Dragon Boat Festival is a very popular folk festival in China. This is a traditional custom of the Chinese nation since ancient times. Due to the vast territory and numerous stories and legends, not only many different festival names have been produced, but also different customs have been observed in different places. The Dragon Boat Festival in midsummer is a festival to ascend to heaven, and the Dragon Boat Festival in the form of dragon boat race is an important theme of the Dragon Boat Festival, which is still popular in the southern coastal areas of China. In addition, a series of Dragon Boat Festival customs are derived from numbers of yin and yang and seasons. According to the number of yin and yang, noon is yang, and heavy noon is the most yang; The five elements belong to fire, when it is in midsummer, the weather is right and the people are harmonious, and everything grows with great potential; Heavy noon is an auspicious day for a clean and healthy world. The ancients regarded three o'clock in the afternoon and three o'clock in the afternoon as the most important time to eliminate evil spirits. The ancients also regarded the Dragon Boat Festival as an auspicious year, which coincided with the summer solstice, and called it "Dragon Boat Festival", which is said to be "once in a blue moon". Summer is a season of struggle between yin and yang. Yang goes up and Yin is forced down. In the afternoon, pure yang is healthy, which is what yin is afraid of. Summer is also the season to drive away the plague. In midsummer, the Dragon Boat Festival is full of yang, and everything is thriving at this time. It is the strongest day of Chinese herbal medicine in a year. Herbs collected during the Dragon Boat Festival are the most effective in eliminating diseases and preventing diseases. Due to the gathering of pure yang and healthy qi in the world at noon, the magical characteristics of herbs on this day, many Dragon Boat Festival customs handed down from ancient times are based on the theme of eliminating yin and evil, eliminating diseases and epidemic prevention, such as hanging wormwood, drinking water at noon, soaking in dragon boat water, tying five-color silk thread to ward off evil spirits, washing herbal water, and smoking Atractylodes rhizome to eliminate diseases and epidemic prevention.
Customized activities
The Dragon Boat Festival is a mixture of various folk customs, such as avoiding evil spirits and epidemic prevention, so some people think that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the ancient people's festival of "avoiding evil spirits and epidemic prevention". China culture has a long history and is profound, and the formation of ancient festivals contains profound and rich cultural connotations. Ancient festivals attach importance to gods, ancestral beliefs and sacrificial activities, and spiritual beliefs are the core of ancient traditional festivals. It is not a folk festival passed down from generation to generation to avoid evil and prevent epidemic. Dragon Boat Festival originated from the ancient saying of "avoiding evil and preventing epidemic", which is a misunderstanding of the cultural connotation of ancient festivals by later generations. With regard to the greetings of the Dragon Boat Festival, most folklore experts believe that only after the Dragon Boat Festival can legends and historical figures be attached to the festival and given other meanings, but these meanings are only part of the Dragon Boat Festival. "Dragon Boat Festival is good for health" only began to spread in recent years. Many ancient poems describe the festive atmosphere of the Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon Boat Festival has been a festive day to eat zongzi and roast dragon boats since ancient times. In the ancient Dragon Boat Festival, the lively dragon boat show and the joyful food feast were all manifestations of celebrating the festival. Happy Dragon Boat Festival is a tradition.
In traditional festivals, there are many and miscellaneous folk customs, or only the Dragon Boat Festival can be compared with the Spring Festival. They all have etiquette themes such as praying for blessings and eliminating disasters, and they are entrusted with people's good wishes to welcome auspicious, exorcise evil spirits and eliminate disasters. The Dragon Boat Festival has integrated a variety of folk customs in its historical development and evolution. There are many customs of the Dragon Boat Festival, and the contents or details of the customs are different due to different regions. The custom activities of the Dragon Boat Festival are carried out in the form of praying for blessings, eliminating evil spirits and disturbing disasters. The content is rich and colorful, vivid and festive, with strong regional characteristics. Every year around the Dragon Boat Festival, many special festivals are held all over the country, such as boating, hanging wormwood and calamus, making zongzi, worshipping elephants with nine lions, and Youlong. , both traditional and innovative, rich and colorful. Performing traditional folk activities during the Dragon Boat Festival can not only enrich people's spiritual and cultural life, but also inherit and carry forward traditional culture. Dragon Boat Festival culture has a wide influence in the world. Countries influenced by the Dragon Boat Festival culture include South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, the United States, Germany and Britain.
Various traditional folk activities:
Balongzhou
Dragon boat rowing is an important activity of the Dragon Boat Festival. It was popular in Wuyue Chu in ancient times, and now it is also very popular in the southern coastal areas of China. After it was spread abroad, it was deeply loved by people all over the world and formed an international competition. According to the first excavation report of Hemudu site, as early as 7000 years ago, ancient ancestors had carved wooden boats out of single wood and rowed them with wooden paddles. The word "dragon boat" was first seen in Volume V of Mu Zhuan: "The son of heaven rides a bird boat and the dragon boat floats in the swamp." I said in "The First Nine Songs to Xiang Jun": "Drive the flying dragon north today, drive my way to Dongting", "The stone wrasse is shallow, and the flying dragon is graceful". Scholars believe that the "dragon" in the article is the dragon boat.
Boating dragon boat has a long history, and it is a multi-person collective rowing competition. The dragon boat race is divided into several parts, such as inviting dragons, offering sacrifices to dragon gods, Youlong and collecting dragons. Before the dragon boat race, a grand sacrifice ceremony is usually held. One is to invite dragons to worship the gods. For example, Guangdong Dragon Boat Festival, before the Dragon Boat Festival, you should choose an auspicious day to come out of the water, sacrifice to the gods, put on the dragon's tail, and then prepare for the race. Fujian and Taiwan went to Mazu Tempel to worship. In the past, when people sacrificed to the dragon god, the atmosphere was very serious, praying for blessing, good weather, evil spirits and disasters, and everything went well. In Zigui, Hubei Province, Qu Yuan's hometown, there is also a dragon boat festival to worship Qu Yuan.
Hanging wormwood and calamus
On the Dragon Boat Festival, all kinds of flowers and plants that can drive away evil spirits and diseases have long been arranged. People regard wormwood and calamus as one of the important contents of the Dragon Boat Festival. Such as wormwood hanging on the door, Jingchu Chronicle: "Collecting wormwood is like hanging a door with poison gas." This is because mugwort is an important medicinal plant, and it can also be used for treating diseases, moxibustion at acupoints and expelling insects. Folium Artemisiae Argyi contains the most oil in May (it is in the vigorous period of warm growth at this time), so the effect is the best, and people are scrambling to pick folium Artemisiae Argyi. Several mugwort plants are often hung at home. Because of its special fragrance, people use it to ward off evil spirits, prevent mosquitoes and ward off evil spirits.
"Ai", also known as Folium Artemisiae Argyi and Artemisia argyi, contains volatile aromatic oil in its stems and leaves, and its unique fragrance can repel mosquitoes, flies, insects and ants and purify the air. The leaves of Acorus calamus also contain volatile aromatic oil, which is a medicine for refreshing the brain, inducing resuscitation, strengthening bones, dispersing stagnation, killing insects and sterilizing. The legend that wormwood can exorcise evil spirits has been circulating for a long time, mainly because it has the function of medicine. For example, Zonggu's Chronicle of Jingchu said: "When the chickens are not crowing, those who pick wormwood look like people, take it and get it. Moxibustion is very effective. It is the day when Ai Cai became a man and hung on the door, which can poison gas. "
Eat zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival.
Eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional custom of the Chinese nation since ancient times. Zongzi, a kind of glutinous rice, is a tribute used by people to worship the gods at festivals. It is an ancient traditional custom to worship God in festivals. There are many kinds of glutinous rice, and different kinds of glutinous rice will be made in different festivals. Zongzi is a tribute to God during the Dragon Boat Festival. The main materials of Zongzi are rice, fillings, bamboo leaves (or Hiragi leaves) and so on, and there are many kinds. Because of the different eating habits in different places, zongzi has formed a north-south flavor; In terms of taste, zongzi can be divided into salty zongzi and sweet zongzi. The custom of eating zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival has been popular in China for thousands of years, and it has become one of the most influential and extensive folk food customs of the Chinese nation, and spread to North Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries.
The written records related to Zongzi in history probably appeared in Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Han Dynasty, which was interpreted as "Zongzi leaves contain rice". In the Records of Scenery written by Zhou people in the Western Jin Dynasty, the word "Jiaoshu" was explicitly mentioned: "Midsummer is the fifth day, and Fang Bo is extremely harmonious. Enjoy the turtle scales in Shunde. " Zongzi was originally used to worship ancestors and gods, and the exact date of origin is unknown. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, millet soaked in plant ash water. Because the water contains "alkali", millet is wrapped in leaves and boiled into a quadrangle, which is called Guangdong alkaline water zongzi. In the Jin Dynasty, Zongzi was officially designated as the festival food of the Dragon Boat Festival. Miscellaneous zongzi appeared in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the rice was mixed with animal meat, chestnuts, red dates and red beans. , the variety has increased. Zongzi is also used as a gift for communication. In the Tang Dynasty, the rice used for zongzi was "white as jade", and its shape appeared conical and rhombic. There was a kind of "candied zongzi" in the Song Dynasty, that is, fruit was put into zongzi. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, zongzi became auspicious food; According to legend, all the scholars who took part in the imperial examination at that time, in order to win a favor, had to eat "pen zongzi" specially wrapped for them at home, which looked like a writing brush and homophonic "must play".
fly a kite
In southern China, children flying kites during the Dragon Boat Festival is called "flying disaster". A kite is an aircraft that sticks paper or silk to a bamboo frame and pulls a long line on it. It can be put into the sky under the action of wind, and it belongs to an aircraft that only uses aerodynamic force.
Herbal water (Mulan decoction)
Herbal water, that is, Mulan soup recorded in ancient books, washing herbal water at noon can cure skin diseases and eliminate evil spirits. Dragon Boat Festival is the day with the most Chinese herbal medicines in a year, and medicines are everywhere at noon. During the Dragon Boat Festival, many places in China have the custom of collecting herbs, boiling herbs and soaking in water, and the medicinal properties of the Dragon Boat Festival herbs play a vital role in it. Volume 22 of Miscellaneous Medicine Collection quotes the lost article of Miscellaneous Medicine Collection at the Age of Jingchu: "On May 5, competing for miscellaneous medicine can cure all diseases." The existing written records about the custom of washing medicine and water were first found in the book Da Dai Li at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, but the orchids mentioned in this paper are not orchids, but flying grasses or compositae herbs, which have fragrance and can be decocted and bathed in water. This custom still exists today and is widely popular. In Guangdong, children use wormwood wheat medicine or wormwood, cattail, impatiens, magnolia and other flowers to boil and wash, while teenagers and adult men take a bath on the river and beach, which is called dragon boat washing water to wash away bad luck and bring good luck. In Hunan, Guangxi and other places, cypress leaves, anemone roots, wormwood, calamus, peach leaves, etc. are boiled into liquid medicine for bathing, regardless of gender, age and family.
Tie five-color silk thread
In the traditional culture of China, the five colors "blue, red, white, black and yellow" symbolizing the five elements are regarded as auspicious colors. Multicolored silk thread or the legacy of ancient southerners' tattoos "Hanshu": "The Vietnamese are often in the water, so you can't see any harm by cutting off your hair and tattooing your body like a dragon." It was once a popular holiday custom to tie one's arm with colored silk thread during the Dragon Boat Festival. Passed on to future generations, it developed into many beautiful decorations, such as longevity wisps, longevity locks, sachets and so on. Its production is becoming more and more exquisite, and it has become a unique folk art of the Dragon Boat Festival.
On the Dragon Boat Festival, children should tie colorful silk threads on their wrists and ankles to ward off evil spirits. Traditionally, thick red, green, yellow, white and black silk threads are twisted into colorful ropes and tied around children's arms or necks. From May 5th, it was not until the birthday of Qi Ma Year on Tanabata that they were untied and burned together with Jin Jun ... There is also a saying that on the first rainy day after the Dragon Boat Festival, cutting colorful threads and throwing them in the rain means that the river will wash away plagues and diseases, which means that it can ward off evil spirits and bring good luck for a year.
Drink water at noon
The water at noon is the water pumped from the well at noon on Sunday. Drinking water at noon on Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional custom prevailing in the southern coastal areas. Drinking water at noon means drawing water from the well between 1 1 and 13 on the Dragon Boat Festival. At noon, the sun rises above the sun, so "midday water" is called "extremely sunny water", "Long Mu water" and "zhengyang water". The ancients regarded afternoon water as good luck water. On this day, the sunshine is the most abundant at noon, and the effect of exorcism is the best at noon, which has the effect of exorcising evil spirits, purifying the body and removing obstacles. It is said that the water used to make tea and wine at noon is particularly mellow, and drinking raw water even has a miraculous effect on treating diseases. There is a proverb: "Washing your eyes at noon is as bright as a stork", and it is said that "it is better to take a sip of water at noon to make up for three years".
Zhuyangxiang
In Lun Heng, written by Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the etiquette and custom of "casting the year of Yang" during the Dragon Boat Festival were recorded: "The year of Yang takes fire from the sky, and at noon in May, five stones are melted and cast into vessels, which makes them glow with excitement. When they rise to the sun, fire will come, which is also the way to get real fire. " The ancients thought that there were three fires at noon, when the sun was shining. At this time, it is the best time to melt gold and cast mirrors, and the cast bronze mirrors have incredible power. The custom of using mirrors to ward off evil spirits is widely used and passed down in the southern coastal areas. It is common for children who are born soon to wear silver mirrors and other accessories. This kind of small silver mirror is used by children to ward off evil spirits. Newly built temples and Taoist temples are often decorated with bronze mirrors in the middle of the roof. Even above the doors and windows of new buildings in modern residential areas, you can often find hanging mirrors, which are used to ward off evil spirits. This shows that the cultural belief that mirrors ward off evil spirits is deeply rooted in people's hearts.
Soak in dragon boat water
Guangdong people call the rain around the Dragon Boat Festival dragon boat water, dragon water and dragon precipitation. And think that this kind of water is auspicious and has the function of ward off evil spirits. On the midsummer Dragon Boat Festival, the black dragon star soars due south. In folk beliefs, the dragon is an auspicious thing and the master of wind and rain. Dragons fly in the sky and clouds and rain. Naturally, around the Dragon Boat Festival every year, the warm and humid air flow in southern China is active, and when it meets the cold air from north to south in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan and other places, there will often be continuous and large-scale heavy precipitation. When the heavy precipitation comes during the Dragon Boat Festival, the water level of the river rises rapidly, providing a good venue for dragon boat fishing. Soaking dragon boat water is a popular traditional custom in southern China. Because dragon boat water means good luck, people think that dragon boat water and the water that dragon boat glides through are "great luck water". According to tradition, soaking in dragon boat water means good luck and all the best.
Pei Douniang
In the old days, women's headdresses with five knots were common in Jiangnan. Some areas are also called healthy people. This thing originated from ancient walking and is a different form of Ai people. Jia Qinglu quoted the legacy of Tang and Song Dynasties as saying: "It is ingenious to win the first prize in five days in the north and south of the river. ... covered with a treasure, embroidered with countless tassels, bells, bells, or strung together, called damselfly, can't beat it. "
Draw the forehead
The custom of daubing children's foreheads with realgar during the Dragon Boat Festival. Clouds can drive away poisonous insects. The typical method is to draw the word "Wang" on the child's forehead with realgar. One is to use realgar to drive away the poison, and the other is to use the tiger's forehead (the "king" is like a tiger, and the tiger is the king of all animals, because it is replaced by a tiger) to suppress evil. In addition to the forehead, nose and ears, other places can also be painted, with the same intention. Shanxi Hequ county records: "Drinking realgar wine during the Dragon Boat Festival and applying children's forehead, hands and feet ... can prolong the illness."
Hide from the Dragon Boat Festival
Hiding from the Dragon Boat Festival, referred to as "hiding in the afternoon" or "hiding at the end of five days", is a local folk custom, which spread in northern China in the old days. In ancient northern customs, May and May 5th are evil months and days, so many things need to be avoided, because there is a custom of taking women home to escape during the Dragon Boat Festival. "Jiajing Longqing Zhi" also records a cloud: "Marry a woman and call her home for the holidays". Luan Zhou Zhi: "A woman bride welcomes the moon back, which is called" hiding from the Dragon Boat Festival ".
Avoid five poisons
Dragon Boat Festival is a poisonous day and an evil day in the eyes of ancient northerners, but it has been handed down from the people, so there are various customs of seeking peace and avoiding the five poisons. In fact, this is because the summer weather in the north is hot and dry, people are easy to get sick and the plague is easy to spread; In addition, snakes and insects are easy to breed and bite people, which forms this habit. People think that May is the time when the five poisons (scorpion, snake, centipede, gecko and toad) appear, and various methods should be used to prevent the harm of the five poisons. Generally, a map of five poisons is posted in the house, five poisons are printed on red paper, and then five needles are stuck on the five poisons, that is, the poisons are stabbed to death, and they can no longer be rampant. Folk people also embroider five poisons on clothes and decorate five poisons on cakes, all of which mean expulsion.
Collecting herbs and making herbal tea
Collecting herbs is one of the oldest customs in the Dragon Boat Festival. According to folklore, the Dragon Boat Festival is full of yang, which is the most vigorous day of herbal medicine in a year. The Dragon Boat Festival is full of herbs. Herb picking is because the stems and leaves of herbs are mature and have good medicinal properties around the Dragon Boat Festival, and this custom was formed on this day. It has a long history to collect herbs and put all kinds of flowers and plants to exorcise evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival. This custom had a wide influence in the Han Dynasty, and then it gradually affected East Asian countries. "Xia Zhengxiao" contains: "Store medicine this day to remove toxic gas." Volume 22 of Miscellaneous Medicine Collection quotes the lost article of Miscellaneous Medicine Collection at the Age of Jingchu: "On May 5, competing for miscellaneous medicine can cure all diseases." There is a record of catching toads in May in Qi Yaomin's Annotation on Dispelling Miscellaneous Matters at the end of Wei Dynasty, which is also used in pharmacy. People in China still generally believe that the medicine taken during the Dragon Boat Festival is the most effective. The principle supporting this folk belief is naturally based on a cosmological explanation: on the Dragon Boat Festival or at noon on this day, due to the change of seasons, the sun is shining, but at the same time, all kinds of herbs grow most luxuriantly, so the herbs collected on this day are the most effective.