Introduction: The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is commonly known as the "Dragon Boat Festival". "Duan" means "beginning" or "first". Therefore, the fifth day can be called "Duan Wu". The lunar calendar uses Earthly Branches to name months. The first month is Yin, the second is Mao, and so on, with the fifth month being Wu. Thus, the fifth month is called the "Wu month". Since "Wu" (five) and "Wu" (the branch) are homophones, and "five" is an odd number (yang), the Dragon Boat Festival is also named Duan Wu, Chong Wu (Double Five), Duan Yang, and Zhongtian, among others.
According to historical records, the term "Duan Wu" first appeared in Zhou Chu's "Fengtu Ji" from the Jin Dynasty: "In the midsummer of Duan Wu, boil wild duck and Zongzi". The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival of the Han people in China. The essential activities of this day have gradually evolved into: eating Zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings), dragon boat racing, hanging calamus and mugwort leaves, burning Cangzhu and Baizhi herbs, and drinking realgar wine. It is said that eating Zongzi and dragon boat racing are to commemorate the poet Qu Yuan. Therefore, after the liberation, the Dragon Boat Festival was named "Poet's Day" to commemorate him. As for hanging calamus and mugwort, burning Cangzhu and Baizhi, and drinking realgar wine, it is said to be for warding off evil spirits.
The Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient traditional festival that began in China's Spring and Autumn Period and has a history of over 2,000 years. There are many legends and origins for the Dragon Boat Festival; here are four of them:
Originating from the commemoration of Qu Yuan
According to the "Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Yi" in the "Records of the Grand Historian", Qu Yuan was a minister of King Huai of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period. He advocated promoting the worthy and capable, enriching the country and strengthening the army, and strongly advocated allying with Qi to resist Qin. He was met with strong opposition from nobles such as Zi Lan. Qu Yuan was slandered, removed from his post, and exiled from the capital to the Yuan and Xiang river basins. During his exile, he wrote immortal poems such as "Li Sao" ("Encountering Sorrow"), "Tian Wen" ("Heavenly Questions"), and "Jiu Ge" ("Nine Songs"), which were unique in style and had a profound influence (hence, the Dragon Boat Festival is also called Poet's Day). In 278 BC, the Qin army broke through the capital of Chu. Qu Yuan watched his motherland be invaded, his heart ached as if cut by a knife, but he could never bear to abandon his country. On the fifth day of the fifth month, after writing his final work, "Hua Sha" ("Embracing the Sand"), he held a stone and drowned himself in the Miluo River, composing a magnificent movement of patriotism with his own life.
Legend has it that after Qu Yuan's death, the people of Chu were overcome with grief and flocked to the banks of the Miluo River to mourn him. Fishermen rowed their boats back and forth on the river, searching for his body. A fisherman took the rice dumplings and eggs he had prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river, saying, "Let the fish, shrimp, and crabs eat their fill so they won't bite the body of the Master Qu." Seeing this, people followed suit. An old physician then poured a jar of realgar wine into the river, saying he wanted to drug the dragons and water beasts to prevent them from harming Master Qu. Later, fearing the rice dumplings would be eaten by the dragons, people came up with the idea of wrapping the rice in chinaberry leaves and tying them with colorful threads, which evolved into Zongzi.
Afterwards, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar year every year, the customs of dragon boat racing, eating Zongzi, and drinking realgar wine emerged to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.
Originating from the commemoration of Wu Zixu
The second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival is widely spread in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, commemorating Wu Zixu of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). Wu Zixu, whose given name was Yuan, was a native of Chu. His father and elder brother were killed by the King of Chu. Later, Zixu left the dark side to seek the bright, fled to the state of Wu, helped Wu attack Chu, and entered the Chu capital, Yingcheng, in five battles. At that time, King Ping of Chu was already dead, so Zixu exhumed his body and whipped it three hundred times to avenge his father and brother. After King Helü of Wu died, his son Fuchai succeeded him. The Wu army was in high spirits and won every battle, completely defeating the state of Yue. King Goujian of Yue sued for peace, and Fuchai agreed. Zixu suggested that Yue should be completely eliminated, but Fuchai did not listen. The grand chancellor of Wu, who was bribed by Yue, slandered and framed Zixu. Fuchai believed him and presented Zixu with a sword for him to commit suicide. Zixu was a loyal and good official, facing death without fear. Before his death, he said to his neighbor: "After I die, dig out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Wu's capital to watch the Yue army enter the city and destroy Wu." Then he committed suicide. When Fuchai heard this, he flew into a rage, ordered Zixu's body to be put in a leather bag and thrown into the great river on the fifth day of the fifth month. Therefore, it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also the day to commemorate Wu Zixu.
Originating from the commemoration of the filial daughter Cao E
The third legend of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Cao E, a filial daughter of the Eastern Han Dynasty (23-220 AD), who drowned herself in the river to save her father. Cao E was a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han. Her father drowned in the river, and his body was not found for several days. At that time, the filial daughter Cao E was only fourteen years old and wept day and night along the riverbank. After seventeen days, on the fifth day of the fifth month, she also jumped into the river. Five days later, she emerged from the water holding her father's body. This story was passed down as a myth and reached the county magistrate, who ordered Du Shang to erect a stele for her and asked his disciple Handan Chun to compose an elegy in her praise.
>The tomb of the filial daughter Cao E is in present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang. It is said that the Cao E Stele was written by Wang Yi of the Jin Dynasty. Later generations, to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, built the Cao E Temple at the place where she drowned. The town where she lived was renamed Cao E Town, and the river where she sacrificed herself for her father was named the Cao E River.Originating from the totem sacrifice of the ancient Yue ethnic group
A large number of unearthed cultural relics and archaeological research in modern times have confirmed that in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River area, during the Neolithic Age, there was a cultural relic characterized by geometric stamped pottery. The ethnic group to which this relic belonged is inferred by experts to be a tribe that worshipped the dragon totem—historically known as the Baiyue people. The patterns on the unearthed pottery and historical legends show that they had the custom of cutting their hair and tattooing their bodies, living in watery regions and considering themselves descendants of the dragon. Their production tools were mostly stone tools, but also included small bronze implements like spades and chisels. Among the daily-use pots and jars, the stamped pottery ding (cauldron) for cooking food was unique to them and one of the symbols of their ethnic group.
Until the Qin and Han dynasties, the Baiyue people still existed. The Dragon Boat Festival was a festival they created to worship their ancestors. In the thousands of years of historical development, most of the Baiyue people have merged into the Han nationality, and the rest have evolved into many southern ethnic minorities. Therefore, the Dragon Boat Festival has become a festival for all Chinese ethnic groups.