Why do we hang gourds on the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of May? What does it mean to eliminate evil during the Dragon Boat Festival?
China has a splendid history of about 5,000 years, and various cultural customs have gradually formed during this long history. So why do we hang gourds on the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of May? During the Dragon Boat Festival, people race boats and eat rice dumplings. This traditional festival celebrated throughout the world not only carries the expectations of the ancients, but also carries people’s hopes for the future. Let’s take a look at the relevant content of the Dragon Boat Festival in 2018!Why do we hang gourds on the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of May?Hanging colored paper gourds at home during the Dragon Boat Festival is a popular custom among the people, the origin of which is unknown. There is a folk legend that the gods were going to bring disaster to a village and planned to drop poison from the sky on the fifth day of May. There was a kind-hearted young man in the village. The gods did not want him to be implicated, so they taught him how to avoid the disaster in advance. That was to make some paper gourds and hang them on the doors, windows and eaves before sunrise that day, so that he could avoid the disaster. The kind-hearted young man told the news to the whole village, ignoring the warning from the gods that if he leaked it, he would be turned into a stone man. As a result, every household hung up paper gourds.On the fifth day of May, all the poison scattered by the gods was absorbed by these paper gourds, and no one in the village was harmed. However, the young man who leaked the "secret" turned into a stone statue on the same day. In order to commemorate him, people started the custom of hanging paper gourds during the Dragon Boat Festival. Paper gourds are made by folding colored paper and come in various shapes such as square, round, diamond, and four-cornered with wings. The gourd is decorated with paper tassels underneath, which is very delicate and beautiful. During the Dragon Boat Festival, gourds are floating everywhere in front of every household, in the courtyard, under the eaves, and inside the house. They are colorful and bright, filling the air with a festive atmosphere. What does it mean to eliminate evil during the Dragon Boat Festival?The fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar is the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the "Duanyang Festival", "Midday Festival", "May Festival" and "Agum Festival". "Duanwu" and so on, although the names are different, the customs of celebrating the festival are the same everywhere. The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional custom that has been passed down in my country for more than 2,000 years. Up to now, the Dragon Boat Festival is still popular all over the country, which shows people's love for it.Because the Dragon Boat Festival is one of the most influential festivals in my country, there are innumerable customs related to the festival. This article only briefly introduces the customs for warding off evil spirits. In ancient times, people regarded the fifth day of the fifth lunar month as an "evil month" and an "evil day", so there were many customs to drive away evil spirits and avoid evil during the Dragon Boat Festival. In the Jianghuai region, every household hangs an image of Zhong Kui on the Dragon Boat Festival to ward off evil spirits. According to legend, it was on the fifth day of the fifth month during the Kaiyuan period. When Emperor Minghuang of Tang returned to the palace after giving a lecture at Mount Li, he suffered from malaria and dreamed of two ghosts, one big and one small. The small ghost wore bright red crotchless pants. They stole Yang Guifei's sachet and Emperor Minghuang's jade flute and ran around the palace. The big ghost was wearing a blue robe and a hat and was barefoot. He caught the little ghost, dug out its eyes, and swallowed it in one gulp. Emperor Tang Minghuang hurriedly asked what was going on. The big ghost said, "I, Zhong Kui, have failed the martial arts examination. I am willing to eliminate demons for your majesty." After Emperor Minghuang woke up, his malaria soon recovered. He then ordered Wu Daozi to paint a picture of Zhong Kui catching ghosts according to what he saw in the dream, and ordered the whole country to post it during the Dragon Boat Festival to drive away evil spirits. From then on, the tradition of pasting images of Zhong Kui on the Dragon Boat Festival has been passed down. The most common way to ward off evil spirits and plague during the Dragon Boat Festival is to hang mugwort in front of the hall. Sometimes, people also cut mugwort into the shape of a tiger, or cut paper into little tigers, and stick them with mugwort leaves. Women compete to wear them to ward off evil spirits and drive away miasma. In some areas, people use calamus to make swords and insert them into door lintels. In the Jiangnan region, during the Dragon Boat Festival, every family uses calamus, pomegranate flowers, garlic, and dragon boat flowers to make human figures, called "mugwort men", and place them in the house to ward off evil spirits. |
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