Due to China's vast territory and numerous ethnic groups, and the influence of many stories and legends, the customs of celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival vary from place to place. Some local folk customs in the south believe that the five poisons begin to live at noon in May every summer, so there is a custom of avoiding the five poisons. There is no such thing as "the first of the five poisons" in the original five poisons, but what has been added by later generations.
The "five poisons" in ancient folklore of the Central Plains are five kinds of animals, which should be centipedes, poisonous snakes, scorpions, geckos and toads. After Grain Rain, the temperature rose, and pests and diseases entered a high breeding period.
In order to reduce the harm of pests to crops and people, farmers put up grain rain stickers and prayed to drive away evil spirits. This custom is very popular in Shandong, Shanxi and Shaanxi. Laotianjinwei once had a custom of Dragon Boat Festival, that is, eating the cake with poison quickly, carving it out in a mold, and then steaming it. The molds have different shapes and are engraved with five "poisonous" patterns.
In some places, people cut the five poisons into images (that is, paper-cut) with colored paper, or stick them on doors, windows, walls, kang, or tie them on children's arms to avoid poison. Thinking that May is the time when the five poisons appear, the folk song says: "Dragon Boat Festival, the weather is hot, the five poisons wake up, and there is no peace." During the Dragon Boat Festival, in order to prevent the harm of the five poisons, a map of the five poisons is usually posted in the house, printed with red paper, and then five needles are stuck on the five poisons, that is, the poison is stabbed to death, and it can no longer be rampant.
The clothes are embroidered with five poisons, and the cakes are decorated with five poisons, all for driving away. 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. In ancient times, people lacked knowledge of nature, and snakes and insects were apt to bite people, which formed this habit.