Customs of Dragon Boat Festival

2017-12-28 Source: China Daily

Dragon boat teams compete on a river in Hangzhou city. [Photo/xinhua]

Dragon boat racing

At the center of the festival are the dragon boat races. Competing teams drive their colorful dragon boats forward to the rhythm of beating drums. These exciting races were inspired by the villager's valiant attempts to rescue Qu Yuan from the Milo River. This tradition has remained unbroken for centuries.

Eating zongzi

Most Chinese festivals are tied to a particular food, and Dragon Boat Festival is no exception.

A very popular dish during Dragon Boat Festival is zongzi. This tasty dish consists of rice dumplings with meat, peanuts, egg yolks or other fillings wrapped in bamboo leaves. The tradition of zongzi is meant to remind us of village fishermen scattering rice across the water of the Miluo River in order to appease the river dragons and fish so that they would not devour Qu Yuan.

Children show their handmade scented sachets. [Photo/xinhua]

Balancing eggs

It is said that you will be lucky in the coming year if you can balance an egg upright during Dragon Boat Festival. The egg balancing competition will be held at noon in many places.

Wearing scented sachets

On Dragon Boat Festival, children normally wear scented sachets stringed with five-color silk thread to ward off evil. A scented sachet is an ornament worn on the front of the dress. The sweet-smelling sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and aromatic herbs.

It is usually wrapped in a silk cloth and sometimes embroidered with exquisite patterns. Multicolor silk threads are attached to the sachet as tassels, making the sachet more appealing. In some areas of China, a scented sachet is also used as a love token between young lovers.

A protrait of Zhong Kui. [Photo by Hu Weiguo/Asianewsphoto]

Hanging auspicious leaves

The fifth lunar month is marked as a "poisonous" month in the Chinese farmer's calendar. This is because insects and pests are active during this summer month and people are more prone to catch infectious diseases.

During Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese put mugwort leaves and calamus on the doors or windows to repel insects, flies, fleas and moths from the house. Those leaves have curative properties and can prevent an epidemic.

Hanging the image of Zhong Kui

Zhong Kui is a famous exorcist. His picture, a fierce-looking male brandishing a magic sword, is hung up in Chinese houses in order to scare away evil spirits and demons, especially during Dragon Boat Festival.

A boy shows the five-color silk thread tied on his wrist. [Photo by Xu Wenhao/Asianewsphoto]

Tying five-color silk thread

According to folklore, tying five-color silk tread to wrists, ankles, and around neck protects children from evil. Five-color thread holds special significance in China in that it is thought to contain magical and healing properties. Children are not permitted to speak while their parents tie the five-color thread for them, neither are they allowed to remove it until the specified time. Only after the first summer rainfall can the children throw the thread into the river. This is thought to protect the children from plague and diseases.

Children learn to cut five poisonous pests out of red paper. [Photo by Xiong Yunbin/Asianewsphoto]

Driving away the five poisonous pests

According to Chinese custom, the “double fifth” is the hottest day of the month, when all the poisonous vapors are in the air, so every attempt is made to harmonize yin and yang so that danger and disease can be avoided.

It is believed that five kinds of poisonous pests would harm children’s health, including a snake, centipede, scorpion, lizard, toad and sometimes spider. People will cut out of colorful silk with patterns of these five pests or paint them on red papers, and then past the silk or red papers on doors or walls of the bedroom, each impaled by a needle.

The five pests are also often embroidered on clothing, stamped on cakes, engraved on accessories, and used for decorations. They are believed having the power of driving away all pests and pestilences.