Old Beijing: Evil May to avoid drugs and throw disasters

May 5th in the old calendar is the Dragon Boat Festival, which old Beijingers habitually call it May Festival. The Dragon Boat Festival is also called the Duanyang Festival."Duan" and "Chu" are synonymous, and the "fifth" and "noon" are connected. According to the earth branch, May is the "noon" month, so the fifth day of the first day is called the "Dragon Boat Festival". Because noon is "Yangchen", it is also called "Duanyang".

The Duanyang Festival began in the Spring and Autumn Period and originated in the south of the Yangtze River. There are many accounts of its origin. The most widely circulated among the people and the most influential is to commemorate the great patriotic poet Chu doctor Qu Yuan. In the Song Dynasty, in recognition of Qu Yuan's "dedicated loyalty", he was granted the title of "Loyalty Duke" and officially assigned the Dragon Boat Festival on May 5 to commemorate Qu Yuan. During the Anti-Japanese War, May 5th was also designated as the "Poet's Day."

During the Dragon Boat Festival,"dragon boat races" were emphasized in the south, while in Beijing during the Ming and Qing Dynasties,"traveling in the west to avoid disasters" were emphasized. On the morning of the fifth day of the lunar new day, groups enter the Temple of Heaven to "avoid drugs." The Temple of Heaven is a sacred place to pray for good years and win each victory. It not only relies on the divine power of heaven to avoid drugs, but also allows for fun; after noon, some go to Yuchi or Gaoliang Bridge, Manjing, Caoqiao, Jishuitan, etc."drink and travel in the west."

The food during the Dragon Boat Festival is rice dumplings, usually small dates rice dumplings, dipped in white sugar and eaten. Seasonal fresh products are cherries and mulberries. Pastry shops sell a peach-crispy round cake with patterns of snakes, centipedes, scorpions, spiders and toads carved in molds, called "Five Poison Cakes." People use these seasonal and seasonal cakes to make offerings or give gifts to each other.

People in Beijing say that "the first month is good, but the fifth month is bad." Because the climate in May is warm and prone to virus plagues, Tianshi Fu and Zhong Kui statue are used to house houses and drive away "evil spirits." Chai Sang, a Qing Dynasty man, wrote in "Yanjing Ji":"A few days before the Dragon Boat Festival), yellow paper was used to cover the rooms with red seals, or pictures of Tianshi and Zhong Kui, or the shapes of the five poisons were painted. People bought them and glued them to the door to chase out evil spirits. "Since the beginning of May, each family has also planted calamus and wormwood on both sides of the door. One is called 'Pujian' and the other is 'Aihu', also to ward off evil spirits and ward off plague. In order to ward off evil spirits, people bought and put them on during the Dragon Boat Festival in Beijing.

There is also a saying of "throwing disasters" during the Dragon Boat Festival. Before the festival, skillful women made colorful silk into the shapes of tigers, gourds, cherries, mulberries, melon beans, onions, and garlic, strung them with colorful thread, and tied them to the head of the child's hairpin or back and chest on the first day of May; The little girl also used hard paper strips to form a diamond-shaped "rice dumpling", wrapped them with colorful silk threads, and wore them on her body. They were commonly known as "gourd" and "life-extending thread." After noon on the fifth day of May, they were taken off, together with the paper-cut gourd attached to the lintel, and threw it outside the door. It was called "throwing disaster."

During the festival, people also drink rice wine and use realgar to draw the word "Wang" on children's heads. Some even use realgar to paint children's ears and nostrils, saying that they can prevent insects such as centipedes from getting into their ears and nostrils in summer.