There are three explanations of the origin of the name of the Dragon Boat Festival
There are more than 2 names of the Dragon Boat Festival, among which the origin is mainly involved: Dragon Boat Festival, Dragon Day Festival, Di La Festival and Qu Yuan Day. Through the name, we can know that there are three main reasons for the Dragon Boat Festival. Here are three explanations of the origin of the name of the Dragon Boat Festival that I brought with me, hoping to help you.
Many people are very curious about why the Dragon Boat Festival is called the Dragon Boat Festival. Next, I will introduce three sayings about the origin of the name of the Dragon Boat Festival. Please refer to them.
Why is the Dragon Boat Festival called Dragon Boat Festival
Statement 1
May is a poisonous month, the fifth is a poisonous day, and the noon on the fifth is a poisonous time, which is at the end of the three poisons, so the Dragon Boat Festival is also called "the end of May".
Statement 2
The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu, is one of the biggest traditional festivals in China. The meaning of "Duan" is the same as that of "Chu", and calling "Duan Wu" is just like calling "the fifth day"; The word "five" in Duanwu is also connected with "noon". According to the order of earthly branches, May is the "noon" month. Because noon is "the sun", Duanwu is also called "Duanyang". On May 5th, both the month and the day are five, so weighing five is also weighing noon.
Statement III
The Dragon Boat Festival, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, is also called Duanyang Festival, Chongwu Festival, Chongwu Festival, Tianzhong Festival and Tianchang Festival. End means "beginning" and "beginning". The fifth day can be called Duanwu. In the lunar calendar, the earthly branch marks the moon, the yin is built in the first month, February is the base, and the afternoon is in turn from May, so May is called the afternoon month, and the fifth day of May is called the Dragon Boat Festival. Looking at the Dragon Boat Festival from historical records, the word "Dragon Boat Festival" was first seen in the local customs of Zhou in the Jin Dynasty: "Dragon Boat Festival in midsummer, cooking millet". In the Tang Dynasty, because Xuanzong was born on August 5th, Song Jing officially changed Duanwu to Dragon Boat Festival in order to please the emperor and avoid the taboo of the word "five".
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The Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month has been handed down by our ancestors for thousands of years, and it is the third traditional festival after the Spring Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. This major festival contains a very important commemorative significance, which is celebrated by the whole country, jubilant and of great significance. To this end, the state has specially stipulated that in recent years, like the Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, there will be a special holiday to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival!
According to the research of China folklorists, 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 driving away the evil moon and the evil day, the theory of national totem sacrifice in Wuyue and so on. Each of the above has its own source. According to more than 1 ancient books and archaeological research by experts listed in Wen Yiduo's Examination of the Dragon Boat Festival and Historical Education of the Dragon Boat Festival, the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival was a totem festival held by the southern wuyue people in ancient China, earlier than Qu Yuan. But for thousands of years, the Dragon Boat Festival was specially set up to commemorate Qu Yuan, a great ancient poet. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in China, Qu Yuan, who was famous at home and abroad for his famous poem "I will go up and down", was a great patriotic poet. Before his death, Qu Yuan's patriotic spirit and touching poems had been deeply rooted in people's hearts, so people "regretted it, commented on it in the world, and passed it on from generation to generation". Therefore, the theory of commemorating Qu Yuan had the widest and deepest influence and occupied the mainstream position. In the field of folk culture, China people associate the dragon boat race and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival with the commemoration of Qu Yuan.
Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient traditional festival, which started in China during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and has a history of more than 2, years. There are many legends about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. Here, based on a large number of literature and history materials, only the following four kinds are introduced for readers.
originated in memory of Qu Yuan. According to Records of the Historian "Biographies of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng", Qu Yuan was a minister of Chu Huaiwang in the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated the promotion of talents and empowerment, made Qiang Bing rich, and urged the joint efforts against Qin, which was strongly opposed by Zilan and others. Qu Yuan was forced to leave his post, was driven out of the capital, and was exiled to Yuan and Xiang basins. During his exile, he wrote immortal poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen and Jiu Ge, which are of unique style and far-reaching influence (hence, Dragon Boat Festival is also called Poet's Day). In 278 BC, Qin Jun conquered Kyoto, Chu. Qu Yuan's heart ached at the sight of his motherland being invaded, but he couldn't bear to give up his motherland all the time. On May 5th, after writing his masterpiece Huai Sha, he threw himself into the Miluo River and died, writing 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 their respects to Qu Yuan. Fishermen rowed boats and fished for his real body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out rice balls, eggs and other foods prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river "plop, plop", saying that the ichthyosaurs, shrimps and crabs were full and would 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 it was necessary to stun the dragon water beast with medicine so as not to hurt Dr. Qu. Later, for fear that rice balls would be eaten by dragons, people came up with the idea of wrapping rice with neem leaves and wrapping colored silk outside to develop zongzi. After that, on the fifth day of May every year, there was the custom of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. In memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Mr. Guo Moruo, a great writer in modern China, once wrote and adapted a large-scale historical drama and the film Qu Yuan, which artistically reproduced the glorious image of this great poet and revealed the great significance of commemorating Qu Yuan on the Dragon Boat Festival in May, with far-reaching influence!
originated in memory of Wu Zixu. The second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival, which is widely spread in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, commemorates Wu Zixu in the Spring and Autumn Period (77 BC-476 BC). Wu Zixu, a famous member of the State of Chu, and his father and brother were all killed by the King of Chu. Later, Zixu abandoned the dark and went to the State of Wu to help Wu cut Chu, and entered the city of Ying, the capital of Chu, in the Five Wars. At that time, King Chu Ping was dead, and Zixu dug a grave and whipped 3 corpses to avenge the killing of his father and brother. After the death of Prince Helu of Wu, his son Fu Cha succeeded to the throne. Wu Jun's morale was high, and he was defeated by the state of Yue. The king of Yue Gou Jian asked for peace, and Fu Cha promised it. Zi Xu suggested that the state of Yue should be completely destroyed, but Fu Cha refused to listen. Wu was slaughtered by the state of Yue, and was bribed by the state of Yue. He was framed by slanderers, and Fu Cha believed him, giving him a sword, and Zi Xu died. Zi Xu, a loyal man, regarded death as death. Before he died, he said to his neighbors, "After I die, I will gouge out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Wujing to watch the Vietnamese army enter the city and destroy Wu." He then committed suicide. Fu Cha was furious when he heard this, so he took Zi Xu's body in leather and put it into the river on May 5. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also the day to commemorate Wu Zixu.
originated in memory of the filial daughter Cao E. The third legend of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 23-22) when Cao E, a filial daughter, rescued her father from drowning in the river. 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 and was crying along the river day and night. Seventeen days later, he also threw himself into the river on May 5, and took out his father's body five days later. This was passed down as a myth, and then passed on to the governor of the county government, who made it a monument and let his disciple Han Danchun make a eulogy. The tomb of Cao E, a dutiful daughter, was in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today, and later Cao E tablet was written by Jin Wangyi. Later, in order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, Cao E Temple was built in the place 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.
It originated from the totem festival of 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 kind of cultural relic with geometric prints and Tao Wei characteristics in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. According to experts' inference, the family of this relic is a `tribe' who worships the dragon totem-Baiyue nationality in history. The decorative patterns on the unearthed pottery and historical legends show that they have the custom of continuously tattoo, live in a water town, and compare themselves to the descendants of dragons. Its production tools, a large number of stone tools, but also shovel, chisel and other small pieces of bronze. As daily necessities, the printed pottery tripod 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 1 Yue people, and the Dragon Boat Festival was a festival they founded to worship their ancestors. In thousands of years of historical development, most Baiyue people have been 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.
No matter what the origin and legend are, the Dragon Boat Festival, as a tradition of more than 2, years, has been deeply rooted and preserved. Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is still a very popular grand festival in the minds of China people. On the basis of retaining the traditional customs, it absorbs the essence, eliminates the dross, keeps pace with the times, and also gives new content and spirit to the times. Let China's long-standing traditional culture and excellent folk customs continue to be carried forward, and let foreign advanced cultures such as Father's Day, Mother's Day and Valentine's Day be introduced, so as to blend with China's national culture. We will unswervingly follow the correct policy of "making the past serve the present, making foreign things serve China, letting a hundred flowers blossom and bringing forth the new", and everyone will practice socialism. ;