China News Service Client, Beijing, June 3 (Reporter Shangguan Yun) The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and "what to eat" and "how to celebrate the festival" have become hot topics.
During the interview, the reporter learned that this festival has a tradition of avoiding plagues and health care and remembering the sages. It is necessary to wear sachets and collect herbs... In addition to zongzi, there are also other delicacies.
So, let's take a look, what are the interesting knowledge and customs of the Dragon Boat Festival?
Data map: Zigui Dragon Boat Festival special food colorful rice dumplings.
Photo by Nie Shuang
How did the Dragon Boat Festival come about?
The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival covers the ancient astrological culture, humanistic philosophy and other aspects, and the cultural connotation is quite rich.
The festival is on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.
In ancient Chinese, "duan" has the meaning of the beginning and the beginning, and it is called "duanwu", which is also "the fifth day".
"Fengtu Ji" mentions "Dragon Boat Festival in midsummer. The end is the beginning."
In addition, the ancients used the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches to calculate the year, and based on this calculation, the fifth month of the lunar calendar is generally the "Wuyue", and the afternoon is considered to be "Yangchen", so the Dragon Boat Festival is also called "Duanyang".
What other name does it have?
As a festival with rich connotations, the Dragon Boat Festival also has many names such as Tianzhong Festival, Poet Festival, Yulan Festival and so on.
Among them, the Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, with the same sound on the fifth day and the noon day, and the fifth and fifth phases are heavy, so it is also called "Chongwu Festival" or "Chongwu Festival", and in some places it is also called "May Festival".
In the Ming Dynasty, Shen Bang's "Wanshu Miscellaneous Notes" mentioned: "Daughter's Day in May, is the Dragon Boat Festival, wearing Ai Ye, five poisonous spirits."
Data map: Hanging wormwood.
Photo by Zheng Jiayu
Is it related to Memorial Qu Yuan?
According to legend, the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival is related to Qu Yuan.
In fact, the festival customs of the Dragon Boat Festival have a rich development process, and the theme of "Sages Memorial" appeared around the period of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties.
At that time, the characters commemorating the Dragon Boat Festival were slightly different in different places, and the saying of commemorating Qu Yuan had the greatest influence in later generations.
Some scholars have also mentioned that the Dragon Boat Festival is not a sacrificial festival.
As for the commemoration of historical figures such as Qu Yuan and Wu Zixu, whether there is a legend or a festival first, there is still debate in the academic circles.
Data map: Overlooking the dragon boat racing in the competition.
Photo by Guo Xu
Was it not a good day at first?
Originally, the Dragon Boat Festival may not have been an auspicious festival.
Medical conditions in ancient times were poor. As soon as the fifth month of the lunar calendar came, mosquitoes and flies began to breed and all kinds of diseases were born. People were unable to cope with it. They believed that May was a poisonous month, and the fifth day of May was a poisonous day and evil in the poisonous month. day.
At that time, many people believed that even children born on the Dragon Boat Festival were not auspicious and should be thrown away.
It is said that Wang Zhen'e, a general of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was named "Zhen-e" by his grandfather because he was born on the Dragon Boat Festival.
In addition, there are sayings such as "building a house in May will make you bald".
Can you wish others a happy holiday?
Probably because the Dragon Boat Festival was not an auspicious day at the beginning. There was a saying earlier that one can only wish others "Dragon Boat Festival health", but not "Happy Holidays".
However, folklore scholar Wang Juan believes that there is no basis for this statement, and it has nothing to do with "bad days". In many places in the north, the Dragon Boat Festival is still "Little Girl's Day".
You can totally wish each other happiness.
Where did the dumplings come from?
Zongzi has a very long history. In ancient times, it was also called Jiao Mi, and later it also appeared with names such as "Steamed Wrap" and "Bai Yu Tuan".
Data map: Suichang Changzong.
Photo by Dong Yixin
The Liang Dynasty's "Continuation of Qi Harmony" records that on May 5th, the Chu people stored rice in bamboo tubes and threw water to sacrifice to Qu Yuan. Later, to avoid the pilfering of Jiaolong, they stuffed neem leaves on the bamboo tubes and wrapped colorful silk.
As for the fillings, there are various kinds of fillings, including meat, chestnuts, red dates, red beans, etc., sweet and salty.
In the Song Dynasty, people also developed the fruit into zongzi stuffing, which is very delicious.
What other delicacies?
Zongzi is naturally the standard food of the Dragon Boat Festival.
In addition, there are boiled garlic eggs, fragrant cakes, cucumber, eel, yellow croaker, salted duck egg yolk, and realgar wine.
The most particular is probably the "Twelve Reds" that Gaoyou likes to eat, which refers to fried shrimp, fried red amaranth, cinnabar tofu, etc. It sounds mouth-watering.
Data map: "Five Yellow Banquets" is a traditional Dragon Boat Festival custom in the south of the Yangtze River. It consists of yellow croaker, realgar wine, and eel, which is intended to drive away the five poisons.
Photo by Zhong Sheng
In some places, it is necessary to eat five poison cakes.
It is said that this is a pastry with red stamps on it, and it has the shape of "five poisons" such as scorpions and spiders.
Why tie a five-color line?
"Dragon Boat Race" is one of the familiar customs of the Dragon Boat Festival.
In addition, there are picking herbs, hanging wormwood and calamus, worshiping gods and ancestors, making water at noon, putting paper kites, wearing sachets and so on.
For example, folks often use five-color threads to tie children's wrists, called "Dragon Boat Cable" or "Longevity Thread".
There are also many places in the Dragon Boat Festival "picking wormwood as a human being", that is, using mugwort, calamus and other things to make adult-shaped "toxin gas", which has the meaning of curing disease and warding off evil spirits and praying for peace.
What's the point of "avoiding the five poisons"?
The so-called "five poisons" generally refer to snakes, scorpions, centipedes, geckos, toads, and centipedes are also included in the "five poisons" referred to in some places. In order to avoid the bites of the five poisonous insects in summer, people have come up with various methods.
Data map: Making wormwood sachets.
Photo by Zhang Chang
Wang Juan said, for example, during the Dragon Boat Festival, the "five poisons" are made into paper-cuts, which are pasted on doors, windows, walls, or tied to children's arms; "they.
You can also drink realgar wine, which is said to remove poisonous gas after drinking.
What games did the Dragon Boat Festival have in ancient times?
Entertainment is one of the elements of the Dragon Boat Festival.
In the ancient times when there was no mobile phone and no Internet, people were just as happy to celebrate the festival.
There are two ways to play "Battle Grass", one is to answer each other's grass names, and the failure is the loser; the other is to test the toughness of the grass, and the strength is the victory.
In addition, you can shoot willows and play polo, which is fun and healthy.
After the Song and Ming Dynasties, in addition to giving zongzi and sachets to relatives and friends on the Dragon Boat Festival, fans were also used as a gift.
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