What is the significance of Dragon Boat Festival? What are the customs and taboos of the Dragon Boat Festival?
Introduction: China is a typical traditional country with rich folk culture and customs. The Dragon Boat Festival originated in our country, so naturally it has many customs and taboos. So what is the significance of the Dragon Boat Festival? What are the customs and taboos of the Dragon Boat Festival? Let’s follow the editor to find out. The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional cultural festival popular in China and other countries in the Chinese cultural circle. As the Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year, Mr. Shui Mo gave a detailed overview of the cultural content of the Dragon Boat Festival.What is the significance of the Dragon Boat Festival?The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar every year. According to the "Jingchu Sui Shi Ji", because people climb high places in midsummer when the sun is in the sky, and May is midsummer, its first noon is the day for climbing high places in the sky, so the fifth day of May is also called the "Dragon Boat Festival." In addition, the Dragon Boat Festival is also called "Midday Festival, May Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Bathing Orchid Festival, Poets Festival", etc. The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional cultural festival popular in China and other countries in the Chinese cultural circle. The Dragon Boat Festival originated in China. It was originally a totem sacrifice festival held by tribes who worshipped the dragon totem in the ancient Baiyue region (the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the area to the south). Before the Spring and Autumn Period in the Baiyue region, there was a custom of holding tribal totem sacrifices in the form of dragon boat races on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Later, because the poet Qu Yuan from the Chu State (now Hubei) during the Warring States Period committed suicide by jumping into the Miluo River with a stone in his arms on that day, the rulers used the Dragon Boat Festival as a festival to commemorate Qu Yuan in order to establish a label of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism; some areas also use the term "Dragon Boat Festival" to commemorate Wu Zixu and Cao E. The Dragon Boat Festival is known as one of the four major traditional festivals of the Chinese folk, along with the Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Mid-Autumn Festival. Since ancient times, the Dragon Boat Festival has included festival activities such as dragon boat racing and eating rice dumplings. Since 2008, the Dragon Boat Festival has been listed as a national statutory holiday. In May 2006, the State Council included it in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list; in September 2009, UNESCO formally reviewed and approved the inclusion of China's Dragon Boat Festival in the World Intangible Cultural Heritage, making it the first Chinese festival to be selected as a world intangible cultural heritage.What are the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival?Dragon Boat Festival Customs 1. Dragon Boat Racing Dragon boat racing is the main custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. According to legend, it originated from the ancient Chu people who were reluctant to see the virtuous minister Qu Yuan commit suicide by jumping into the river, so many people rowed boats to chase him and save him. They rushed after him, but when they reached Dongting Lake, he disappeared. Since then, dragon boat races have been held every year on May 5th to commemorate this event. Dragon boat racing is used to drive away the fish in the river to prevent them from eating Qu Yuan's body. The custom of racing boats was popular in Wu, Yue and Chu. In fact, "Dragon Boat Racing" has existed as early as the Warring States Period. Rowing canoes carved into the shape of dragons to the sound of rapid drums and racing to entertain the gods and the people is a semi-religious, semi-entertaining program in the ritual.Dragon Boat Festival Customs 2. Eating Zongzi (Rice Rice Dumplings) on Dragon Boat Festival Eating Zongzi (Rice Rice Dumplings) on Dragon Boat Festival is another traditional custom of the Chinese people. At the beginning of May every year, every Chinese family soaks glutinous rice, washes bamboo leaves, and makes rice dumplings, which have a variety of colors and patterns. In terms of fillings, Beijing date dumplings are mostly filled with small dates in the north; while in the south, there are a variety of fillings such as red bean paste, fresh meat, ham, egg yolks, etc., among which Jiaxing dumplings in Zhejiang are the most representative. The custom of eating rice dumplings has been popular in China for thousands of years and has spread to Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. Dragon Boat Festival Customs 3: Folding and hanging purses and tying five-colored silk threads. In ancient China, people revered the five colors and regarded them as auspicious colors. Therefore, 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. Children are forbidden to speak when the string is being tied. The five-colored thread cannot be broken or discarded at will and can only be thrown into the river during the first heavy rain in summer or the first bath. It is said that children wearing five-colored threads can avoid being harmed by poisonous snakes, scorpions and other insects; throwing them into the river means letting the river water wash away the plague and disease, so that the children can stay healthy. Dragon Boat Festival custom 4: Wearing sachets. Children wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival. Legend has it that they are meant to ward off evil spirits and plague, but in reality they are used as decoration on the lapels. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, and is wrapped in silk cloth. It is fragrant and is then tied into a rope with five-colored silk threads and made into various shapes and tied into a string. It is colorful and lovely. Dragon Boat Festival custom 5. Hanging mugwort and calamus. Folk proverb says: "Plant willows on Qingming Festival and plant mugwort on Dragon Boat Festival." During the Dragon Boat Festival, people consider planting mugwort and calamus as one of the important activities. Every family swept the yard, inserted calamus and moxa sticks on the door lintels and hung them in the hall. They also use calamus, mugwort, pomegranate flowers, garlic, and dragon boat flowers to make human or tiger shapes, called mugwort men and mugwort tigers; they are made into wreaths and pendants that are beautiful and fragrant, and women compete to wear them to drive away miasma. Taboos of Dragon Boat Festival1. Avoid eating rice dumplings from your mother’s home. A married girl should not go back to her husband’s home before the Dragon Boat Festival, which means she cannot spend the Dragon Boat Festival at her mother’s home, otherwise, she will have bad luck. There is a saying that goes, "If you eat the Dragon Boat Festival rice dumplings from your mother's home, your whole family will die."2. Avoid swimming. In some places, swimming is not allowed on this day, especially in places where people have drowned. This is because people believe that on the Dragon Boat Festival, the "drowned ghosts" are the most vicious and need to find a substitute to "return to life." Therefore, there is a custom of throwing zongzi into the river to let the fish share and avoid making zongzi. 3. Avoid losing the sachets worn by children. In the north, it is a custom for children to wear sachets. The sachets worn by children must not be lost. Legend has it that if a child loses the sachet he is wearing, there will be a major disaster within a year. After the Dragon Boat Festival, children are required to throw the sachets they are wearing into the water to avoid fire. 4. Avoid evil days: Since May is an “evil month” and Double Fifth is an unlucky day, there is a custom of “hiding from noon” on this day, that is, babies under one year old should be sent to their grandmother’s house to hide to escape disasters. Summary: Through the above article, we know the significance of the Dragon Boat Festival as well as the customs and taboos of the Dragon Boat Festival. I hope it can be helpful to everyone. I wish you all a happy Dragon Boat Festival! |
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