What are the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival in Shiyan

The annual Dragon Boat Festival will come again. The Dragon Boat Festival is one of the traditional festivals in China, and there are colorful festival activities all over the country on this day. Shiyan also has rich and colorful traditional customs during the Dragon Boat Festival due to its profound cultural accumulation. On the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival, the reporter visited Ling Zhimin, the chairman of the Municipal Folk Literature and Art Association and the chairman of the Yunyang Quyuan Culture Research Association, and other folk customs experts, and consulted relevant historical data to learn about the colorful Dragon Boat Festival customs in Shiyan.

Artemisia argyi

According to the Shiyan Chronicle published by the Zhonghua Book Company in December 1999, the Dragon Boat Festival is called the "Dragon Boat Festival" in Shiyan, which is the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. Together with the fifteenth day of the first month and the fifteenth day of the eighth month, it is called the three major festivals of the sun. It is said that it originated from the memory of the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan. The stresses in life include eating zongzi, eggs, garlic, drinking realgar wine, inserting wormwood, hanging calamus, and collecting herbs. There are often "dragon boat races" near the big river.

May 15 (May 15 of the lunar calendar) This day is called the "Dragon Boat Festival", which can be regarded as a repeated "Dragon Boat Festival", but some places in Shiyan think that "Dragon Boat Festival" is the official festival. The Dragon Boat Festival is also the most popular festival of the Chinese nation since ancient times. There are also many names in Yunyang, such as the Dragon Boat Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Dragon Boat Festival. Yunxian Chronicle of the Tongzhi edition of the Qing Dynasty also records that "Yunxian people call the fifth day of May the Midday Festival".

In Shiyan, early in the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival, citizens will take advantage of the dew to cut the wormwood and put it on the door. In the old days, there were also ballads in Yunyang City, such as "On the fifth day of May, the heavenly master rode an Aihu, a handful of calamus and a handful of Ai, and I drove mosquitoes and flies out of the door".

According to the Records of Yunxian County published by Chongwen Books in December 2014, mugwort was cut in the early morning of the fifth day of the year, wild tea was collected, mugwort was inserted on the door, and mugwort was worn on the head. There is a saying that "don't wear Ai on the Dragon Boat Festival in May, and become a crab when you die". Eat dumplings, eggs, garlic, etc. for breakfast, and rub realgar wine on children's ears to prevent mosquitoes from biting and penetrating in summer. Some also make a realgar incense smoke (sachet) for children to wear around their necks to avoid evil spirits.

According to Ling Zhimin, chairman of the Municipal Association of Folk Artists and Artists, Shiyan people not only have the custom of inserting wormwood on the Dragon Boat Festival, but also have the unique custom of using wormwood. For example, people often soak mugwort leaves in bath water, and then scrub the body to prevent some skin diseases; The sun-dried mugwort leaves can be put into pillows to cure headache and make people fall asleep easily, which is very effective for insomnia; People also use Artemisia argyi leaves and other Chinese herbal medicines that have the function of expelling plague to cut them up and put them into bags to make a practical health belt.

It is said that in ancient times, there were "five poisons" in the world: scorpion, snake, centipede, gecko and toad. The fifth day of May was the most important day, and the five poisons were the most active. The white Venus in the sky knows that the five poisons are harmful, so people will plant the five herbs to cure the five poisons when they brush the five herbs in the sky to the earth. Later, the Weaver Girl brought the five elements of multicolored silk thread of gold, wood, water, fire and earth to the world, and wrapped the five poisons with the silk thread. Five-yellow grass and multicolored silk match to cure five poisons during the Dragon Boat Festival.

It is understood that the so-called Wuruicao means calamus, mugwort, pomegranate flower, garlic and Shandan. In Shiyan, there are more than 10 species of Wuruicao. In addition to the above, there are also Prunella vulgaris, rush grass, locust branch, plantain, houttuynia cordata, bright grass, etc.

Dragon Boat Festival for Qu Yuan

According to Ling Zhimin, the chairman of the Municipal Association of Folk Literature and Art and the chairman of the Yunyang Quyuan Cultural Research Association, it is said that Qu Yuan, the great patriotic poet of ancient China, drowned in the river on the Dragon Boat Festival. In order to express their memory and respect for Qu Yuan, people set this day as the Dragon Boat Festival. Because of Qu Yuan's poems left by Yunshan and Hanshui, Yunyang people regard the Dragon Boat Festival as a grand festival to commemorate the great poet.

Huang Zhongfu, a folk-custom expert of the Quyuan Cultural Research Association in Yunyang, also found that the dragon boat race at Duhekou has been popular for thousands of years. At the intersection of Duhe River and Han River, there is a place called Wujiang River (Wushui River). It is said that Xiang Yu jumped from a cliff at the mouth of the Wujiang River. The local people will remember Xiang Yu every time the Dragon Boat Festival. There are five villages here (Han Jiazhou Village emigrated, and now there are four villages), making seven dragon boats. On the Dragon Boat Festival, the villagers wrapped their heads in turbans and began to race dragon boats after lunch.

According to the Records of Yunxian County published by Chongwen Books in December 2014, residents of Yunxian County (now Yunyang District) and the area along the Han River have the custom of rowing dragon boats. In 2008, it was designated as a statutory holiday by the state, with a one-day holiday.

According to historical records, on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, in Junzhou City and Yunyang City, every family of mugwort and calamus set off with colored flags, red lights and dragon boats. The official sedans and horses of Yunyang, Junzhou and Yunxi County all arrived at the riverside of the dock and began the annual dragon boat race with the shock of "Come on! Come on!".

Yunyang District has a traditional custom of "dragon boat race and Dragon Boat Festival" since ancient times. According to experts from the Yunyang Quyuan Cultural Research Association, Yunyang was once the place where the patriotic poet Quyuan wrote. Dragon boat culture, passed down from generation to generation in Yunyang, has become an important part of Yunyang culture and one of Yunyang's cultural brands to the world.

In order to inherit the excellent folk culture of Yunyang and carry forward the dragon boat spirit of "helping each other in the same boat and taking the lead", since 2004, Yunyang District has officially identified the Dragon Boat Festival as a fixed festival held by people in the water source area every two years. This activity has become a traditional activity with high attention and enthusiasm of the people in the region. So far, eight "Songs to Water" Dragon Boat Festival has been held.

The dragon boat race is also the most characteristic activity of the people of Danjiangkou. Gujunzhou (sunk to the bottom of the river) is the birthplace of the dragon boat race. The dragon boat race is located in the Hanjiang River section outside the city of Junzhou, which is called Canglangshui in ancient times. The dragon boat race is a large-scale civil activity that is spontaneous by the masses and takes various specific groups as small units.

According to the Shiyan Folk Custom, the water in the three counties in the south of Shiyan is shallow, so you can't play the dragon boat race, so you can play the yellow boat on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is called "sending ghost boats". The paper was used to form a dry boat, and the gongs and drums were played, and the people were led to climb and march to show that evil spirits were eliminated and good luck was met.

Make dumplings and drink realgar wine

According to Yunxian Chronicle, on the evening of the fourth day of the year, each family made dumplings, boiled dumplings, boiled eggs, boiled garlic, and soaked realgar wine. Eat zongzi, eggs, garlic, etc. for breakfast on the fifth day of the year, and rub realgar wine on children's ears to prevent mosquitoes from biting and penetrating in summer. Some also make a realgar incense smoke (sachet) for children to wear around their necks to avoid evil spirits.

Ling Zhimin said that the legend of eating zongzi was that after Qu Yuan threw himself into the river, people were afraid that the fish would eat Qu Yuan's body and throw zongzi into the river to save Qu Yuan. On the fifth day of May, when Qu Yuan threw himself into the river, it was commemorated with zongzi.

The reporter learned that the dumplings wrapped around Shiyan are also different. The shape of the two bamboo dumplings is three-dimensional, four-sided and four-cornered, with diced bacon. The zongzi in Fangxian County is a two-plane triangular flat body with white sugar and sesame powder as ingredients. There are green zongzi leaves, bamboo shoot leaves, etc. The main ingredient of zongzi is glutinous rice. Wash the glutinous rice first, soak it in water for about half a day, and then wash the leaves of zongzi. Boil the bamboo shoots first.

On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, there are also customs of eating zongzi, drinking realgar wine, boiling eggs, boiling garlic and so on. At the same time, on the Dragon Boat Festival, people will also paint vermilion, drink realgar wine, bathe with five-colored grass, and hang sachets for children to ward off evil spirits and drive away plague.

In Fangxian, the Dragon Boat Festival can best reflect the rich wine culture. People use the secret recipe of the court to make yellow rice wine, mixed with a small amount of realgar, to make a unique realgar wine to drink or entertain guests.

It is understood that there are four sentences in Shiyan folk customs, "After eating Qingming eggs, you can't be idle in the jar. Soak chicken and duck eggs again, and have breakfast at the Dragon Boat Festival." In the old Yunyang City, a rural area close to the city. As early as March, when the chicken and duck eggs were full in the warehouse, every household would cook a few large pots of salted eggs to cool them, put them into a big pot, wait until the Dragon Boat Festival to eat some of them at home, and then take them to the market town or the dragon boat wharf to sell some of them.

Pick up the girl with a perfume bag

According to the Yunxian Chronicle, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Dragon Boat Festival. Before the third day of the year, I took the girl back to her mother's home for the Dragon Boat Festival. According to Yunyang Folk Customs, Yunyang people will pick up girls a few days before the Dragon Boat Festival. In order to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival and the busy day, I began to save eggs and make sweet rice wine in April. On the second and third days of May, I will pick up the old girl, the young girl, the son-in-law, and the fiancee of my son. In Yunyang rural areas, after the girl's marriage, the first Dragon Boat Festival, the new son-in-law should at least give the old mother-in-law a five-color gift basket consisting of a gift pendant (rectangular pork with lard), wine, sugar, biscuits, and tea, with two liters of white rice or four cans of hanging noodles at the bottom of the basket. After lunch, the girl and the new son-in-law will return to the basket (gift in the basket) when they leave.

It is understood that in Fangxian County, the Dragon Boat Festival is also known as "Daughter's Day". On this day, the daughter who is married outside will be taken back to her mother's home, saying that it is to help her daughter avoid disaster and evil. In fact, this is a family visit before the busy summer harvest season, which also has the meaning of leisure and rest. At this time, parents will give their daughter's son-in-law straw hats and other things, and will also give them the herbs that are picked to clear the fire.

"Pick up girls at the Dragon Boat Festival, drink and eat well". The custom of picking up girls and sons-in-law at the Dragon Boat Festival and returning to their parents' home for the festival has been handed down to this day.

The reporter learned that the sachets worn by people on the Dragon Boat Festival contain spices made from chopped wormwood, realgar, atractylodes, herbs, etc., which can repel insects and disperse turbid gas. The appearance of the sachet is usually very exquisite. It is embroidered with vivid patterns such as flowers, birds and animals, insects and fish, melons and fruits, and people. "Children wear sachets in May. They dare to seize the needles skillfully with ten fingers, and do not draw the eyebrows of moths long." A sachet is a delicate handicraft.

According to Ling Zhimin, in addition, the Dragon Boat Festival is in the north of the Hanjiang River in Shiyan, and at the junction of southern Shaanxi, there is also the folk custom of the Kui image of the hanging bell.

In Zhushan County, families not only eat zongzi, boiled chicken (duck, goose) eggs, hang mugwort leaves, and wear incense packets on the Dragon Boat Festival, but also post paper-cut images of Zhong Kui and Taoist Heavenly Master indoors, which means exorcism, and also display folk paper-cut art. In the production of sachets, Zhushan people have a unique style. They inlay turquoise on ornaments to make them more beautiful.

Take the Duanyang grass fan to step on the wheat to know farming

According to Ling Zhimin, chairman of the Municipal Association of Folk Artists and Artists and chairman of the Yunyang Quyuan Cultural Research Association, there is also a custom of "pomegranate fire entering the home" in the Dragon Boat Festival in Shiyan. The pomegranate trees that grow all winter and spring just bloom during the Dragon Boat Festival. At this time, the owners often wash the small bonsai pomegranate flowers and bring them into the house, which adds prosperity and luster to the holiday family. There is also the folk custom of "Dragon Boat Festival fire to see evil". Pomegranate tree flowers exude fiery petals, symbolizing the enthusiasm of the Dragon Boat Festival. The petals are dazzling and enchanting, making people feel infatuated and infatuated with the festival.

Ling Zhimin also said that in the northwest of Hubei Province, the Duanyang grass fan will also be made and used during the Dragon Boat Festival. The Dragon Boat Festival is at the beginning of the hot weather. People often take a fan to fan and shade when they go out. At this time, when the wheat is ripe, the old women in the countryside often choose some beige, uniform in thickness, long and complete wheat straw from the wheat straw pile, and take it home and use it to soften and weave it into a Duanyang fan or straw hat. Before weaving, some people dyed the straw red and green, and woven the word "Duanyang" on the straw hat or cattail fan. This kind of fan is smaller and more flexible than the big cattail fan. When it is time to row the dragon boat, these old ladies will also bundle the fans and come to the scene of the dragon boat race. People scorched by the sun will buy fans and sunshades. Tourists will gently and leisurely shake the Duanyang wheat straw fan and watch the dragon boat in the sun leisurely and happily.

According to folk experts, May is the time of wheat ripening, and stepping on wheat yellow is also a custom of people in northwest Hubei. Stepping on the wheat yellow is equivalent to stepping on the green in the Qingming Festival, but at this time the fields are no longer green, but the golden wheat waves are rolling in the sun and in the wind. People can smell the sweet smell of ripe wheat when stepping on the wheat yellow, and can also hear the cuckoo's ceaseless chirping, as if urging people to harvest. Farmers are eating eggs, duck eggs, rice dumplings and realgar wine in a leisurely manner. No matter how busy they are, they will also delay the day, so they are also homophonic for "delaying" the festival. This folk custom of stepping on the wheat yellow and smelling the wheat fragrance makes the young people in the city feel very fresh. It has become a highlight of rural tourism. Unfortunately, there are fewer wheat seeds in the countryside. It makes people see the wheat yellow again and smell the wheat fragrance as if they are back to their childhood. "stepping on the wheat yellow without food" has become the people's idea. When the Dragon Boat Festival goes to the countryside, it becomes a yearning and rare childhood experience for people who are locked in the city gate to know the spring and autumn, the weather and farming in the countryside. (Qin Chu News reporter Bing Ke)