The Dragon Boat Festival Customs
So The Dragon Boat Festival. It’s just a day where you have bunch of boats that look like dragons and you race them, right?
Wrong! There’s actually so much more history and tradition behind this holiday, especially now that was officially recognized as a public holiday in 2008.
In case you’re not totally up to speed on the customs or how this holiday even started, here’s a basic crash course on the whats, whens and whys of this festival so you can celebrate properly this year on June 12th.
Opening Up the History Books
The Dragon Boat Festival is called 端午节 (duān wǔ jié) in Chinese. It falls on the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar, therefore, it changes every year.
Though there are many theories on how this holiday originated, the most popular one is that of patriotic poet Qu Yuan (屈原) and his suicide in 278 BCE during the Warring States Period in China. Qu Yuan was from the State of Chu (one of seven states) who was exiled by the King.
In exile, he wrote many famous poems, including Li Sao, reflecting the love and passion he had for his country. It was when another state, the State of Qin, captured the capital of of Chu that Qu Yuan drown himself in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth month. He was protesting the corruption of that era, refusing to see his country occupied and conquered by the State of Qin.
The people who admired and respected him from the village paddled out in their boats to look for his body in the river. They also threw in rice wrapped in bamboo leaves (粽子 – zòng zi) to feed the fish. This way, the fish would eat the rice instead of Qu Yuan’s body.
Later, the people kept throwing in the 粽子 on the fifth day of the fifth month as a way of paying their respects to the poet. This is where and how the Dragon Boat Festival, sometimes called Poet’s Day (since Qu Yuan was a poet) started.
Customs, Traditions and Activities Today
Besides the obvious, dragon boat racing from the name of the festival, during this holiday there are also other popular activities.
The main food during this celebration is 粽子! This delicious food is basically glutinous rice stuffed with a variety of different fillings (red beans, pork, peanuts, dates, etc.) and wrapped in bamboo. Usually, they are steamed or boiled. Here’s how to wrap the 粽子.
Drinking realgar wine is another common activity during this festival. The Chinese believed that realgar was an antidote for all kinds of poisons. This is why drinking realgar wine would be the most effective way to drive away evil spirits.
Many people will also wear perfume, scented medicine pouches. These pouches are made from colorful silk cloth and tied as decoration to children’s clothes. These pouches are supposed to protect the children from evil.
Other activities include: hanging mugwort leaves and calamus to discourage disease, taking long walks as well as trying to stand an egg up at exactly noon. If one is successful in having the egg stand up on its tip, they will have good luck in the coming year.
One interesting household legend that many know about this festival is the romantic tale of the white snake turing into a maiden, going to West Lake in Hangzhou and falling in love with Xu Xian (许仙). You can check out this bilingual story here.
Dragon Boat Racing Competitions
The official governing organization over this sport is the International Dragon Boat Federation. The dragon boat racing competitions are held not only in China but all around the world. This year, the IDBF Championships are going to be held in Szeged, Hungary.
Typically, the boats are shaped like dragons since the Chinese believed that dragons ruled over the rivers, lakes and other bodies of water.
The race is usually a kind of sprint, ranging only a few hundred meters (typically 500 meters long). However, there are also long distance endurance races, the Guinness World record being 227 kilometers (relay race) held by the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Association.
The contemporary boat has 22 people, 20 paddlers, one drummer and one steerer at the rear of the boat; however, traditionally, there could be an upwards of 50 or more people in a boat.
Top 3 Must Know Words
1. 赛龙舟(sài lóng zhōu): dragon boat racing; racing dragon boats
2. 粽子 (zòng zi): zongzi; glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves with a variety of fillings (here’s a cool video on how to cook them)
3. 诗人节 (shī rén jiē): Poet’s Day Hope that was helpful, happy celebrating
端午節的禁忌
現在，人們貌似以為端午節是一個像春節一樣歡樂吉祥的日子，而很少有人知道，端午節實際上是一個諸事不宜的禁忌日子。
在先秦時代，普遍認為五月是個毒月，五日是惡日，相傳這天邪佞當道，五毒並出。據《禮記》載，端午源於周代的蓄蘭沐浴。《呂氏春秋》中《仲夏記》一章規定人們在五月要禁慾、齋戒。《夏小正》中記：“此日蓄藥，以蠲除毒氣。”《大戴禮》中記，“五月五日蓄蘭為沐浴”以浴驅邪認為重五是死亡之日的傳說也很多。
《史記·孟嘗君列傳》記歷史上有名的孟嘗君，在五月五日出生。其父要其母不要生下他，認為“五月子者，長於戶齊，將不利其父母。”《風俗通》佚文，“俗說五月五日生子，男害父，女害母”。《論衡》的作者王充也記述：“諱舉正月、五月子；以正月、五月子殺父與母，不得舉也。”
東晉大將王鎮惡五月初五生，其祖父便給他取名為“鎮惡”。宋徽宗趙佶五月初五生，從小寄養在宮外。
可見，古代以五月初五為惡日，是普遍現象。可見從先秦以後，此日均為不吉之日。這樣，在此日插菖蒲、艾葉以驅鬼，薰蒼朮、白芷和喝雄黃酒以避疫，就是順理成章的事。並且人們還避“端五”忌諱，稱之為“端午”。
那麼端午節有哪些主要禁忌呢？
一、陽刃之日，毒氣攻身。
此日為五月初五，從農曆氣象上看，正是夏至左右，故也是一年之中陽氣最盛的日子；也是實際上的羊刃日，這個農曆的五月，陽刃為凶，本來就是所謂的“毒月”，共有“九毒日”，而端午又是“九毒”之首，故稱為“毒日”。而從五行上看，任何一種五行過旺或過衰，都會形成邪氣，都會對自然氣候或人身健康，構成威脅與傷害；何況這個時節，也是毒蟲壞蟲肆虐猖獗的時候；故這一天需要在房門上，插艾、插桃技、插菖莆以驅鬼；薰蒼朮、白芷、喝雄黃酒，或在兒童身上灑雄黃酒，以驅蟲避邪，保障健康。
二、祭祀之日，陰氣傷身。
端午節的一個最重要最普遍的內容，就是祭祀先人。不但祭祀投江自盡的詩人屈原，有的地方還祭祀忠臣伍子婿，祭祀孝女曹娥等，這天要包很多粽子，然後把粽子投入江中，就像給死人上墳一樣，而剩下的則自己享用，所以粽子實際上也是一種祭祀供品。而祭祀時難免產生悲傷，故此日也像清明節一樣，人為製造出很強的陰氣，而這些陰氣，與陽氣一樣，也會傷害心理與身體比較弱質的人；如抑鬱寡歡，心情不好，身體痛苦等等。故端午節這天，是諸事不宜的，更不適合上任、搬家、動工、開業、結婚、慶典等喜慶活動；也不適合參加娛樂活動等，而歸寧父母，與家人團聚才是正確的選擇。
三、九毒之日，嚴禁房事。
前面講過，五月為九毒月，而端午為九毒首日，毒氣攻身，邪氣旺盛，又傳說為天地交泰之日，非常不適合男女交歡，故古訓嚴禁房事，這個並不是迷信，而是非常自然的科學道理。因為天地氣場不正的時候，必然會影響到人的身心，所以如在九毒日交歡房事，必須會中邪毒傷身體。而古人是非常聰明的，為了防止有些人貪戀性慾，不能自持，而犯了禁忌，故把這天，定為“歸寧日”。什麼是“歸寧”？歸寧就是出嫁的女子回娘家省親。按說從五月初一到初五，女子應該歸寧，在父母家度過，夫妻分開，這樣就從客觀上，消除了不慎房事的條件，也保障了當事人的身體健康；同時端午節這天也不適合生孩子（能忍的就再忍幾天吧）。接下來還有八個毒日，基本涵蓋了整個農曆的五月，故有些地方，便講究在整個五月禁止房事，以避邪毒。
總結以上禁忌，可以簡單歸納為三條：
1、端午節毒氣傷人，需要插艾桃、掛菖莆、喝灑雄黃酒等，以驅毒避邪。
2、端午節祭祀悲傷，需要結伴郊遊，或與家人團聚，以調節身心健康。
3、端午節邪毒傷身，需要嚴禁房事，女子歸寧父母，是最好的避災方法。
當然，按地方風俗，端午節的禁忌，還遠不止這些，還有很多，比如在端午節這天，也不適合生孩子等（選擇剖腹產的妹紙注意啦，一定要避開端午節），但最重要的，也是必須做到的，就是以上三條，切忌疏忽大意
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