Hanging Acorus calamus and Ficus Ficus branches with Folium Artemisiae Argyi: On the Dragon Boat Festival, every household makes Acorus calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, Liu Hua, garlic, dragon boat flowers and Ficus Ficus branches 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 couldn't bear the death of the sage Qu Yuan, so many people rowed to save people. 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, and it is wrapped in silk cloth, and the fragrance is overflowing: then it is tied into a rope with five-color silk threads, and made into strings of various shapes, which are exquisite and dazzling.
Customs of Dragon Boat Festival in various places
(Three Northeast Provinces)
Going for a walk in the suburbs, fields or parks early in the morning is called an outing. Fold some branches or buy some wormwood, tie up gourds of various colors and hang them on doors and windows. Paper gourds were originally made by people themselves, but now most of them are bought. Some people will also tie some small sticks and connect them with gourds to eliminate all diseases. The collected wormwood (wormwood) is washed in water. Children have "multicolored threads" on their wrists and hands, which are twisted together with thin lines of red, yellow, blue, green, black and white. Sachet bags are hung around the neck, and there are various colorful styles. Besides eating zongzi, you should also eat tea eggs.
[Hebei Province]
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 Province]
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, both men and women wear sachets (small bags made of mugwort leaves and hung around their necks), which is called "expelling diseases", while young children tie hundreds of ropes around their necks. It is said that this is "tying dragons for Qu Yuan". Many people hang wormwood in front of their doors to pray for the health of their families and ward off evil spirits and mosquitoes. During the Dragon Boat Festival in Xizhou, the village offered sacrifices to the Dragon King and hung 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.
[Shaanxi 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, and small lights are hung around the dragon boat at night.