The Gragon Boat Festival

The Gragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival in East Asian cultures. It is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. It was originally a summer festival to send away the five gods of plague and ward off the plague. Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period, committed suicide by drowning himself in a river on this day. Later, it became the Dragon Boat Festival in China to commemorate Qu Yuan. Some people call it Poets' Day (in some places, it commemorates the death of Wu Zixu) and is one of the four festivals of the Chinese people. Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Ryukyu Islands, the Korean Peninsula, Vietnam and other important traditional festivals that belong to the East Asian cultural circle.

Main item: Zongzi

Zongzi is the traditional food for the Dragon Boat Festival in Greater China, Kansai to Hokriku in Japan, and Vietnam. On the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival, every family will soak glutinous rice, wash the leaves and make zongzi. In addition to eating at home, relatives and friends also give gifts to each other. The custom of eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival dates back to the Eastern Han Dynasty, when people were accustomed to eating zongzi on May 5 and during the summer solstice to relieve the summer heat with its unique fragrance. In the region of Jingchu, glutinous rice or zongzi cakes were boiled and thrown into the river as a sacrifice to Qu Yuan. After the gradual use of bamboo leaves wrapped rice instead of bamboo tube. Now, regardless of the shape or content of zongzi, there are a variety of changes.

Main item: dragon boat race

In Greater China, Japan and Ryukyu, Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated. Dragon boat rowing is more common because the Warring States period patriotic poet Qu Yuan was not allowed to be elected to the river, the people race to find his body rowing. In fact, the Dragon Boat Festival in East Asia is not limited to the Dragon Boat Festival, the custom of dragon boat racing has already existed before Qu Yuan, such as the custom of Gusu to meet the tide of the god Wu Zixu dragon boat. The ancients will ship as a tool to send off evil, since send evil, the faster the better, so it will grow out of the Dragon Boat Festival racing custom. Ancient dragon boat racing has been very exquisite: narrow and long, there are dragon head, tail and scales and other decorations, the knot on the boat, a flag umbrella. When the race gongs and drums are noisy, firecrackers roar together, ten thousand people cheer, the scene is very spectacular. It can be seen that the dragon boat race is actually a kind of behavior to drive away disease and evil spirits, and its original religious meaning is stronger than mourning patriots for their loyalty.

In some areas, colorful silk threads are wrapped around the wrists or hung on the body during the Dragon Boat Festival, which is said to renew one's life and pray for a long and happy life.