What is the meaning of the Dragon Boat Festival? Why do we have dragon boat racing during the Dragon Boat Festival?
Introduction: The Dragon Boat Festival is one of the important traditional festivals in our country. The Dragon Boat Festival has the typical custom of eating rice dumplings and dragon boat racing. Regarding the Dragon Boat Festival customs, do you know the meaning behind these customs? What is the meaning of the Dragon Boat Festival? Why do we have dragon boat racing during the Dragon Boat Festival? Let’s follow the editor to find out. The Dragon Boat Festival has been one of the most important traditional festivals throughout the ages, with a series of folk customs such as dragon boat racing and eating rice dumplings. Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is one of the world's cultural intangible heritage that my country has applied for.Analysis 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.Why do we have dragon boat racing during the Dragon Boat Festival?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. The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar every year, and is also known as the Duanyang Festival, the Mid-day Festival, and the May Festival. In Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou and Sichuan, the Dragon Boat Festival is divided into Big Dragon Boat Festival and Small Dragon Boat Festival. The Small Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year, and the Big Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the fifth lunar month every year. The Dragon Boat Festival is a very important traditional festival in our country, with various customs in different places. Among the many customs, the most important one is the dragon boat racing custom.The custom of dragon boat racing and eating rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival has been associated with Qu Yuan for a long time. Volume 137 of Shuchao quoted a lost text from Baopuzi by Ge Hong of Jin Dynasty, saying: "On the day when Qu Yuan jumped into the Miluo River, people ordered boats to welcome him. To this day, it is considered a rowing competition, and sometimes the navy takes part... The generals, officials and common people of the state all come to watch." Volume 145 of Huanyuji, "Huanzhou Customs", quoted "Huanyang Customs Records" as saying: "Qu Yuan jumped into the Miluo River on May 5th, and his wife always offered him food as a sacrifice. Qu Yuan told his wife in a dream that all the food he offered was taken away by a dragon. Dragons are afraid of five-colored silk and bamboo, so his wife made rice dumplings out of bamboo and wrapped them with five-colored silk. Today, the custom on that day is to raise five-colored silk and eat rice dumplings, which means to avoid the danger of dragons. Qu Yuan sank on the fifth day and came out on the tenth day. The people of Chu rushed to the river with their oars... In an effort to save him from drowning, the noise shook the rivers and land. As the custom changed, there was a rowing competition." The custom has been passed down to this day and has become a popular entertainment activity among the people. Every year on the first day of April, the "Dragon Boat Coming Out of the Niche" ceremony is held. Because after the annual boat race, these dragon boats are always placed in the ancestral halls of each ethnic group. Now it is time to take the dragon boats down, repair them and paint them, and then put them into the water to start practicing. So during this month, the sound of drums could be heard everywhere. A dragon boat, as the name suggests, is a boat shaped like a dragon. The bow of the ship looks like a raised dragon head, and the sides and hull are painted in different colors. Dragon boats come in different sizes and have different numbers of oars. Some have six pairs, some have twelve pairs, some have seventeen pairs, and some have fifty-two pairs. If participating in the same competition, the dragon boats must be the same size. If it is a new ship, a ceremony to worship the dragon head must also be held. In the past, Chaozhou people would hold an opening ceremony for dragon boat racing: they would row their dragon boats to the Mazu Temple to worship the "Dragon Tail God". The dragon head faces the temple gate, moving forward and backward to pay homage three times, which is called "three visits to the lantern", praying to the gods for a successful victory. During the competition, each dragon boat is like a long-distance runner, nervously waiting to start at the starting point. When the starting gun sounded, the drummer on the dragon boat started to beat the drum, and the athletes swung their arms and paddled. The dragon boat flew across the water like an arrow. The onlookers cheered for their team members, and some even jumped into the water to splash water on their team members to cheer them up. Summary: Through the above article, we know the significance of the Dragon Boat Festival and the meaning of dragon boat racing. I hope it can be helpful to everyone. I wish you all a happy Dragon Boat Festival holiday! |
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