We celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival every year and eat zongzi, so do you know why we celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival? Let’s take questions together to learn about the Dragon Boat Festival.
The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival originated from the ancient people’s ignorance of natural phenomena, and they usually regarded it as the will of the heavens. It covers the ancient astrological culture, humanistic philosophy and other aspects, and contains the profound and rich cultural connotations of the ancients.
Some people also think that the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. According to legend, Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet in the Warring States Period, couldn’t bear to see his country being invaded and was angry in his heart, but he still couldn’t bear to abandon his country. After writing “Huaisha” on May 5, he threw himself into the Miluo River by bouldering himself. He used his own life to express his final love to the motherland, as well as his anger towards the Qin army and his dissatisfaction with the king of Chu.
After Qu Yuan threw himself into the river, the people heard the news and spontaneously rescued him. The people competed to row boats on the Miluo River, but they never found Qu Yuan’s body. Later, a dragon boat race was formed. In order to prevent fish and shrimp from eating Qu Yuan’s body, they stuck rice balls to their mouths, forming the custom of eating zongzi later.
Customs of the Dragon Boat Festival
Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanyang Festival, Chongwu Festival, Zhongtian Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and so on. It is a custom that the Chinese nation has had since ancient times. There are many customs of the Dragon Boat Festival. The more common ones include eating zongzi, racing dragon boats, hanging mugwort and calamus, painting foreheads, etc., as well as playing water at noon, dipping dragon boats in water, and tying five-color dragon boats. Silk threads to ward off evil spirits, release paper kites, watch dragon boats, wash herbal potions, smoke atractylodes to cure diseases and prevent epidemics, wear sachets and other less common customs.
The Dragon Boat Festival has been mixed with many folk customs in the historical development and evolution. The customs in all parts of the country are roughly the same, but there are many differences in details and content. The custom of eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival has been prevalent all over China, and it has become one of the most influential and widespread folk eating habits in China. For example, the controversy over the sweet and salty rice dumplings between the north and the south is a dispute over the differences in diet between the north and the south.