The Dragon Boat Festival has become an important node for disease prevention and control because the Dragon Boat Festival is the beginning of summer (noon month). The ancients described it as an "evil month and evil day" and "all five poisons", so there are various wishes. The custom of peace and relief from disasters. The weather in summer is hot and dry, making it easy for people to get sick and epidemics. In addition, snakes and insects multiply and can easily bite people, so be very careful.
On this day, there is usually one eating, two tying, and three picking. One is to eat "five yellows", which are foods with the word "yellow" in their names, which means "picking up" when "green and yellow are not connected"; there is also the custom of drinking realgar wine. As the old saying goes, "drinking realgar wine, all diseases will go away."
The second is to tie gourds, brooms, and pictures of the five poisons. The third is to pick mugwort and stick the whole mugwort on the door. There are also folk customs such as wearing colorful ropes, hanging small peppers, wearing tiger shoes, and writing the word "王" on the children's heads. Plague means praying for health and good fortune. From this perspective, the Dragon Boat Festival can be described as an important node in the prevention of diseases and epidemics in ancient times, similar to today's "Public Health Day".
Extended information
The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival:
The Dragon Boat Festival was originally a festival created by the ancestors of Wu and Yue in the south to worship the dragon ancestors and pray for blessings and ward off evil spirits. Because it is said that Qu Yuan, a poet of the Chu State during the Warring States Period, committed suicide by jumping into the Miluo River on May 5th, later people also regarded the Dragon Boat Festival as a festival to commemorate Qu Yuan; there are also sayings to commemorate Wu Zixu, Cao E and Jie Zitui.
In general, the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the ancient ancestors choosing an auspicious day with "flying dragons in the sky" to worship the dragon ancestors and pray for blessings and ward off evil spirits. "Evil Moon Day" started in the northern Central Plains, with commemorative content commemorating Qu Yuan and other historical figures.
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