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Chapter 117 The Famous Minister's Alternative Face 1
Qu Yuan has nothing to do with the Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar is one of the most solemn traditional festivals in my country. It is also called Chongwu, Yulan Festival, Summer Festival, Tianzhong Festival, and Dila.The Dragon Boat Festival has lasted for thousands of years in our country. On this day, people like to eat zongzi, drink realgar wine, race dragon boats, hang calamus, smoke mugwort...

There has always been such a legend in our country: In the 21st year of King Xiang of Chu (278 BC), Qin general Baiqi attacked Yingdu. Qu Yuan was so sad and angry that he drowned himself in the Miluo River and died for his country.After Qu Yuan's death, the people of the state of Chu were so sad that they flocked to the Miluo River to pay tribute to Qu Yuan.The fishermen rowed their boats and salvaged his real body back and forth on the river.

A fisherman took out rice balls, eggs and other food prepared for Qu Yuan, and threw them into the river "thump, splash", saying that the fish, lobster and crab would not bite Doctor Qu's body when they were full. follow suit.An old doctor brought a jar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying that it was to make the dragon and water beast faint, so as not to hurt Dr. Qu.Later, for fear that the rice balls would be eaten by Jiaolong, people thought of wrapping the rice with neem leaves, wrapping them with colored silk, and developing them into zongzi.

Since then, on the fifth day of May every year, people have commemorated the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan with customs such as dragon boat racing, eating rice dumplings, and drinking realgar wine. In the 20s, the Chinese Writers Association also designated the fifth day of May as "Poet's Day".

Since Qu Yuan's great personality and deeds of suicide and martyrdom moved every Chinese, everyone is willing to use this day to commemorate Qu Yuan. This is a good tradition.However, the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival did not originate from commemorating Qu Yuan.The custom of the Dragon Boat Festival existed before Qu Yuan threw himself into the river.Zong Pang, a literati in South Huliang, pointed out in his notes "Jingchu Sui Shi Ji": Jingbo is "the custom of Eastern Wu, and it has nothing to do with Qu Ping".

The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty.The word "five" was taboo in the Zhou Dynasty.The folks believe that May is a poisonous month, and the fifth day is another poisonous day. There are five poisons, namely snakes, centipedes, scorpions, lizards and toads.There are many disasters and disasters in this month, and even children will die young, so various methods must be adopted to avoid the harm of the five poisons.Dragon boat rowing on the Dragon Boat Festival is a kind of religious activity for ancient people to drive away evil spirits and avoid epidemics.Think about it carefully, the main raw materials of zongzi are glutinous rice, realgar wine, calamus, mugwort leaves, etc., which are actually ancient evil spirits. "Shan Tang Si test?"Gong Ji" Volume [-] records: The ancients "used moxa in the shape of a tiger in the Dragon Boat Festival, or cut the ribbon to form a tiger, and wore it with a core of moxa leaves."This kind of tiger made of AI was called "Aihu" by the ancients.Wearing Aihu means to use the power of the tiger to drive away evil spirits and avoid epidemics.Eating cooked garlic on this day also means avoiding epidemics.

These actions are essentially derived from the experience summary of ancient people in production and life practice.They found that the time sequence of the fifth month of the lunar calendar has passed the daylight saving time, mosquitoes and flies are breeding, and all kinds of insects are coming out of their holes.The human body is easily invaded by poisonous insects, so these methods are devised to eliminate toxins and diseases and keep healthy.Realgar is a mineral that is used in traditional Chinese medicine as a detoxification and insecticide; garlic contains allicin, which has bactericidal and anti-trichomonad effects. Traditional Chinese medicine has always used garlic as a medicine for dispelling cold and dampness, killing insects and detoxifying; calamus and mugwort also have Anthelmintic effect.

As time went by, the Dragon Boat Festival was fixed as a festival.It can be seen that during the formation of the Dragon Boat Festival, various customs will emerge at different times and places, and endow it with different meanings.In addition to the theory of commemorating Qu Yuan on the Dragon Boat Festival, there are also sayings to commemorate Wu Zixu, Cao E, a filial daughter who saved her father from throwing her into the river, and Jie Zitui.

(End of this chapter)