Customs and habits of Dragon Boat Festival

Customs of the Dragon Boat Festival: Hanging the statue of Zhong Kui: The statue of Zhong Kui is a custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. In the Jianghuai area, families hang the statue of Zhong Kui to keep houses and exorcise evil spirits.

When Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty returned to the palace from Lishan to teach martial arts, he suffered from malaria and dreamed of Eryi, one big and one small, with little ghosts wearing red crotchless trousers and barefoot, stealing the fragrance sachet of Imperial Concubine Yang and the jade flute of Emperor Ming. Run around the temple. The big ghost wears a blue robe and hat, and has bare feet. I caught the little ghost, dug out its eyes, and swallowed one. The Emperor Ming shouted and asked, and the big ghost reported that my name was Zhong Kui. I couldn't take the lead in martial arts. I was willing to eliminate demons for Your Majesty. After the Emperor woke up, the malaria was cured, so he ordered painter Wu Daozi. Draw an image of a bell and a ghost catching image based on what you saw in your dream, and order the world to post it during the Dragon Boat Festival to exorcise evil spirits.

Hanging mugwort leaves and calamus: hanging mugwort leaves in the hall, cutting mugwort into a tiger shape or cutting a ribbon into a tiger, and pasting mugwort leaves. Women compete to wear it to dispel evil spirits. Use calamus as a sword and stick it in the door and couch. It has the magical effect of driving away magic ghosts. On the Duanyang Festival, every family uses calamus, mugwort leaves, pomegranate flowers, garlic, and dragon boat flowers to make human shapes and call them Ai people. Eating calamus can lead to immortals and longevity. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted the art of becoming a ruler and ate calamus for two years.

Dragon boat racing: At that time, the people of Chu could not bear to part with the death of their virtuous minister Qu Yuan, so many people rowed to save him. This was the origin of the boat race. Later, dragon boats were rowed on May 5 every year to commemorate it. Use dragon boats to disperse the fish in the river to prevent the fish from eating Qu Yuan's body. The habit of racing was prevalent in Wu, Yue and Chu.

Taiwan began to have Youzhou racing in the 29th year of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. Jiang Yuanjun, then the prefect of Taiwan, hosted a friendly match at the Half Moon Pool of Fahua Temple in Tainan City. Taiwan now holds the Youzhou Race on May 5th every year. There is a race in Hong Kong. Recently, the British have also followed the example of our country and organized a Gweilao team to conduct competitions.

According to the "Dragon Boat Festival Examination" by Mr. Wen Yiduo, a famous patriotic scholar in modern times,"The Dragon Boat Festival was originally a festival where the Wu and Yue ethnic groups held totem sacrifices to their concubines, and dragon boat racing was the middle religion of the ritual. Semi-entertainment program."

Four to five thousand years ago, the people of water villages and tribes living in the primitive totem society were affected by snakes, insects, diseases and floods. In order to resist these natural disasters, they respected the imaginary powerful dragon as their ancestors and protectors (i.e., totems), and built boats in the shape of dragons and painted dragon patterns, and held annual Dragon Boat Festival races. This shows his respect for the dragon and also shows that he is a descendant of the dragon and a descendant of the dragon.

Eating rice dumplings: On May 5, people in Jingchu cooked glutinous rice or steamed rice dumplings and threw them into the river to worship Qu Yuan. In order to avoid being eaten by fish, they used bamboo tubes to contain glutinous rice and threw it down. Later, they gradually used rice dumplings to wrap rice instead of bamboo tubes.

Drinking realgar wine: realgar is a mineral and contains arsenic trisulfide and is mixed with wine. It is Chengxiong rice wine, which is used to dispel insects and relieve five poisons. It is applied to children's head and forehead. Ears and nose, hands and feet. He also sprinkled it on the wall and asked it to cure the poison. The folk story of "The Legend of the White Snake" is that realgar wine is used to relieve the poison of snakes and cows, and the original shape of the white snake is revealed. This kind of practice is very popular among people in the Yangtze River Basin area.

Youbaibing: This is the Dragon Boat Festival custom prevalent in Guizhou. Men, women and children go out in the wild and wear new clothes. At about 1 noon, people are crowded with people on the road on the mountains or under the trees, holding flowers and plants in their hands, making them very happy. When you go home at night, you will boil the flowers and plants and water to take a bath. The elderly call it "touring all diseases" and "washing all diseases". People who do not go out to visit all diseases and wash all diseases will not get good luck throughout the year.

Wearing fragrant sachets: Children wear fragrant sachets on Dragon Boat Festival not only to ward off evil and dispel plague, but also to embellish the head. Cinnabar is hidden in the sachet. Realgar. The fragrant medicine is wrapped with silk cloth, which exudes fragrance. It is then fastened with five-color silk strings to form ropes, made into various shapes, and formed into a string. It is diverse and exquisite.

Bring gourd: It is a traditional custom to bring gourd during the Dragon Boat Festival. Children and adults wear gourd, which not only has the intention of avoiding evil and dispelling plague, but also has the style of embellishing the head. Wearing a gourd that symbolizes "blessing" in traditional culture can turn hostility into peace and enhance the aura of blessing.