Dragon Boat Festival

The term "Dragon Boat Festival" first appeared in the Western Jin Dynasty's "Records of Local Customs": "The Dragon Boat Festival in midsummer means the fifth day of May, which is the same as the Summer Solstice." Duan, which means "beginning" and "beginning" in ancient Chinese, is also called "Duanwu" or "Early Five". Shuowen Jiezi: "Duan is the title of the beginning of things", which means that Duan is the beginning. Therefore, the fifth day of May is called "Duan Wujie". The Suishi Guangji said: "The dusty people in Beijing take the first day of May as the first day, the second day of May as the second day, and the fifth day as the fifth day." The ancients used to call the first few days of May "Duan" respectively. Therefore, the first noon day of the May (afternoon) month is called the Dragon Boat Festival.
The Dragon Boat Festival is a mixture of many folk customs, such as avoiding evil spirits and epidemic prevention. Therefore, later generations believe that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the ancient people's festival for "avoiding evil spirits and epidemic prevention". The Chinese culture has a long history and is broad and profound. The ancient festivals are an important carrier of traditional culture. The formation of the ancient festivals contains profound and rich cultural connotation. The ancient festivals attach great importance to the belief and sacrifice of ancestors. The belief in ancestors is the core of the ancient traditional festivals. It is not a folk festival that can be passed down from evil to epidemic on a specific day; The Dragon Boat Festival originated from the ancient saying of "avoiding evil spirits and preventing epidemics", which is a misunderstanding of the cultural connotation of the ancient festival by later generations. Worship to ancestors not only covers all the ancient Chinese traditional festivals, but also is the eternal theme of Chinese folk festivals. As for the blessing words of the Dragon Boat Festival, most folklorists believe that it was after the Dragon Boat Festival that the commemoration of legendary historical figures was attached to the festival, giving it other meanings, but these meanings are only part of the Dragon Boat Festival. Many ancient people's poems describe the festive atmosphere of the Dragon Boat Festival. The Dragon Boat Festival has been a happy day for eating rice dumplings and picking up dragon boats since ancient times. The lively dragon boat performances and happy food banquets during the ancient Dragon Boat Festival are the embodiment of celebrating the festival. Happy Dragon Boat Festival is the tradition. The Dragon Boat Festival is a good day. According to the Chronicle of Jingchu, the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival is a good day for climbing high in midsummer.
Among the traditional festivals, there are many and complicated folk customs, or only the Dragon Boat Festival energy conservation and the Spring Festival can be compared. Both festivals have ritual and custom themes such as praying for blessings and eliminating disasters, which express people's desire to welcome the good fortune and eliminate evil spirits and disasters. In the historical development and evolution, the Dragon Boat Festival has mixed a variety of folk customs into a whole. There are many Dragon Boat customs, with various forms, rich and colorful contents, and it is lively and festive. Due to different regional cultures, there are differences in the content or details of customs in different parts of the country. The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival mainly include picking dragon boats, offering sacrifices to dragons, picking herbs, hanging wormwood and calamus, worshiping gods and ancestors, washing herbal medicine, drinking noon water, soaking dragon boat water, eating rice dumplings, putting paper kites, watching dragon boats, tying colorful silk threads, fumigation, wearing sachets, etc. Dragon Boat Picking is very popular in the coastal areas of southern China, and it has been loved by people all over the world and has formed an international competition. The custom of eating rice dumplings at the Dragon Boat Festival has been popular throughout China since ancient times, and has become one of the most influential and widespread folk eating customs of the Chinese nation. During the Dragon Boat Festival, traditional folk activities can not only enrich the spiritual and cultural life of the masses, but also well inherit and carry forward traditional culture. As an important part of Chinese traditional culture, the Dragon Boat Festival culture reflects the long history, broad and profound Chinese culture. The Dragon Boat Festival culture has a wide influence in the world, and some countries and regions in the world also have activities to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival.