What can you hang at your door to ward off evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival? Which two grasses?

What can you hang at your door to ward off evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival? Which two grasses?
On the fifth day of May every year, every family makes and eats rice dumplings and steams moxa cakes. In some places, people also race dragon boats to celebrate China's traditional festivals. During the Dragon Boat Festival, both city dwellers and rural residents will buy two bunches of mugwort and cattail and place them in front of their doors or windows. These two kinds of grass seem to have nothing to do with the festival, but why have they become a standard for rural people during the Dragon Boat Festival and are indispensable? The earthly branch of the fifth month in the lunar calendar is Wu, which is Yang Fire, so it is also called the Wu month. Shuimoxiansheng.com has prepared some articles related to the fifth month of the lunar calendar in 2020 for you, come and have a look.

What can you hang at your door to ward off evil spirits during the Dragon Boat Festival? Which two grasses?

Rural people believe that the mugwort picked on the Dragon Boat Festival is the best and has the strongest medicinal properties. In ancient times, people collected mugwort and calamus and hung them in front of their doors to treat diseases; they also hung them above their doors to ward off poisonous gases.
In rural areas, people traditionally use mugwort and calamus to ward off disasters, prevent poisons, and drive away evil spirits to bring good fortune.
As the saying goes: "In May, all grasses are medicines, and before the Dragon Boat Festival, they are all grasses, but when the Dragon Boat Festival comes, they are all medicines."
In the lunar calendar, the fifth month is a poisonous month, the fifth day is a poisonous day, and noon on the fifth day is a poisonous time.
The Dragon Boat Festival is the beginning of the entire hot season, the five poisonous animals begin to become active, and many things are tabooed.
As summer approaches, the weather gradually becomes hot and humid, and all kinds of diseases are prone to occur. The Dragon Boat Festival is a good day to drive away plagues and eliminate pests.
Because mugwort has a special aroma, it can repel mosquitoes.
On the Dragon Boat Festival, planting mugwort can sweep away all the bad luck and diseases in the home, and the family can be harmonious and healthy.
In some places, there is a custom of picking flowers and plants to "wash away all diseases" on the Dragon Boat Festival. This can remove dirt from the body, relax the muscles and promote blood circulation, which is beneficial to good health.
During the Dragon Boat Festival, people start to pay special attention to eliminating disasters and poisons, and repelling insects and pests. Therefore, it is popular among the people to “plant willows during Qingming Festival and plant mugwort during Dragon Boat Festival”. It can not only repel mosquitoes and purify the air, but can also be used as medicine in the future.

What other customs are there during the Dragon Boat Festival?

○ Expel the five poisons <br /> As the saying goes: "During the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather is hot, the five poisons wake up, and there is restlessness." It is also written in "Xia Xiaozheng": "On this day, store medicine to eliminate poisonous gas."
Ancient people believed that the "five poisonous creatures" would appear during the Dragon Boat Festival. There have been different opinions about the five poisonous creatures throughout history, but the common saying is: snake, scorpion, centipede, spider, and toad.
Since the Zhou Dynasty, the Dragon Boat Festival has been considered an unclean and unlucky day.
Therefore, the ancients had the custom of driving away the five poisons during the Dragon Boat Festival, which was also intended to remind people to prevent diseases and avoid harm.
○ Eat Zongzi <br /> Zongzi, also known as "Jiaoshu", can be said to be the most important food during the Dragon Boat Festival.
In the past, on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival, every household would soak glutinous rice, wash bamboo leaves and make rice dumplings. In addition to eating them themselves, they would also give them to each other as gifts among relatives and friends.
According to legend, during the Jianwu period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a Changsha resident dreamt of Qu Yuan, the official of Sanlu, at night. Qu Yuan said to him, "The things you offered as sacrifices were stolen by the dragon in the river. In the future, you can wrap them with mugwort leaves and tie them up with five-colored silk threads. Dragons are most afraid of these two things."
Therefore, people began to wrap millet in cattail leaves to make "jiaoshu", which was passed down from generation to generation.
○Dragon Boat Racing <br /> The ancients used boats as a tool to drive away evil spirits. Since they were used to drive away evil spirits, the faster the better. Thus, the custom of dragon boat racing was derived.
In ancient times, the dragon boats used in dragon boat races were very sophisticated: the hull was narrow and long, with decorations such as a dragon head, dragon tail, and scales, and the boats were decorated with colorful decorations and flags and umbrellas.
During the race, there are loud gongs and drums, blasting firecrackers, and thousands of people cheering, creating a spectacular scene.
○ Wearing scent sachets <br /> In ancient times, people would wear carefully crafted scent sachets during the Dragon Boat Festival.
The exquisite and delicate fragrance powder purses and incense bags contain aromatic medicines such as angelica dahurica and cloves, whose fragrance has the effect of repelling mosquitoes and warding off evil.
Some clever mothers also made various small toys such as small peppers, cucumbers, fat dolls, small gauze lanterns and small rice dumplings with colorful cloth and hung them on their children, which was also said to be to drive away the plague.
○ Wrapped with colorful silk thread
“On May 5th, those who tie colorful silk on their arms can ward off war and evil spirits and prevent plague.” The ancients worshipped the five colors and regarded them as auspicious.
In some areas, people wrap colorful silk threads around their wrists or hang them on their bodies during the Dragon Boat Festival. Legend has it that they can prolong one's life and people pray for a long and happy life.
○ The title of the painting "Yanjing Sui Shi Ji" says: "Every Dragon Boat Festival, starting from the first day of the lunar month, take realgar and mix it with wine and sprinkle it on the collar, nose and ears of children to avoid poison."
During the Dragon Boat Festival, it is a custom in many places to apply realgar on children's foreheads to repel poisonous insects.
The typical method is to use realgar wine to draw the word "王" on the child's forehead, using realgar to drive away poison and tiger to suppress evil.
○Fighting Grass
"On the Dragon Boat Festival, people build huts and store medicine, play with hundreds of herbs, and wrap five kinds of silk." Playing with herbs, also known as playing with hundreds of herbs, is also a popular game on the Dragon Boat Festival.
The Jingchu Sui Shi Ji also states: "May 5th is called the Orchid Bathing Festival. People in Jingchu trample on all kinds of grasses. There is also a game of fighting with all kinds of grasses."
On the Dragon Boat Festival, the ancients would hold a competition with the remaining mugwort after preparing the mugwort to hang on the door.
After the Tang Dynasty, the herb-fighting game gradually became a game for women and children.

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