Eating rice dumplings is to commemorate Qu Yuan. The reason why we eat rice dumplings evolved from the legend of protecting Qu Yuan’s corpse. In 278 BC, the Qin army captured Kyoto, the state of Chu. Seeing his motherland being invaded, Qu Yuan was heartbroken, but he still could not bear to abandon his motherland. On May 5, after writing his last work "Huaisha", he bouldered into the Miluo River and died, risking his own life. Composed a magnificent patriotic movement.
It is said that after Qu Yuan died, the people of Chu State were extremely sad and flocked to the Miluo River to pay their respects to Qu Yuan. The fishermen rowed their boats and fished for his true body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out the rice balls, eggs and other food prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river "plop, plop", saying that when the fish, lobsters and crabs were full, they would not bite Dr. Qu's body. People followed suit after seeing it.
An old doctor took a jar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying it was to stun dragons and water animals so as not to harm Doctor Qu. Later, for fear that the rice balls would be eaten by dragons, people came up with the idea of ??wrapping the rice with neem leaves and wrapping it with colored silk, which developed into rice dumplings. Since then, on the fifth day of May every year, there has been the custom of dragon boat racing, eating rice dumplings, and drinking realgar wine to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.
The evolution of the Dragon Boat Festival.
The Dragon Boat Festival was created by ancient ancestors to worship the dragon ancestors, pray for blessings and ward off evil spirits. There are also commemorations of Wu Zixu, Cao E and Jie Zitui. The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival covers ancient astrology culture, humanistic philosophy and other aspects, and contains profound and rich cultural connotations. In the inheritance and development, it is a mixture of various folk customs. Different regions have different custom contents or details due to different regional cultures. difference.
The Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival, Qingming Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are also known as the four traditional festivals in China. The Dragon Boat Festival culture has a wide influence in the world, and some countries and regions in the world also have activities to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. In May 2006, the State Council included it in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists; since 2008, it has been listed as a national statutory holiday.
Reference for the above content? Chinese Government Website - Dragon Boat Festival