu boiled glutinous rice or steamed zongzi cakes and threw them into the river to offer sacrifices to Qu Yuan, so they threw them in bamboo tubes for fear of fish eating them. Later, they gradually wrapped rice with zongzi leaves instead of bamboo tubes.

Drinking realgar wine: This custom is very popular among people in the Yangtze River valley.

Wandering all diseases: This custom prevails in the Dragon Boat Festival custom in Guizhou.

Wearing sachets: Children wear sachets during the Dragon Boat Festival, which not only means to ward off evil spirits and drive away epidemics, but also has decorative styles on the front. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, wrapped in silk cloth, and the fragrance is overflowing, and then tied into a rope with five-color silk thread to make a string of different shapes, exquisite and eye-catching.

Customs of Dragon Boat Festival in various places

(Hebei)

It is said that drilling well water is avoided in Beiping Dragon Boat Festival, and it is often pre-pumped before the festival, in order to avoid well poisoning. On Dragon Boat Festival, street vendors also sell cherry mulberries. It is said that they eat cherry mulberries on the Dragon Boat Festival and don't eat flies by mistake all year round. "Five Poison Cakes", which are cakes decorated with five poisonous insect patterns, are sold in various food stores. Luanxian county lets men and women in-laws give gifts to each other on the Dragon Boat Festival. On the Dragon Boat Festival in Zhao County, the local government will hold a banquet in the south of the city, inviting the literati in the city to feast and compose poems, which is called "stepping on the willow".

(Shandong)

On the Dragon Boat Festival in zouping county, everyone needs a drink every morning, which is said to ward off evil spirits. Rizhao Dragon Boat Festival wraps seven colors of thread around children, and it will take them until the first rain after the festival before they are untied and thrown into the rain. On the Dragon Boat Festival in Linqing County, boys under seven wear symbols (necklaces made of wheat barnyard grass), girls wear pomegranate flowers and yellow cloth shoes made by their mothers, and draw five kinds of poisonous insects on the vamps with a brush. It means killing five kinds of poisonous insects with Qu Yuan's ink. On the morning of Dragon Boat Festival, Jimo washes his face with dew.

Shanxi province

On the Dragon Boat Festival in Xiezhou, men and women wear mugwort leaves, which is called "expelling diseases", while young children tie a hundred ropes around their necks. It is said that this is "tying dragons for Qu Yuan". During the Dragon Boat Festival in the Western Zhou Dynasty, villages would offer sacrifices to the Dragon King and hang paper in the fields. The Dragon Boat Festival in Huairen County is also called "Zhumen". The Dragon Boat Festival in Dingxiang County requires students to give gifts to their teachers. Lu 'an Mansion uses steamed dumplings made of wheat flour, called "white dumplings", and presents them to each other together with zongzi.

Shanxi(Province)

On the Dragon Boat Festival in Xing 'an League, local officials lead their subordinates to watch the game, which is called "stepping on a stone". At the Dragon Boat Festival in Xingping County, a small corn is sewn with silk, and a small doll is sewn below it, which is called "playing with dolls". The Dragon Boat Festival in Tongguan County is called "town disease", and there are Pu Ai and paper cows sticking to the door.

Gansu province

Picking roses on Dragon Boat Festival in Jingning area is mainly based on honey pickling. Zhenyuan county presented a fragrant fan, a Luo Qi, a towel handkerchief and a Ai Hu to the newlyweds during the Dragon Boat Festival. Children also invite their fathers and brothers to entertain their teachers, which is called "enjoying the festival". On the Dragon Boat Festival in Zhang Xi 'an County, the shepherd boy worships the mountain gods. Accumulated salary mountain, chicken calls before burning, commonly known as "burning mountain"

Jiangsu Province

During the Dragon Boat Festival in Jiading County, people, rich or poor, have to buy stone fish (commonly known as mandarin fish) to cook. There is also a saying in Yizheng County, "When pants, buy yellow croaker". On the Dragon Boat Festival in Nanjing, families use a box of clear water, plus a little realgar and goose eye money. The whole family washes their eyes with this kind of water, which is called "breaking the eyes of fire". It is said that it can protect them from eye diseases for a year. There is a dragon boat show in Wujin at night. In the evening, small lanterns are hung around the dragon boat, and flutes and drums sing harmoniously.

The Dragon Boat Festival in Gaoyou is very special. There are customs such as tying a hundred scorpions, sticking five poisons, sticking symbols, emitting yellow smoke and eating "Twelve Red". Children hang "duck eggs", that is, choose beautiful duck eggs, put them in colored lines and hang them on their chests.

(Sichuan)

Shizhu has the custom of "going out during the Dragon Boat Festival". Four people use two bamboo poles to lift the wide table covered with red carpet. A Taoist priest riding a tiger weaves bamboo sticks on the carpet. Beating gongs and drums, marching in the street. In ancient times, there was a custom of "beating plum blossoms" on the Dragon Boat Festival in western Sichuan. On that day, Chengdu people bought plums and threw them in the southeast corner of the city, attracting tens of thousands of spectators. In the 21st year of Guangxu (1895), this custom stopped because of the sudden conflict between Touli and foreign missionaries. Leshan, Xinjin and other places also hold grand commodity fairs during the Dragon Boat Festival.

(Zhejiang Province)

Students from rural schools in Tonglu County gave their teachers a gift on the Dragon Boat Festival, which was called "Remembrance". The doctor collects medicine at noon, and it is said that the doctor is in heaven that day.

(Anhui)

Hefei: inserting wormwood to attract wealth and ward off evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival

When the Dragon Boat Festival comes, citizens in Hefei, Anhui Province, according to traditional customs, bought wormwood and put it on the door to attract blessings and drive away evil spirits. In a vegetable market on Huaihe Road in Hefei, a lady bought some sticks of wormwood and was going home to cook. She said that according to tradition, wormwood should be hung on the door to ward off evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival. On the roadside of Hefei Chenghuangmiao Market, Uncle Wang, who lives in the suburbs, pushes a tricycle to sell wormwood. His wormwood was collected from a nearby mountain, and several branches and other grass leaves were tied into a neat bundle to sell, four bundles of which cost one yuan. Wormwood gives off a special fragrance, and people come forward to buy it from time to time. At first glance, wormwood is a perennial herb with alternate leaves, deep plumage, green surface, dense white hairs on the leaves and special fragrance on the stems and leaves. In ancient China, wormwood was used as medicine. The moxibustion method of acupuncture was to put wormwood on the acupoint and cauterize it to treat diseases. Therefore, the ancients believed that wormwood could attract wealth and ward off evil spirits. It is recorded in an ancient book in China: "When chickens don't crow, people who collect wormwood like humans take it and use moxibustion to collect it, and the effect is very good. It is the day when Ai Cai became a man and hung on the door, which can poison gas. " In ancient times, it was thought that after the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather began to get hot, mosquitoes bred, and infectious diseases were prone to occur. So on this day, five kinds of plants, such as Acorus calamus, wormwood, pomegranate flower, garlic and Shandan, were used to drive away all kinds of poisons.

Shexian County: Jumping off a building to catch ghosts during the Dragon Boat Festival is located in Shexian County in southern Anhui Province. In addition to eating zongzi, hanging wormwood and dancing dragon boats, there is also a unique activity every year-dancing the doors to catch ghosts. Zhong Kui kids hold signs of "Zhong Jinshi's Tour", "Silence" and "Avoidance", Zhong Kui holds a sword and an umbrella, and kids hold wine bowls and other folk performances. It is understood that Zhong Kui dancing is one of the folk ways to ward off evil spirits. In the past, many villages in Shexian performed Zhong Kui on the Dragon Boat Festival. Zhong Kui's tour is limited to his own village, and he has to visit the intersection of the village head and the street to show the thoroughness of exorcism. Those who are prepared to pick up Zhong Kui in advance will set off firecrackers to cheer Zhong Kui up and pray for exorcism. Amid firecrackers, there was dust everywhere and the atmosphere was dignified. According to some data, in the works of China poets in the Qing Dynasty, there are poems chanting Zhong Kui during the Dragon Boat Festival. Perhaps it is because the weather is hot and humid, many people are sick, and the plague is easy to spread, so Zhong Kui is invited to exorcise evil spirits and catch ghosts.

(Jiangxi)

Jianchang Prefecture takes a bath with herbal water at noon to prevent scabies, and Xinchang County drinks realgar cinnabar wine, which is called "opening eyes".

(Hubei)

In Bahe Town, Huanggang City, people greet Nuo people on the Dragon Boat Festival and use tattoos of corollas and golden bells to drive away the epidemic. Dragon boat race in Yichang county, especially on May 13, 14 and 15. May 15, also known as "Daduanyang", people eat zongzi and drink Pu wine, just like the Dragon Boat Festival.

(Hunan Province)

On the Dragon Boat Festival in Youxian County, rich pregnant women eat with flowers, poor people prepare chicken wine, and collect money with bamboo clips in front of the dragon boat faucet to pray for safe production. The government of Yuezhou regards this game as a disaster and a disease. Also known as "sending plague", when the grass boat comes to flood.

(Fujian)

Fuzhou Dragon Boat Festival is an old custom, so the daughter-in-law gives shroud, shoes and socks, zongzi and fans to her in-laws. In Jianyang County, 5th is the King Day of Sun-drying capsules, and people make sauces on this day. During the Dragon Boat Festival in Shanghang County, the boat was tied with reeds and a dragon-shaped play was performed at the water's edge, which was called dragon boat race. After the Dragon Boat Race in Xianyou County, paper was presented at Huxiao Beach to commemorate Qi Jiguang's drowning here during Jiajing period. Before Shao Wufu's Dragon Boat Festival, women used crimson yarn as a bag. Five-color velvet is the winning surface, and the colored thread is tied. The girl hung upside down on her back and was called "Dou Niang".

(Guangdong)

After washing hands and eyes with boiling water at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival in Conghua County, it is called "sending disaster". During the Dragon Boat Festival in Xinxing County, people advocate welcoming and guiding idols' travel from neighboring temples. Wizards also use Dharma water and stickers to drive away evil spirits. During the Dragon Boat Festival in Shicheng County, children fly kites, which is called "disaster relief".

(Hainan Province)

During the Dragon Boat Festival, all parts of Hainan will hold dragon boat races and other activities as in the Central Plains. There are still two bright, slender and spirited dragon boats stacked on the two stone steps at the entrance of the 500-year-old Ming Chenghua ancient city in Ding 'an, the best-preserved ancient county. The ancestors of the island, during the Dragon Boat Festival, carried dragon boats on their shoulders and rushed to the river, sweating and racing in Nandu River ... The history has continued from an ancient Dragon Boat Festival to the present. Wenchang, known as the "hometown of coconuts", is the ancestral home of Soong Ching Ling, which is near the sea and the river. Since ancient times, local residents along the river have held dragon boat races every year on the Dragon Boat Festival to pray for peace. In addition to dragon boat racing, eating zongzi, hanging calamus and wormwood, there is another place in Hainan that is well known to the people on the island, that is, washing dragon water and taking herbal baths. Zheng Xiao, who lives in Hainan, said that since the Dragon Boat Festival, the smell of wormwood has been everywhere in the house. Mother hangs wormwood at home early, burns a large pot of wormwood water at night, and bathes herself with wormwood, saying that it can ward off evil spirits and keep fit. Xiao Wu, who lives at the seaside, took him to the seaside to wash dragon water every year during the Dragon Boat Festival when he was a child. Folk believe that Mr. Qu Yuan has long been a dragon god, and washing "dragon water" helps children grow up healthily. People on the island have believed in seawater bathing since childhood-wiping their eyes with seawater can get rid of eye diseases; Washing your body with seawater can get rid of skin diseases. Chengmai County, Bohai Sea, in order to commemorate this characteristic folk custom, the "Dragon Water Festival" will be held in Yingbin Peninsula every Dragon Boat Festival. All the people from all over the island come here to "wash the dragon water" together. Ten thousand people travel * * *, the sea wonders of the Dragon Boat Festival. Have you seen it? The Dragon Boat Festival is also the day when Hainanese get together after Tomb-Sweeping Day. It is said that people on the island will return to their ancestral homes on this day as long as they can go home. Worship ancestors, greet parents and play with brothers and sisters. Women, as early as half a month ago, started to wrap zongzi in their hands. On the right day, every household gave zongzi, spreading peace and being very lively. The year on the island has entered a long summer with zongzi fragrance, dragon boat race and dragon water play.

(Taiwan Province Province)

Taiwan Province Province is located in the subtropical zone. Most of the early mainland immigrants could not adapt to the climate here, and people suffering from boils often heard about it. Therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival, a festival with the basic spirit of expelling diseases and avoiding epidemics, is particularly important.

The custom of the Dragon Boat Festival in the pre-Qin period can be represented by the description in Appendix III of Wang Yingzeng's Rebuilding the Records of Fengshan County (1764): On the morning of May 5, a pile of rice stalks was burned, smoked in the corner, and sent to the roadside to send mosquitoes with money the next day. Hanging April on the lintel and planting weeds means you can avoid mosquitoes. A branch of the banyan tree is old and healthy. Use watermelon and corn with each other. In the shallow part of Haikou, busybodies compete for money or cloth like three-skinned fish. The winner sings gongs and cheers, and fights dragon boats for three days. In the afternoon, I tied five strands to my child. The man tied his left wrist and the woman tied his right wrist, which was called Sun Shen Company.

There is also a folk saying that mugwort and figs can strengthen the body. As the saying goes, "Buron is brave, and Ai is braver and healthier." As usual, students in private schools give their husbands red envelopes as a thank you at the Dragon Boat Festival, and husbands use fans as a return gift.

According to Kiichiro Suzuki's "Crown Wedding Funeral in Taiwan Province in the Middle of the Year" (1934), during the funeral period, families don't pack zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival, and they are presented by relatives and friends, which is called "farewell ceremony". When you lose your family, you take candy as a gift. The farmer put the gold paper named "Fujin" on the bamboo pole and inserted it in the room. It is said that it can prevent harm and get a bumper harvest. Some places have the custom of making "salty tea" on the Dragon Boat Festival, that is, salting perilla leaves and pomegranate leaves with salt. It is said that it can be used as medicinal tea to remove all toxic gases.

In Jiadong Town, Pingtung County during the Japanese occupation, there was also the custom of fighting with stones during the Dragon Boat Festival. Stone war has been circulating in Jiadong area for hundreds of years. A few days before the Dragon Boat Festival every year, people are ready to fight a tough battle. The stone war is organized as a village, like an army, and has the positions of chief of staff. Organizations are like the army, with positions like chief of staff. Men are throwing stones at the front line to fight. The woman is responsible for transporting stones in the rear. When tearing is fierce, it often causes casualties. The winner can go to the defeated village to eat and drink. The defeated villagers escaped. If you are unfortunately captured by the other side, you will be forced to take off your pants and be humiliated in public. It is said that this peculiar custom can guarantee good luck for a whole year, so Jiadong people like it very much. However, because stone wars often caused serious casualties, local governments repeatedly banned them and gradually declined at the end of Japanese rule.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, every household also has the custom of playing "noon water". Noon water refers to the water that is drilled at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival. It is said that the water used to make tea and wine at noon is particularly mellow, and drinking raw water even has a miraculous effect on treating diseases. There is a proverb: "Wash your eyes at noon, and you will be as bright as a bird." He also said, "It is better to take a sip of water at noon and take tonic for three years." The most legendary noon water comes from the sword well on the anvil mountain in Dajia Town. According to legend, this well is the place where Zheng Chenggong inserted his sword to pray for spring. From then on, it is said that Bai Zhenshan is rich in all kinds of Dan medicine, so the effect of water in the sword well at noon is legendary. Every Dragon Boat Festival, people who grab water at noon next to Jianjing are always crowded and stuffy. It is said that when you look at this well at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival, you can also see the shadow of Zheng Chenggong. And those who see the sword shadow will not have a disaster this year.

Dragon boat rowing is called "Dragon Boat" in Taiwan Province Province. According to "Folk Customs of Taiwan Province Province", Volume I, No.6, the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival in Shilin during the Japanese occupation period is as follows: From the beginning of May, first go to the water's edge to "meet the water gods". At noon on the fifth day, gongs and drums were beaten and dragon boats were rowed to the river, and residents burned incense to worship. As the saying goes, "May 5th. Dragon boats are full of streets. " Welcome, it's called "Solitaire". To surpass the dragon, we must also hold a ceremony of "thanking the river" on the tenth day of the tenth lunar month.

The head office in Nantun, Taichung, had the custom of awakening pangolins by wearing wood since the middle of Qing Dynasty. After the recovery, this custom has been observed every year on the Dragon Boat Festival. Litoudian was the most prosperous area in Taichung in Qing Dynasty. It is said that this is because the local area is located in Qijiajiao. Therefore, local residents put on clogs every year, stamp their feet on the ground and wake pangolins with a loud noise. At present, this custom has been transformed into the form of fun competitions. Four people form a team and put on two clogs made of long wood skin to compete. Kaka's clogs really awakened the nostalgia of the residents in Lidian.

In terms of holiday food customs, it is said in Taiwan Province Province that eating peaches, eggplant and kidney beans during the Dragon Boat Festival can lead to a long and healthy life. As the saying goes: "Eating eggplant will make you tremble, but eating beans will make you old." There are two ways to make jiaozi on the table: North and South. In northern China, rice is soaked in water, drained, fried in oil, and seasoned with spiced powder, pepper and soy sauce. Steam the rice, then wrap it in bamboo leaves to make it taste bad again. Some people should also fry rice in oil until it is half cooked, wrap it with real stuffing, and then steam it. The southern practice is to soak in pure white glutinous rice, add meat stuffing, wrap it in green bamboo leaves and cook it until it is cooked thoroughly. Due to the different production methods, jiaozi in the north and south has different flavors. Zongzi in the north has a strong flavor of spiced pepper, while meat zongzi in the south has a touch of bamboo leaves and spring, each with its own characteristics. Ingredients include pork, mushrooms, dried shrimps, peanuts, salted egg yolk, red onion, chestnuts, dried oysters and so on. , add with personal preference.

Hakka people in Miaoli area also eat eggplant, long beans and peaches and plums during the Dragon Boat Festival. But the meaning of these foods is different from that of southerners. Eating plums symbolizes the reproduction of future generations. Some people think it can prevent heatstroke. Eating long beans can avoid being bitten by snakes (because long beans are shaped like snakes). Eating eggplant can prevent mosquito bites (eggplant is called "hanging vegetables" in Hakka dialect, but it is called "biting people", and the local sound is "ㄉㄠ", which is homophonic).

Hakka dumplings are also divided into alkaline dumplings and salty dumplings. Alkali zongzi is especially used for sacrifice. Hakka people should prepare four kinds of sacrifices for the Dragon Boat Festival, one for the earth god, one for the Wanshan master and one for the nearby temple. And alkaline zongzi is an essential sacrifice. Salted zongzi can be divided into zongzi and glutinous rice zongzi, which are purely used to satisfy appetite.

Dragon boat festival decorations

In the old society, Ren Jian was an ornament for women in Jiangsu and Zhejiang during the Dragon Boat Festival. Generally made of gold and silver thread or copper wire and gold foil, it looks like a villain riding a tiger, and there are bells, bells, tassels, garlic, zongzi and so on. Inserted in a woman's bun, it is also used for breastfeeding. "Jia Qinglu" says: "(May 5) people in the city use gold and silver silk as numerous tassels, chime bells and ride tigers, which are extremely thin, decorated with small hairpin, strung into strings, or use copper wire and gold foil for women to insert their temples. They also sacrificed to each other, called Ren Jian. " When healthy people say they agree with Ai people, they just exchange diaosi for Ai people. Wu Manyun's Preface to Jiangxiang Festival said: "Hang the custom, the healthy person loves the people, and the silk is easy to use to make it like a tiger, and women wear it." It seems that this will have the effect of exorcising evil spirits and controlling epidemics; When it comes to walking in ancient times, it is purely the ornament of women (note Cai Yun's Five Immortals).

Douniang, the headdress of women in the old Dragon Boat Festival. More common in Jiangnan. Some areas are also called healthy people. This thing originated from ancient walking and is a different form of Ai people. Jia Qinglu quoted the legacy of Tang and Song Dynasties as saying: "It is ingenious to win the first prize in five days in the north and south of the river. All the mugwort leaves are pressed and sold, or embroidered with fairy, Buddha, harmony, martial arts, insects, fish, beasts, sweet flowers and other shapes. Crepe spider, Mei Fong forest, cocoon tiger velvet tuo, lawn lizard, mantis cicada scorpion, gourd melon, vivid colors. Covered with a treasure, there are countless hydrangeas and hundreds of shapes of bells, or strung together. The name is Douniang, invincible. "

Ai Hu, the exorcist of the old Dragon Boat Festival, was also used as an ornament. In ancient China, the tiger was regarded as a god beast, and it was thought that it could suppress evil spirits and keep peace. "Custom Pass" says: "A tiger is a penis, and a beast is also long. Can eat ghosts, ... is also evil. " Therefore, people often use tigers to ward off evil spirits, especially during the Dragon Boat Festival in Ai Hu. Ai Hu either cut it with mugwort leaves or cut it into a tiger's ribbon, glued it with mugwort leaves and put it on her hair. For more than 1000 years, the Dragon Boat Festival has been decorated with Ai Hu customs. Song Chen Yuan-gui quoted the title of Song Ben Guang Ji as a miscellaneous note: "In the Dragon Boat Festival, Ai is regarded as a tiger, even as big as a black bean, or cut the ribbon to be a tiger, and the leaves of Ai are attached to wear it. Wang's "Dragon Boat Festival Post" poem: "Hairpin Phoenix, know how to drive away evil spirits and drive the seven treasures of Xiangyun. "In addition, Fu Cha Dunchong's Records of Yanjing Years Old in the Qing Dynasty said:" Every evening, those who are clever in the boudoir use silk as a tiger and make zongzi ... with colored lines.