What can I wear on Dragon Boat Festival? What does it mean to avoid the five poisons?

What can I wear on Dragon Boat Festival? What does it mean to avoid the five poisons?
During many festivals, parents will give children some ornaments, and the Dragon Boat Festival is no exception. So, what can you wear on Dragon Boat Festival? The fifth month of the lunar calendar is a beautiful time as described by the ancients: "The ground is covered with shade from the trees, the sun is at noon, and I wake up from my dream by the sound of a nightingale." For more information about the auspicious and inauspicious days in the fifth month of the lunar calendar in 2019, please visit Mr. Shuimo's website.

What can I wear on Dragon Boat Festival?

1. The meaning of wearing sachets and gourds : Children wear sachets and gourds to ward off evil spirits and plagues, and they can also be used as embellishments on their collars.
Sachets made from medicinal plants containing a variety of scents can also prevent disease.
Wearing a gourd which symbolizes "blessings and fortune" in traditional culture can turn hostility into peace and enhance the aura of good fortune. The meaning of carrying a gourd: The branch of the gourd, “蔓”, is homophonic with “万”, which means “ten thousand”. There are many gourd seeds in each mature gourd, so the Han people associate it with "prosperous and auspicious generations"; the gourd is homophonic with “护福” and “福福”, and the gourd itself has different shapes and beautiful shapes. It gives people a sense of joy and peace without artificial carving. The ancients believed that it can ward off disasters and evil spirits, pray for happiness, and make descendants prosperous. 2. Wearing colorful threads: Ancient Chinese people worshipped five colors and considered them auspicious. So children will tie colorful threads on the Dragon Boat Festival.
Meaning: Tying threads means wrapping colorful silk threads around the wrists, ankles and necks of young children in order to avoid harm from poisonous snakes, scorpions and other insects. It is said that children are forbidden to speak when the five-colored threads are being tied and the threads cannot be broken or discarded at will. They can only be thrown into the river during the first heavy rain in summer or the first bath, which means letting the river water wash away the plague and disease, so that the children can stay healthy.
On the morning of the festival, the first thing adults do after getting up is to tie five-colored threads on their children’s wrists, ankles, and necks.
3. Wearing a tiger-head hat. Every Dragon Boat Festival, the grandmother and uncle would prepare a tiger-head hat and tiger clothes for the newly born nephew, and the grandmother would send them to her daughter’s home before the Dragon Boat Festival. During the Dragon Boat Festival, every household puts tiger hats and tiger clothes on their children.
Meaning: People are weak in the face of natural forces and phenomena. They do not understand diseases and believe that they are caused by demons and monsters. In order to exorcise evil spirits, they use tiger hats and tiger clothes to resist the invisible evil. In traditional concepts, the tiger is regarded as an auspicious animal that can suppress and drive away evil spirits, so it is popular among the people to wear tiger-head hats and tiger clothes to avoid evil in May.
4. Wearing Aihu According to the "Fengtuzhi" of the Jin Dynasty, parents would wear Aihu for themselves or their children on the Dragon Boat Festival. The meaning of wearing Aihu: Women will pin "Aihu" on their hairline on the Dragon Boat Festival, while men and children will wear "Aihu" or "Pujian" on their chest or hang them around their waists. People believe that this can prevent the invasion of evil and poison and ensure good health.
5. Wearing the Five Poisonous Ghost Pouch On the Dragon Boat Festival, parents will make their children wear the Five Poisonous Ghost Pouch. The meaning of the Five Poisonous Insects Bellyband: The Five Poisonous Insects Bellyband refers to a bellyband embroidered with patterns of five poisonous insects, including snakes, scorpions, centipedes, geckos, and toads. Most of them are made of pure red cotton cloth and hand-embroidered with colorful embroidery threads, which means being immune to the five poisons and being healthy and safe. On the Dragon Boat Festival, children have to wear a "Five Poison Bag" with embroidered pictures of the five poisonous creatures on it, which means to fight poison with poison and ensure health.

What does it mean to avoid the five poisons?

The five poisons refer to centipedes, poisonous snakes, scorpions, geckos and toads.
In ancient times, in some places in northern my country, the folk customs believed that the five poisonous creatures began to be born at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival in the fifth month of the lunar calendar every year, so the custom of avoiding the five poisonous creatures was formed. Therefore, there is a folk song saying: "Dragon Boat Festival, the weather is hot, the "five poisons" wake up, and there is no peace."
During the Dragon Boat Festival, people usually put up pictures of the five poisonous creatures in the house to prevent harm from the five poisonous creatures. Five poisonous creatures are printed on red paper and then five needles are pricked on the five poisonous creatures. It is believed that the poisonous creatures are killed and can no longer run rampant. The five poisonous animals are also embroidered on clothes and decorated on cakes, both of which are meant to drive away the evil spirits. People in Beijing avoid drawing water from wells on the Dragon Boat Festival. Instead, they draw water from wells before the festival. It is said that this is to avoid well poison. This habit was formed because people in ancient times lacked knowledge about nature, and snakes and insects multiplied and easily bit people.

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