QOHO’s Dragon Boat Festival Holiday is from June 12 to June 14, 2021.

Here, we give our best wishes and regards to you and your family.

The Dragon Boat Festival is the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar,that ancient traditional festival in China.

The Dragon Boat Festival is also called name Duanwu and Duanyang. More than two thousand years ago to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese custom.Due to the vast territory and numerous ethnic groups, many different stories and legends have been spread, and different customs have also emerged. Do you know the stories behind the Dragon Boat Festival? let us share with you.

1.Commemorating Qu Yuan’s remarks

Legend was that after Qu Yuan’s death, the people of Chu State were so very sad that people flocked to the Miluo River to pay tribute to Qu Yuan on that day. The fishermen rowed a boat on the river to salvage his body. In order to prevent Qu Yuan’s body from being eaten by fish, lobsters, and crabs, people threw rice balls and realgar wine into the river one after another. Later, on the fifth day of May (May 5th Lunar calender) every year,so there will be customs, like dragon boat racing, eating rice dumplings, and drinking realgar wine.

To commemorate Qu Yuan’s theory is the most widespread and the most influential among all folk legends, Tan Shaobing scholars conducted a series of demonstrations on this statement. Huang Liudan also believes that although there are many statements, the commemoration of Qu Yuan still occupies the mainstream.

2.Commemorating Wu Zixu

In the former places of Wu State in Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Zhejiang, the Dragon Boat Festival is generally considered to commemorate Wu Zixu in the Spring and Autumn Period. Wu Zixu was given to death by her husband for slander. The husband ordered the body of Zixu to be put in leather and thrown into the river on May 5th. According to legend, the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate Wu Zixu.

3.To commemorate Cao E

In the eastern part of Zhejiang, local residents regard the Dragon Boat Festival as a memorial to the filial daughter-Cao E. Cao E was a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. At that time,His father drowned in the river and did not see the body for several days. as his filial daughter Cao E was only 14 years old and cried along the river day and night. 17 days later, he was also thrown into the river on May 5th, and his father’s body was taken out five days later. This was passed on as a myth, and then passed to the county governor, who ordered Dushang to erect a monument for him, and let his disciple Handan Chun to extol it.

4. the ancestor worship day of the people worshiping the dragon totem

The Huaxia people are admirers of the dragon totem. Mr. Wen Yiduo believes in his “Danwu Kao” that the Dragon Boat Festival is the ancestor worship day of the people who worship the dragon totem. In ancient times, my country’s Yangtze River and most of its south, rivers would rise in May. People put their hopes on the dragon, who is in charge of the water, and pray for good weather throughout the year and safe sailing.

5. the summer solstice

Scholars Huangshi, He Xin, etc. believe that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the ancient “Summer Solstice Festival”. In ancient times, “Xia Zhi” (Kunri) and “Winter Solstice” (Dry Day) were the two major festivals of the year. The Xia Solstice Festival in ancient times was the new year of the Yin and Shang calendar.

Liu Deqian, who also holds this view, puts forward three main reasons:

(1) The authoritative Sui Shi work “Jingchu Sui Shi Ji” writes about eating zongzi in the summer solstice festival.

(2) Some content in the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival, such as “Tap Baicao”, “Fight Baicao”, “Pick Miscellaneous Medicine”, etc., has nothing to do with Qu Yuan in fact.

(3) The first interpretation of the Dragon Boat Festival in “Six-Time Scenery and Hua Jili” is: “Sun Ye Zhengyang, the Dragon Boat Festival is in the middle of the summer, so the Dragon Boat Festival can also be called the’Tianzhong Festival’.”

Therefore, the earliest origin of the Dragon Boat Festival was the summer solstice.

6.the evil day theory

Some scholars believe that the Dragon Boat Festival is a “bad day” for a long time. “Xia Xiaozheng” records: “Today, store medicine to remove poisonous gas with worms.” In “Da Dai Li” it is stated that “May 5th beast orchids are used for bathing” to expel evil spirits by bathing.

Children born on the 5th day of the lunar calendar are also regarded as bad omens and are mostly abandoned by their parents. Meng Changjun was born on May 5th. His father believed that “A person born in May, who is older than Huqi, will be disadvantageous to his parents.” The Eastern Jin Dynasty general Wang Zhenyi was born on the fifth day of May(May 5th), and his grandfather named / called him  “Zhenye”. It can be seen that from very early on, people have generally believed that May is a bad month, and the day of repeated five is even worse. In this way, on this day, it is logical  and resonable to insert calamus, wormwood in order to drive away ghosts, smoke atractylodes, Angelica dahurica, and drink realgar wine to avoid the epidemic.