2. May is a poisonous month, the fifth is a poisonous day, and the noon on the fifth is a poisonous time, ranking at the end of the three poisons. Therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival is also called "the end of May".
the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival
In memory of Qu Yuan
According to Records of the Historian, 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.
It is said that after the death of Qu Yuan, 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 them with colored silk to develop them into brown seeds.
After that, on the fifth day of May every year, there was the custom of dragon boat race, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. In memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.
However, according to more than 1 ancient books and expert archaeological research 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, which was earlier than Qu Yuan.
The second legend commemorating the Dragon Boat Festival in Wu Zixu
is widely spread in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and it 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.
The third legend, which originated from the Dragon Boat Festival in memory of the filial daughter Cao E
, is to commemorate the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 23-22) when the filial daughter Cao E saved her father and threw herself into 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, is located in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. Later, Cao E tablet was written by Wang Yi of Jin Dynasty. 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.
Totem Sacrifice originated from the ancient Yue nationality
A large number of cultural relics unearthed in modern times and archaeological studies have confirmed that there was a cultural relic with Tao Wei characteristics in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the Neolithic Age. According to experts' inference, this remains a tribe that worships the totem of dragons-known as Baiyue 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.