The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival and legend Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient traditional festival, began in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period in China, has been more than 2,000 years of history. There are many origins and legends of the Dragon Boat Festival, only the following four are introduced here: 1, from the commemoration of Qu Yuan According to the Records of the Grand Historian, “Qu Yuan Jia Sheng Lianzhuan,” Qu Yuan, was a minister of King Huai of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated the promotion of the wise and capable, rich and strong, and strongly advocated the United Qi against the Qin, was strongly opposed by the aristocrats Zilan and others, Qu Yuan was slandered and dismissed, was driven out of the capital, and was exiled to the Yuan and Xiang basins. During his exile, he wrote such immortal poems as “Li Sao”, “Heavenly Questions” and “Nine Songs”, which are unique and far-reaching (thus, the Dragon Boat Festival is also known as the Poets’ Festival). In 278 B.C., the Qin army broke through the capital of Chu. Qu Yuan saw his country being invaded, his heart was like a knife, but he could not bear to give up his country, and on May 5, after writing his final poem “Huai Sha”, he threw himself into Miluo River and died, composing a magnificent patriotic movement with his own life. Legend has it that after Qu Yuan’s death, the people of Chu were in mourning and flocked to the Miluo River to pay homage to him. The fishermen rowed up their boats and salvaged his real body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out for Qu Yuan prepared rice balls, eggs and other food, “flop, flop” thrown into the river, said that the fish and lobsters and crabs eat enough, will not go to bite the body of Dr. Qu. People see have followed suit. An old doctor brought a altar of yellow wine poured into the river, said to be drug stunned dragon water beasts, so as not to harm Dr. Qu. Later, for fear of rice balls for the dragon to eat, people came up with neem leaves wrapped rice, wrapped in colorful silk, the development of brown. Later, on the fifth day of May each year, there is a dragon boat race, eat zongzi, drink xionghuang wine custom; as a way to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. 2, from commemorating Wu Zixu The second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival, widely circulated in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, is to commemorate the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC – 476 years ago) of Wu Zixu. Wu Zixu was a native of Chu, whose father and brother were both killed by the king of Chu. Later, Zixu abandoned the darkness and ran to Wu to help Wu conquer Chu, and entered the capital of Chu, Ying City, in five battles. At that time, King Ping of Chu had already died, and Zixu dug up his grave and whipped his body 300 times to avenge the killing of his father and brother. After the death of King Helu of Wu, his son Fu Chai succeeded to the throne. The Wu army had high morale and won a hundred battles, and the Yue kingdom was greatly defeated, and King Goujian of Yue asked for peace, and Fu Chai agreed to it. Zixu suggested that the state of Yue should be completely destroyed, but Fu-chai refused to listen to him, and Wu’s Dazai, who had been bribed by the state of Yue, framed Zixu with slanderous rumors, and Fu-chai believed him and gave Zixu a sword, which he used to kill himself. Zixu was a loyal and honest man, and he looked upon death as a homecoming. Before his death, he said to his neighbors, “When I die, I will dig out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Wu Jing to see the Yue army enter the city to destroy Wu”, and then he killed himself. Fu Chai was furious at the news, and he ordered to take the body of Zixu and put it into a leather bag to throw it into a big river on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, so it was said that the Dragon Boat Festival was also the day to commemorate Wu Zixu. The third legend of the Dragon Boat Festival commemorates Cao E, a filial daughter who saved her father’s life and threw herself into the river during the Eastern Han Dynasty (23 – 220 A.D.). Cao E was a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father drowned in the river, and the body was not seen for several days; at that time, the filial daughter Cao E was only fourteen years old, and she cried along the river day and night. After seventeen days, she threw herself into the river on May 5, and carried her father’s body out five days later. The story was passed down as a myth, and the legend spread to the governor of the county, who made Du Shang erect a monument for it, and had his disciple Handan Chun make a eulogy in praise of it. The tomb of Cao E, a filial daughter, is located in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, and it was later rumored that Cao E’s monument was written by Wang Yi of the Jin Dynasty. In order to commemorate Cao E’s filial piety, a Cao E Temple was built at the place where Cao E threw herself into the river, the village where she lived was renamed Cao E Town, and the place where Cao E was martyred by her father was named Cao E River. 4, from the ancient Vietnamese national totem sacrifices Recent large number of excavated artifacts and archaeological research confirms that: the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the vast area, in the Neolithic era, there is a geometric printed pottery as a characteristic of the cultural remains. The remains of the clan, according to experts inferred to be a dragon totem worship tribe —- historically known as the Baiyue tribe. Unearthed pottery on the decoration and historical legends show that they have the custom of breaking hair tattoos, living in the water countryside, comparing themselves to the descendants of the dragon. Their production tools, a large number of stone tools, but also shovels, chisels and other small pieces of bronze. As a living thing in the altar pots and jars, cooking food printed pots are unique to them, is one of the symbols of their ethnic groups. Until the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were still Baiyue people, and the Dragon Boat Festival was the festival they created for ancestor worship. Over thousands of years of history, most of the Baiyue people have been integrated into the Han Chinese, while the rest have evolved into many ethnic minorities in the south, making the Dragon Boat Festival a festival for the entire Chinese nation. Dragon Boat Festival celebrations China’s folk over the Dragon Boat Festival is more grand, the celebration of the activities are also a variety of activities, the more common activities are the following forms: 1, Dragon Boat Race Dragon Boat, is the main custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. Legend has it that the origins of the ancient Chu people because they could not afford the wise minister Qu Yuan threw himself into the river to die, many people rowing boats to catch up to save. They scrambled to be the first and disappeared when they chased him to Dongting Lake. After that, they rowed dragon boats on May 5 every year to commemorate it. The dragon boat was used to disperse the fish in the river, so that the fish would not eat Qu Yuan’s body. Racing habits, prevalent in Wu, Yue, Chu. In fact, “dragon boat racing” as early as the Warring States period. In the sound of drums, rowing carved into the shape of a dragon canoe, do the race game, to entertain the gods and people, is a half-religious rituals, half-entertainment programs. Later, the dragon boat race in addition to commemorate the Qu Yuan, people around the world also paid a different meaning. Zhejiang and Jiangsu areas rowing dragon boat, both to commemorate the significance of the local birth of the modern female democratic revolutionaries Qiu Jin. Night on the dragon boat, lights and colors, back and forth, water and underwater, the scene is moving, interesting. Miao people in Guizhou in the lunar calendar May 25-28 held “Dragon Boat Festival” to celebrate the victory of rice-planting and wishing a good harvest. Yunnan Dai compatriots in the Water Festival Dragon Boat Race, in honor of the ancient heroes of the rock red nest. Different ethnic groups, different regions, paddle dragon boat legend is different. Until today in the south of the many near the rivers, lakes and seas of the region, the annual Dragon Boat Festival will be held in their own characteristics of the Dragon Boat Race activities. In the 29th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign in the Qing Dynasty (1736), Taiwan began to hold dragon boat races. At that time, Taiwan’s governor, Chiang Yuan-jun, hosted a friendly race at the Half Moon Pond of Fahua Temple in Tainan City. Nowadays, dragon boat races are held in Taiwan every year on May 5th. In Hong Kong, races are also held. In addition, rowing dragon boat has been introduced to neighboring countries such as Japan, Vietnam and the United Kingdom. 1980, dragon boat racing was included in China’s national sports competitions, and held annually “Qu Yuan Cup” Dragon Boat Race. 1991 June 16 (the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese lunar calendar), in the second hometown of Qu Yuan in China, Hunan Yueyang City, held the first International Dragon Boat Festival. Prior to the race, the “Dragon Head Festival” was held, which preserved traditional rituals and injected new modern elements. The “dragon head” was carried into the Qu Zi Ancestral Hall, where the athletes “reddened” the dragon head (draped with a red sash), the officiating priest read out the sacrificial text, and the dragon head was “enlightened” (i.e., enlightened). Then, participate in the sacrifice of the dragon of all personnel three bow, the dragon is carried to the Buro River, running to the dragon boat race. The competition, trade fairs and celebrations were attended by more than 600,000 people, which was an unprecedented event. After that, Hunan will regularly organize the International Dragon Boat Festival. The dragon boat race will be passed down to the world. 2, Dragon Boat Festival food dumplings Dragon Boat Festival to eat zongzi, which is another traditional custom of the Chinese people. Zongzi, also known as “corn”, “tube dumplings”. It has a long history, with a variety of patterns. According to records, as early as the Spring and Autumn period, with Mizushu leaves (wild rice leaves) wrapped in millet into a horn-shaped, called “corner of millet”; bamboo tube filled with rice sealed and baked, called “tube dumplings”. The end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, to grass ash water soaked in millet, because the water contains alkali, with Mizuko leaves wrapped in millet into a quadrangular shape, cooked, became the Guangdong alkaline water dumplings. Jin Dynasty, zongzi was officially designated as the Dragon Boat Festival food. At this time, the package zongzi raw materials in addition to glutinous rice, but also add the Chinese medicine Yi Zhi Ren, cooked zongzi called “Yi Zhi Zong”. Zhou Zhou, “Yueyang customs and local records” recorded: “Commonly wrapped in millet with Aizome leaves, …… cooked, and rotten, in the fifth of May to the summer solstice to eat, a zong, a millet.” North and South Dynasty period, the emergence of mixed rice dumplings. Rice mixed with animal and poultry meat, chestnuts, jujubes, adzuki beans, etc., more varieties. Zongzi also used as a gift for interaction. To the Tang Dynasty, rice dumplings with rice, has been “white as jade”, the shape of its conical, diamond-shaped. Japanese literature recorded in the “Tang dumplings”. Song Dynasty, there has been “candied rice dumplings”, that is, fruit into the dumplings. The poet Su Dongpo has “in the dumplings see prunes” poem. At this time also appeared with zongzi piled up into buildings, pavilions, wooden cars, cows and horses for the advertisement, indicating that the Song Dynasty to eat zongzi has been very fashionable. Yuan, Ming period, zongzi parcel material has changed from zongmu leaf for Ruo leaf, and later appeared with reed leaf package zongzi, additional material has appeared bean paste, pork, pine nuts, jujube, walnuts and so on, varieties are more colorful. Until today, at the beginning of May every year, the Chinese people have to dip glutinous rice, wash zongzi leaves, package zongzi, its more colorful varieties. From the filling point of view, the north more packages of jujube Beijing jujube zong; the south has bean paste, fresh meat, ham, egg yolk and other fillings, which is represented by Zhejiang Jiaxing zongzi. Eat zongzi custom, for thousands of years, in China prevailed, and spread to North Korea, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. 3, Pei incense sacs Dragon Boat Festival children Pei incense sacs, the legend has the meaning of the evil spirits to drive away the plague, is actually used for the lapel head embellishment decorations. Inside the bag, there is vermilion sand, andrographis, incense, wrapped in silk cloth, fragrant, and then the five-color silk thread string buckle into a rope, for a variety of different shapes, knotted into a string, colorful, exquisite and lovely. 4, the Dragon Boat Festival of duck eggs Gaoyou Dragon Boat Festival is more special, there are tied hundreds of rope, stick five poisons, stickers, put yellow smoke, eat “twelve red” and other customs, the children Xing hanging “duck eggs Luozi”, is to pick the good-looking duck eggs in the colorful thread knotted in the Luozi, hanging in front of the chest. 5, hanging moxa calamus folk proverb: “Qingming willow, Dragon Boat Festival plug Ai”. In the Dragon Boat Festival, people put the moxa and calamus as one of the important content. Every house is cleaned, to calamus, moxa inserted in the door eyebrow, hanging in the hall. And with calamus, moxa, pomegranate, garlic, dragon boat flower, made of human or tiger-shaped, known as Ai man, Ai tiger; made of wreaths, ornaments, beautiful and fragrant, women vying to wear, to drive away miasma. Ai, also known as Ai, Artemisia absinthium. Its stems and leaves contain volatile aromatic oil. It produces a peculiar aroma that can repel mosquitoes and flies, insects and ants, and purify the air. In Chinese medicine, moxa is used as medicine, which has the functions of regulating qi and blood, warming the uterus, and dispelling cold and dampness. The leaves of moxa are processed into “moxa velvet”, which is an important herb for moxibustion. Acorus calamus is a perennial aquatic herb, its long and narrow leaves also contain volatile aromatic oils, which is a drug for refreshing the mind, strengthening the bones and eliminating stagnation, and killing worms and sterilizing bacteria. It can be seen that the ancient people inserted wormwood and calamus is a certain role in disease prevention. Dragon Boat Festival is also passed down from ancient times, “Health Festival”, people in this day to clean the courtyard, hanging moxa sticks, hanging calamus, sprinkle xionghuang water, drink xionghuang wine, stirring up turbidity in addition to corrosion, sterilization and disease prevention. These activities also reflect the fine tradition of the Chinese nation. Duanwu Festival on the mountains to collect medicine, is a common custom of all nationalities in our country.