the introduction of the Dragon Boat Festival
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is a traditional folk festival in China and one of the ancient traditional festivals of the Chinese nation. The Dragon Boat Festival is also called Dragon Boat Festival and Duanyang. In addition, there are many nicknames for the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: Noon Festival, Chongwu Festival, May Festival, Magnolia Festival, Daughter's Day, Tianzhong Festival, Dila Festival, Poet's Day and Dragon Boat Festival. Although the names are different, on the whole, the customs of people everywhere are more similar than different.
Celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival has been a traditional habit of China people for more than two thousand years. Due to the vast territory, numerous nationalities and numerous stories and legends, not only many different festival names are produced, but also different customs exist in different places. Its contents mainly include: daughter going back to her mother's house, hanging Zhong Kui statue, welcoming the ghost boat, hiding in the afternoon, sticking leaves in the afternoon, hanging calamus and wormwood, traveling in all diseases, wearing sachets, preparing sacrificial bowls, dragon boat races, competitions, hitting the ball, swinging, drawing children with realgar, drinking realgar wine, drinking calamus wine, eating poisonous cakes, salted eggs, zongzi and seasonal fresh fruits. Some activities, such as dragon boat racing, have made new progress, breaking through the boundaries of time and region and becoming international sports events.
There are many opinions about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: in memory of Qu Yuan; In memory of Wu Zixu's theory; In memory of Cao E; From the three generations of summer solstice festival; The theory of exorcising evil days on the moon, the theory of national totem sacrifice in wuyue and so on. Each of the above has its own source. According to more than 100 ancient books and archaeological studies by experts listed in Wen Yiduo's Dragon Boat Festival Examination and Dragon Boat Festival History Education, the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival is a totem festival held by Wuyue people in the ancient south of China, earlier than Qu Yuan. But for thousands of years, Qu Yuan's patriotic spirit and touching poems have been deeply rooted in people's hearts. What about people? Remember and mourn it, tell it in the world and pass it on? Therefore, the theory of commemorating Qu Yuan has the widest and deepest influence and occupies the mainstream position. In the field of folk culture, China people associate dragon boat racing and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival with commemorating Qu Yuan.
Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is still a very popular grand festival among the people of China.
Dragon boat festival custom
Dragon boat race:
Dragon boat race is the main custom of Dragon Boat Festival. According to legend, people who originated in the ancient State of Chu were reluctant to part with the death of the sage Qu Yuan, and many people rowed boats to save people. They rushed to catch up with each other and disappeared at Dongting Lake. After that, I will row a dragon boat on May 5th 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.
Actually? Dragon boat race? As early as the Warring States Period. Carving dragon-shaped canoes in drums and playing race games are semi-religious and semi-entertaining programs to entertain gods and people in the ceremony.
Later, people everywhere not only commemorated Qu Yuan, but also gave different meanings to dragon boat racing.
Dragon boat rowing in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is of great significance to commemorate Qiu Jin, a native-born modern female democratic revolutionary. The night dragon boat is decorated with lights and shuttles, and the scene is moving and interesting. The Miao nationality in Guizhou is held from May 25th to 28th of the lunar calendar? Dragon Boat Festival? Celebrate the success of transplanting rice seedlings and wish a bumper harvest. Yunnan Dai compatriots competed in dragon boat races at the Water-splashing Festival to commemorate the ancient hero Yan Hongwo. Different nationalities and regions have different legends about dragon boat rowing. To this day, dragon boat races with different characteristics are held every year in many areas near rivers and lakes in the south.
In the 29th year of Qing Qianlong (1736), Taiwan Province Province began to hold dragon boat races. At that time, Jiang, the chief executive of Taiwan Province Province, held a friendly match in Fukeji Half Moon Pool in Tainan City. Now, Taiwan Province Province holds a dragon boat race on May 5th every year. In Hong Kong, races are also held.
In addition, dragon boat racing was first introduced to neighboring countries such as Japan, Vietnam and Britain. 1980, the dragon boat race was included in the national sports competition in China and held every year? Qu Yuan Cup? Dragon boat race. 1991June 16 (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month), the first international dragon boat festival was held in Yueyang, China, Qu Yuan's second hometown. Hold the ceremony before the game, keep the traditional ceremony and inject new modern factors. Dragon head sacrifice? . ? Leading? Was carried into the Quzi Temple, and the athletes were handed over to the leaders? Shang Hong? After (tying the red ribbon), the priest read the eulogy and took it as the leader? Turn on the light? (that is, it will be sunny). Then, all the people who took part in the Dragon Boat Festival bowed three times, carried the dragon head to the Guluo River and hurried to the dragon boat race. More than 600,000 people participated in competitions, expositions and evening activities, which is unprecedented. Since then, Hunan has regularly held the International Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon boat races will be widely spread all over the world.
Eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival.
Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of China people. Zongzi, also called? Horn millet? 、? Jiaozi? . It has a long history and various patterns.
According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, millet was wrapped into a trumpet shape by the leaves of zinia latifolia, which was called? Horn millet? ; Put rice in a bamboo tube, seal and bake, and weigh? Jiaozi? . At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, millet soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contains alkali, the millet is wrapped in leaves into a quadrilateral, and when cooked, it becomes Guangdong sour rice dumplings.
In Jin Dynasty, Zongzi was officially designated as Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, in addition to glutinous rice, jiaozi also added Alpinia oxyphylla, a traditional Chinese medicine. The boiled jiaozi is called. Intelligent jiaozi? . At that time, the "Yueyang Local Records" at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty recorded: The habit is to wrap the millet in leaves, cook it and cook it thoroughly. From May 5th to summer solstice, it is jiaozi and Xiaomi. ? During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, miscellaneous zongzi appeared. Rice is mixed with animal meat, chestnuts, red dates, red beans and so on. And there are more and more varieties. Zongzi is also used as a gift for communication.
In the Tang dynasty, the rice used for zongzi was already? White jade? Its shape is conical and rhombic. Is it recorded in Japanese literature? Datang zongzi? . In the song dynasty, there were? Candied jiaozi? Put the fruit in the jiaozi. The poet Su Dongpo has? See Yangmei in Zongzi? This poem. At this time, there were also advertisements for building pavilions and wooden chariots and horses with zongzi, indicating that eating zongzi was very fashionable in the Song Dynasty. In the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the wrapping material of zongzi changed from leaves to leaves. Later, zongzi wrapped in reed leaves appeared, and additional materials such as bean paste, pork, pine nuts, dates and walnuts appeared, and the varieties were more colorful.
To this day, at the beginning of May every year, people in China have to soak glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves and wrap zongzi, with more varieties of colors. From the perspective of stuffing, there are many dates in the north, such as jiaozi; There are many kinds of fillings in the south, such as red bean paste, fresh meat, ham and egg yolk, among which Zhejiang Jiaxing Zongzi is the representative. The custom of eating zongzi has been popular in China for thousands of years and spread to South Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
Pei Xiang Bao:
Children wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is said to mean to ward off evil spirits and plague. Actually, it is used to decorate the inner head. 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, all kinds of exquisite and lovely.
Acorus calamus:
The folk proverb says:? Qingming inserted willow, Dragon Boat Festival inserted ai? . On the Dragon Boat Festival, people regard inserting wormwood and calamus as one of the important contents. Every family sweeps the court, puts calamus and moxa sticks between their eyebrows and hangs them in the class. Acorus calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, Liu Hua, Garlic and Dragon Boat Flower are made into human or tiger shapes, which are called Ai Ren and Ai Hu. It is made into garlands and decorations, beautiful and fragrant, and women compete to wear it to ward off evil spirits.
Artemisia argyi, also known as Artemisia argyi and Artemisia argyi. Its stems and leaves contain volatile aromatic oils. Its unique fragrance can repel mosquitoes, flies, insects and ants and purify the air. Chinese medicine uses wormwood as medicine, which has the functions of nourishing qi and blood, warming uterus and dispelling cold and dampness. Processing mugwort leaves into? Ai Rong? It is an important medicinal material for moxibustion treatment.
Acorus calamus is a perennial aquatic herb, and its long and narrow leaves also contain volatile aromatic oil, which is a good medicine for refreshing, strengthening bones, eliminating stagnation, killing insects and sterilizing.
It can be seen that the ancients inserted wormwood leaves and calamus to have a certain disease prevention effect. Dragon Boat Festival was also handed down from ancient times? Health festival? On this day, people sweep the courtyard, hang branches of Artemisia argyi, hang calamus and sprinkle realgar wine, which can shake the turbidity, remove rot, sterilize and prevent diseases. These activities also reflect the fine traditions of the Chinese nation. Collecting herbs during the Dragon Boat Festival is a common custom of all countries and nationalities in China.
Dragon Boat Festival
Commemorating Qu Yuan
According to historical records? Biographies of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng? According to records, Qu Yuan was a minister of Chu Huaiwang in the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated the use of talents, empowerment, and prosperity, and advocated joint resistance to Qin, which was strongly opposed by others. Qu Yuan was forced to leave his post, was driven out of the capital and exiled to the Yuan and Xiang river basins. During his exile, he wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen and Tian Wen, which have a unique style and far-reaching influence (therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival is also called the Poet's Day). In 278 BC, Qin Jun conquered Kyoto of Chu. Seeing that his motherland was invaded, Qu Yuan was heartbroken, but he was always reluctant to give up his motherland. On May 5th, after writing his masterpiece Huai Sha, he died in Miluo River and wrote a magnificent patriotic movement with his own life.
Legend has it that after Qu Yuan's death, the people of Chu were so sad that they flocked to the Miluo River to pay homage to Qu Yuan. The fisherman paddled the boat and fished for his real body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out rice balls, eggs and other food for Qu Yuan. Plop, plop? Throw it into the river, saying that ichthyosaurs, shrimps and crabs are full and will not bite the doctor's body. People followed suit after seeing it. An old doctor took an altar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying that he would stun the dragon water beast with medicine so as not to hurt Dr. Qu. Later, people were afraid that rice balls would be eaten by dragons, so they came up with the idea of wrapping rice with neem leaves and then wrapping it with colored silk to make it develop into brown seeds.
After that, on the fifth day of May every year, there is the custom of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. In memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.
Commemorating Wu Zixu.
The second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival, which spread in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, commemorates Wu Zixu in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). Wu Zixu, a famous Chu national, and his father and brother were all killed by the King of Chu. Later, Zixu abandoned the dark and went to Wu to help Wu to attack Chu, and entered the capital city of Chu in the Five Wars. At that time, King Chu Ping was already dead. Zixu dug a grave and whipped 300 bodies to avenge his father's murder. After the death of He Lu, the king of Wu, his son Fu Cha succeeded to the throne. Wu Jun's morale was high and he was defeated by Yue. Gou Jian, the King of Yue, made peace, and Fu Cha agreed. Zi Xu suggested the complete elimination of Yue, but Fu Cha didn't listen. Wu was massacred and bought by the state of Yue. He was framed by slanderers. Fu Cha believed him and gave him a sword. Zi Xu died. Zi Xu is a loyal man, who is as dead as death. Before he died, he said to his neighbor: After my death, I dug out my eyes and hung them in the east gate of Jason Wu to watch the Vietnamese army enter the city to destroy Wu. Later, Fu Cha committed suicide and died. Fu Cha was furious when he heard this. On May 5th, he put Wu Zixu's body in a suitcase and threw it into the river. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also a day to commemorate Wu Zixu.
In memory of the dutiful daughter Cao E.
The third legend of Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the filial daughter Cao E who saved her drowning father in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 23-220). Cao E was a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father drowned in the river and didn't see her body for several days. At that time, Cao E, the filial daughter, was only fourteen years old, crying day and night by the river. 17 days later, he also threw himself into the river on May 5, and fished out his father's body five days later. This was passed down as a myth, and then to the governor of the county government, who made it a monument for disciple Han Danchun to make a eulogy.
The tomb of the filial daughter is in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today, and there is a monument made by Jin. Later, in order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, Cao E Temple was built where Cao E threw himself into the river. The village where she lived was renamed Cao E Town, and the place where Cao E died was named Cao E River.
Totem sacrifice originated from the ancient Yue nationality.
A large number of cultural relics unearthed in modern times and archaeological studies have confirmed that in the Neolithic age, there was a cultural relic with geometric prints and pottery ruins in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. According to experts' inference, the remaining clan is Baiyue clan, a clan that worships dragon totem in history. The decorative patterns and historical legends on unearthed pottery show that they have the custom of tattooing constantly, live in a water town and compare themselves to the descendants of dragons. Among its production tools, there are a large number of stone tools, as well as small bronzes such as shovels and chisels. As daily necessities, the printed pottery ding used for cooking food is unique to them and is one of the symbols of their ethnic group. Until the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were still more than 100 Vietnamese people, and the Dragon Boat Festival was a festival for their ancestors. During thousands of years of historical development, most Baiyue people have integrated into the Han nationality, and the rest have evolved into many ethnic minorities in the south. Therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival has become a festival for the whole Chinese nation.
People who saw the introduction of the Dragon Boat Festival still did.
1. Brief Introduction to the Origin of Dragon Boat Festival
2. Dragon Boat Festival handwritten newspaper materials
3. Introduction to the custom of Zhejiang Dragon Boat Festival
4. The contents of the Dragon Boat Festival handwritten newspaper
5. Introduce Dragon Boat Festival in English
6. Introduce the custom of Dragon Boat Festival: 4 primary school compositions.
7. Introduction to the origin of the custom of wearing colored ropes during the Dragon Boat Festival.