In the Northwest, the Dragon Boat Festival is also considered a lively and interesting festival. As early as half a month ago, the streets were full of women and men buying flowers, ropes and scented sachets.
The Dragon Boat Festival in my hometown is very important to all families. The most important part of the festival is to hang the wormwood, eat the oil cake and dumplings, and wear the flower and flower ropes and scented sachets.
When I was a kid, the night before the Dragon Boat Festival was the busiest time for my mother to make flower ropes and handmade scented bags for the children. The little Dragon Boat Festival is not just a simple festival, but an opportunity for mothers to secretly compare their crafts. The first is to see who's mother's scent bags do more fancy, handmade fine, smell who's herb to put the right amount of.
The main styles of scented bags are the following: flowers and plants: plum blossoms, peach blossoms, chrysanthemums used to do the shape of the most scented bags, one of them is a good significance, and the second is that they are simple and easy to do the shape of the flower. The second is the animal class: animal class scented sachet is mainly twelve zodiac signs. What is the child's zodiac sign, wearing what pattern of scented sachets look good and auspicious. The third type of balm style is fruit: pomegranate peach watermelon apple are the most common pattern. The fourth category is vegetables: carrots, cabbage, spicy pumpkin gourd to do the most opportunities for scented sachets.
Now on the market for sale of scented sachets, color varieties are even more varied. What pandas all kinds of vehicles all kinds of modern accessories are used to make the shape of the scented bag.
The practice of the hometown scented sachet is like this. First choose a good colorful cloth, silk is the most appropriate, silk gloss and soft easy to mold. Cut out the basic shape of the sachet to be made, with the appropriate clean cotton dipped in the vanilla powder bought earlier, with the cut flower cloth wrapped in the cotton dipped in vanilla powder, and then sewed with a needle and thread to make the desired shape. After sewing, in the end of the scent bag fell a wear a thin rope, a scent bag is completed.
Some of the flower cloth used in the scented bag, is white cloth printing and dyeing patterns, to make the scented bag more elegant and generous. Scented sachets are always worn with a floral rope. Flower rope is to use five-color line (can be more) knot out of the thin rope. On the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival, mothers always get up early to give their children to wear the five-color flower flower rope and scented sachets. In the old country, the children's feet on the hands of the neck are wrapped in the flower flower rope, and scented sachets to wear together, it is said that can prevent the five poisonous harm.
Hanging wormwood on the lintel is one of the most necessary and important activities of the Dragon Boat Festival in the hometown. Dragon Boat Festival early in the morning, men and women get up before dawn to the side of the ditches and rivers to pick wormwood. The hometown grows wormwood place especially much, casually go out can be found. Wormwood and wild another kind of artemisia is very visual, that kind of artemisia leaves pointed thin, the back of the green, artemisia leaves oval some, the back is grayish white. Children can not distinguish, pick back most of the artemisia rather than wormwood.
The center of the Dragon Boat Festival custom is to get rid of poison and avoid disasters, to protect health and seek good luck. The insertion of calamus, Artemisia absinthium, calamus, and Artemisia have long been believed to have the dual value of avoiding evil spirits and medicinal use, thus generating a series of customs. Artemisia absinthium has traditionally been made into the Ai Man, Tianshi Ai, Ai Tiger and other aversive objects. Ai people early in the Liang Zong security hours, "Jing Chu chronicle", the book cloud: "May 5, the four people and spoiled the hundred grass, there is a fight with the play of the hundred grass. Pick Ai as a person, hanging on the portal, to avoid poisonous gas."
China's traditional medicine, Artemisia absinthium is pungent, bitter, warm, into the liver, spleen, kidney three meridians, have warm menstruation to stop bleeding, cold pain, menstruation and fetus, dehumidification and itching, menstruation and activation of collaterals and other functions. Artemisia can be eaten or used for acupuncture. It is said that the wild Artemisia annua is usually ripe by the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Dragon Boat Festival is the most appropriate time to pick Artemisia annua.
Hometown Dragon Boat Festival eat two things can not be missing. The two things to eat at the Dragon Boat Festival in your hometown are two things you can't live without. The first one is the one that you can see in the north and the south. The practice of oil cake is more common in the north. The flour, take can wrap a dumpling so much, rolled out by hand, the middle of the flour sugar mixed into the filling, dough into a round, on the pan deep-fried. The oil cake is crispy and sweet. Pure white sugar to do filling sugar more easy to overflow, live some flour can avoid that loss.
Now, the Dragon Boat Festival in the city, the same lively and interesting. Hanging artemisia, eating dumplings, with flowers and ropes, wearing a scented bag are not less. Only all this is not like the old home as need to do it yourself. Everything has been commercialized. Dragon Boat Festival day, the street to buy anything, Artemisia absinthium is also the nearby village farmers early with the car to the city, two dollars a small piece of artemisia. Flowers and ropes are also bought on the street, now these young mothers, often have to calculate to do and buy that more cost-effective. The buy is cost-effective, just less a hands-on fun.
Last year on the Dragon Boat Festival, I also had to get up early and take the opportunity to go out for a run to experience the fun of picking mugwort with a friend. After half a morning, I found nothing. I don't know whether it's because there is less wormwood now, or there is no suitable environment for the growth of wormwood near the city. Anyway, I didn't find a single wormwood. Perhaps Artemisia was originally only like to grow in the wilderness ditch, born with the prosperous and noisy have nothing to do.
All the activities of the Dragon Boat Festival are to reflect a center. The first is to avoid the evil spirits and drive away the plague. We do not have the habit of drinking Xionghuang wine in the Northwest. It is said that after drinking the wine and bringing flowery ropes and scented pouches, the five poisons can't get close to you. Xu Xian in The Tale of the White Snake lost his immortal destiny because of a cup of Xionghuang wine. I think the white lady is also no eyesight, a thousand years to repair so a confused and weak to her still suspicious of Xu official ......
Year after year there is a Dragon Boat Festival, the years of people are different. Next year's scented pouch for whom incense, next year's xionghuang wine who sent ......
Hometown of the Dragon Boat Festival
Midday meal, the mother brought out a few rice dumplings, said the downstairs neighbors to give the gift, and only then thought of the Dragon Boat Festival is approaching.
Leaving home for several years, I do not know whether the Dragon Boat Festival in my hometown is still as lively as when I was a child, but the memory of the situation is still so clear.
The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival naturally do not have to detail, the southern part of the place as usual is the Dragon Boat Race, my hometown in the Central Plains, naturally, there is none of these, but it is also a very grand treatment.
On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, families have to insert a few bunches of leaves at the door, one is to avoid evil spirits, the second is to put mosquitoes. Dumplings also eat, just will not package, only to the street to buy, so the dumplings are not the protagonist of the Dragon Boat Festival. At that time the rural areas are generally poorer, parents will cook some eggs and garlic to small children to eat, is also considered a festival. I remember when I was a kid, I put a boiled egg in my bag, and I would touch it with each other, and whoever broke it would be taken by the winner and eaten, and I would not be allowed to regret it, so it was a bit of a gentleman's style.
In fact, the festival is for children, when parents love children, so before the Dragon Boat Festival will be prepared for the children to celebrate things, is more solemn. There are a few objects that are roughly as follows.
Xionghuang, is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine, parents buy mashed and water into a paste, in the children's ears, small buttocks, heels coated, said that the evil spirits, in fact, at that time are some of the earth house, and there is no mosquito incense and other mosquito things, had to take these things as a bug repellent. At that time the most annoying is this, an unpleasant odor, now think of a piece of the parents' hard work ah.
Colorful line, that is, with a variety of colors of the line lemon into a colorful line, colorful is very good-looking, these lines tied to the wrists and ankles and neck, like a coil. My parents warned me not to take them off for less than ten days, or the colorful threads would turn into snakes. Of course, at that time was afraid of snakes, had to be careful to look good, do not dare to take off easily.
Xiangbao, is embroidered with cloth into a variety of styles of purse, packed with many spices, probably some like to watch classical opera friends know that there is a play called "Xiangbao Zhi", said this thing. Dragon Boat Festival, the most rich in static beauty and warmth of the atmosphere than the production and wear incense packets, incense packets, also known as scented sachets, also known as Xinxiang. To live due to the medicine is not developed, people will have a bactericidal effect of xionghuang, mugwort and other herbs into a powder with a cloth wrapped up to wear in the chest, the use of the aroma it emits to make the summer insects and bacteria are not infested, which is the origin of the bag of incense. This is the origin of the fragrant buns. Therefore, before the Dragon Boat Festival, there are many hawkers going from house to house selling silk threads and spices. Parents bought them and made scented bags for their children, including diamond-shaped ones, moon shaped ones, animals, foot-holding dolls and so on. They were very pretty, with the dried stems of garlic cut into small pieces and strung on silk threads to fall underneath the scented sachet, making it a fine craft. Girls also began to carefully embroider up, to their lovers, compare each other to see who embroidered the best, natural wearer is the heart of the sweet Zizi. It can be seen that the scented bag is also a love token for young boys and girls.
Speaking of scented pouches, there is a custom, that is, the girls on the scented pouches can be robbed, if you see which girls on the scented pouches look good, you can boldly go to grab, although the girls dodge not to let, but not annoyed, you grabbed her will not go to, and more will not scold you. But the premise is that you have to be thick-skinned point, the general girl or will not easily let you snatch. If there is a girl to give you a scent bag, that means she likes you, if you wear on the body, it implies that the girl you also like her.
But unfortunately, at that time, although I often grabbed a lot of scented bags, there are girls to give me, but just as a child's game, and not so much heart. Indeed, it is a pity to let down a piece of the young girl's mood, some pity.
The original form of the Dragon Boat Festival
Wu Bing'an
The Dragon Boat Festival is a big folk festival in China, which is not only celebrated in every household, but also held in some places with rich and colorful festivals, including the ancient custom of sacrificing the river to invoke the soul in honor of Qu Yuan. In fact, this festival has been passed down from the earliest days as a festival to get rid of diseases and plagues, to avoid soldiers and ghosts, and to drive away evil spirits and avoid disasters. Among the activities of the Dragon Boat Festival, such as wrapping zongzi with colorful silk, wrapping hands and feet, wrapping rice zongzi with neem leaves, picking and inserting moxa leaves and calamus, fetching toadstools, applying and drinking xionghuang wine, making vermilion wine, picking a variety of herbs, and hanging Zhong Kui's portrait or symbols of evil spirits, etc. are all unrelated to commemorating Qu Yuan. Even in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, there are some places that regard the Dragon Boat Festival as a commemoration of Wu Zixu, or a commemoration of King Goujian and the filial daughter Cao Moth, which has nothing to do with the death of Qu Yuan. It can be seen that the Dragon Boat Festival, as a folk festival of each place, has its own content of commemorating local historical figures; however, as a national folk festival, the Dragon Boat Festival is a large-scale pestilence and poison repellent activity before the scorching summer heat as its main content. Of course, in addition to the prevention of disasters and diseases, the ancient plague with a lot of popular belief color. Because of this, the festival's folklore meaning is more intense.
The ancients popularized the Dragon Boat Festival picking Ai hanging Ai, painted drink Xionghuang wine, the meaning of the plague detoxification is very obvious. However, the significance of hanging colorful silk to drive away evil spirits is more complex.
Five-color silk is by no means a colorful colorful silk thread, but to determine the red, yellow, blue, white, black five colors of silk thread merged into a wisp of rope. May 5 this day, adults tied it on the shoulder arm; or made of five-color silk bracelet, wrapped around the children's hands and feet on the wrist, or hanging in the mosquito net, cradle on the?
Five-color silk, also commonly known as five-color silk. Ancient common name for avoiding military bindings, Zhu Suo and so on. Tied to the mosquito net, cradle on the rope is also known as the Wan Wan, Jian rope. As early as in the Eastern Han Ying Shao wrote "customs" has been recorded that it is tied to the arm can be avoided to avoid soldiers and ghosts, do not dye disease plague. In the "Continuation of the Han Book", "After the Han Book", the day of the Dragon Boat Festival with Zhu Suo, five-color seal as a portal decoration, that can prevent the evil spirit. The five colors of the five-color silk represents the five elements, the Han Dynasty belief in the five elements of yin and yang, the five colors also represents the five directions, each other, with a mysterious role in driving away evil and welcoming good luck. Green is wood, on behalf of the East, red is fire, on behalf of the South, yellow is earth, on behalf of the center, white is gold, on behalf of the West, black is water, on behalf of the North. Taking animals as symbols, the East is the Green Dragon, the South is the Vermilion Bird, the West is the White Tiger, the North is the Xuanwu (Tortoise and Snake), and the center is the Yellow Dragon, all of which are spiritual beings. The symbolism of the five-colored silks being able to ward off evil spirits and plague is far more obvious than the actual function, as there is no specific explanation as to why these colors would eliminate plague and disease to this day. It can be seen that this is a belief in the magic and symbol of the magical things, and festivals with moxa leaves, calamus, andrographis and other medical functions are obviously different, purely folk beliefs on the need.
But, on the other hand, the festival of five-color silk and fully express the meaning of congratulations. Children with five-color silk neck, wrapped around the hands and feet wrist, commonly known as long-life wisp, renewed wisp, centenarian rope, healthy rope. Liao dynasty northern ethnic women in the Dragon Boat Festival tied five-color silk on the arm, commonly known as the Acacia knot, Liao women to colorful silk zha into a human hairpin in a bun, also known as the long-life wisp. Liao and Jin emperors Department of five-color silk, and all the five-color silk given to the group of ministers and bureaucrats, also known as the gift of longevity strand. Jiangnan with paper and silk folded rhombus square and then wrapped in colorful silk, in the festival of gifts to each other, women will be called "crease square" festive ornaments adorned in the chest, to show women in the women's labor achievements. These customs have not much to do with avoiding soldiers and ghosts and getting rid of diseases and plagues, but more from the positive blessings to wish longevity. This is exactly the Dragon Boat Festival in driving away evil spirits to avoid the plague at the same time with the positive theme of congratulations and prayers for longevity.
The Dragon Boat Festival dietary practices in addition to drinking Xionghuang wine, the most prominent representative is to eat zongzi. Zongzi, the ancient name of corn. This food was popular as early as the 2nd century AD. The earliest is a new bamboo tube with rice cooked into a tube of rice dumplings, and later changed to neem leaves, Mushroom reed leaves, bamboo leaves, reed leaves wrapped in sticky rice into the shape of a sharp corner heart, cooked and eaten. According to legend, the first popular in the Yangtze River, the Han River Basin, and the Dragon Boat Festival into the river zongzhi sacrifice Qu Yuan or feed the dragon's custom of coinciding with the circulation of the festival food. Since the Tang and Song dynasties since the zongzi become the most popular holiday food and gifts, not only the family to do, and the market also sells a variety of rice dumplings. Tang Ming Huang also recited the poem "four times the flower competition clever, nine son of zongzong fight new". Festival offerings to the gods and ancestors are also used rice dumplings. 1700 years, dumplings in a variety of ways, with the Chinese migrated around the world, the dumplings also brought to the world to become a Chinese food, fast food treasures. Zongzi has long been separated from the sacrifice of Qu Yuan, feeding the dragon of the ancient customs and cultural constraints, and become a contemporary widely popular in the world of traditional food.
The original significance of zongzi as festival food does not lie in the need for sacrifice, but mainly in the need for festivals. In the Han Dynasty, there is a very important sentence about zongzi in "Customs" that is often overlooked by scholars. It is believed that the dumplings so with Mizuko leaves wrapped sticky rice and jujube chestnut fillings, cooked with ash juice to eat is "to take the yin and yang wrapped in the image of the ......, so praise the time also". In the "Qimin Yaojutsu" also quoted in the "Terroir Records" of the note said: "sticky millet, a dumplings, a corner of corn; cover to take the yin and yang are still wrapped up, not dispersed at the time of the image also." This is the yin and yang to explain this food symbolizes the significance of seasonal features. The fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, is just the summer solstice of the festival, it happens to be the cold finally exhausted, heat to saturation, cool air will be to the midsummer season, yin and yang to each other wrapped up, even and harmonized state. At this moment the season is the most appropriate season of the year, for this ancient Dragon Boat Festival is also known as the day in the festival. In this festival to eat with sticky rice to do the cold food, with Zizou leaves, reed leaves, Ruo leaf package, cooked with ash juice to cool, color, aroma, taste distinctive, can be tasted from the festival yin and yang wrapped in the flavor. Otherwise, why do not people do as usual sticky rice to save time and trouble, in favor of time-consuming to wrap a variety of zongzi it? From this ancient traditional features, the invention of the dumplings and eating dumplings custom of the long history, but very much adapted to the natural ecological environment, choose the corresponding lifestyle of some scientific reasoning. Li Shizhen in the "Materia Medica? 6?1 grain four" in the intention of the introduction of the dumplings this food, can be seen as a festival food, but also can be said to have quite a medicinal food health value.
Finally, the dragon boat racing. Dragon boat racing is recorded as originating from the soul of Qu Yuan, which has been practiced in Chu. But this seems to be only part of the region's activities. In the Wu-Yue region, the dragon boat race was mutated into a festival for Wu Zixu or Cao E. Even in the Chu region, the dragon boat race was a festival for Qu Yuan. Even in the Chu festival of Qu Yuan's race, but also mutated from the eighth day of the month of April to open the tent to beat the boat has entered the boat race preparations, far more solemn than the festival, busy. In the "wuling race ferry" and "Jing Chu years and years of record" in the kind of warm and intense competitive description and the significance of the event has completely left the original intention of the legend for the soul of qu yuan. Before the dragon boat race were invited to the "mountain teacher" (sorcerer) sacrifices to the gods to do, divination, but also has nothing to do with invoking the soul, just to predict the winner of the bid. From which we can easily see that the dragon boat race originally had a strong competitive theme. This is very obvious in the Jiangnan water town. The north of our country has never had the Dragon Boat Festival racing customs, so there has never been sacrificed to the river for the Qu Yuan invoke the soul of the consciousness and beliefs. However, in history, there have been the traditional Duanyang horseback shooting willow and horseback batting competitions. The Khitan generals of the Liao state and the soldiers of the Jin state of the Jurchen race, all have the Duanwu festival day shooting willow, playing polo athletic legacy.
Chima shooting willow is in the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival, first set up a small willow tree in the schoolyard, the upper part of the willow trunk cut off a section of the green skin, so that the white, as the bull's-eye. And then the contestants in turn horse flick bow with featherless horizontal arrowheads shot cutting white. Competition winning ranking is: shot off the willow trunk after horse catch broken willow in the hand for the win, broken willow and can not be received in the hands of the second, in addition to shooting in the non-white, or shooting in the cut white but not broken willow with the same as those who did not shoot are negative. This festival competition is actually a very good training of military technology, and has become a custom until the end of the Qing Dynasty. As for the horseback batting is on a horse with a bow staff, staff such as crescent-shaped, soldiers divided into two teams to fight, shoot to win, and modern polo similar.
Nowadays, the dragon boat racing activities in the South has developed into an international event. And the north with the demise of the feudal military empire, the original belongs to the flag soldiers and generals of the horseback riding competition activities, and did not pass into the folk, and naturally followed by self-cancellation, the old festival events have been lost, so that the northern Dragon Boat Festival lacks the lively atmosphere that it should have. If there are conditions for rescue, excavation, finishing, the shooting willow and polo competitions and the northern peoples of the traditional riding and shooting folklore combined, there may be hope that the northern Dragon Boat Festival two large-scale festival athletic activities.
Hometown Dragon Boat Festival
Today is the Dragon Boat Festival, no Dragon Boat Festival may have more than ten years. The Dragon Boat Festival in my hometown is very grand, in my memory, I am afraid this is the most lively festival, for children, as well. New Year's Eve is the grandest, but it seems to be selfish. Families are closed their own doors, hiding in their own huts, to enjoy the reunion of the singing and laughing, and then far, tired people, will be rushed home on this day to see their relatives, sacrifices to ancestors. But the Dragon Boat Festival is not the same, just the opposite, is to go out, to go far, far away from the mountains, in the summit plains assembly, a little bit like the foreign Chongyang Festival ascension. Chongyang Festival is to be inserted before climbing high cornelian cherry, my family's Dragon Boat Festival in the door to insert "artemisia", in our family is very common in a small grass. Some people also drink Xionghuang wine. On that day, my mom usually makes a lot of eggs and garlic to eat.
The Dragon Boat Festival is not a national holiday, but many officials in my hometown still drove the people to the distant mountains to see the ethnic minorities sing and dance. Dancing seems to have always been the weak point of the Han Chinese, so it can only be to see. As for why they have to go far away to a far, far away mountain, I'm not sure, perhaps no one has ever been clear. The book says it is in memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, in Hubei and Hunan now also in the lively dragon boat race. Must still be very much related to Qu Yuan. As far as I know, these two provinces seem to be more interesting Dragon Boat Festival.
The Dragon Boat Festival is much more important for children, but of course it seems to be equally important for adults. The people who want to do business, early in the morning, all kinds of snacks, cold noodles, etc., and then hire a car to the scheduled meeting place to sell, if it is poorer, naturally, their backs to the place to earn a couple of small money. I don't know who appointed the meeting place, some classic places will have a grand meeting every year, while other places will depend on the situation. I don't know who sent out the notice, but anyway, when it was almost time for the Dragon Boat Festival, basically everyone knew what places were available for rallies. Usually it will be far away from the more famous peaks in the place, and the peaks must also be wide enough for everyone to move around. There are said to be ethnic minority dances, horse races, blue ball matches, and so on. Honestly, the various ethnic groups seem to unite the most on this day, and everyone is happy to play and enjoy each other. Ethnic minorities wore their usual rare costumes and sang and danced.
For many people, such a large gathering is the best time to meet someone. The Han Chinese are mostly to see, the young, to see the lively, young, full of eyes, the old, to their own children to find objects. Plus friends and relatives, usually rare to see, it is also the phase of the warmth, to enhance the feelings of the time. To be bold and interesting, it is also the ethnic minorities, young people will pick their favorite object on the day, and then brought home on the same day. They can't go back to their mother's house until they have a baby. I don't know if this is true, it just sounds unbelievable when I was a kid, but at the same time I thought it was so much fun.
I never went to any of the Dragon Boat Festival gatherings because it was too far away and those places were not easily accessible. The family was afraid that we would get lost and it would be a burden to carry, so they didn't let us go. At that time, my family was poor, and my father was not willing to give us lunch money. At that time, I saw the neighbors with their parents to give them lunch money, my brother and I was how envious ah. There were times when we cried because we had no money and couldn't go.
After junior high school, because of the study of tension, since then there is no opportunity to go to the Dragon Boat Festival rally. Most people in my hometown don't eat dumplings, but they do eat a lot. I've never eaten rice dumplings at home, but I like to smell the aroma of the leaves. Nowadays, far away from home, work limitations also locked up most of my time, perhaps, no, and may not have the opportunity to participate in that kind of rally, but I have learned to eat rice dumplings. Not because it is delicious, as if it is a kind of longing, every year I unconsciously will buy a few dumplings to eat.
Today I ate two dumplings, thinking of my family, melancholy full of belly; thinking of her far away, stirring up a hidden pain in the bottom of the heart.
The Dragon Boat Festival in my hometown [end of summer and sound]
City life is like the Mercedes-Benz Express, those folk festivals like an inconspicuous small station a sweep. But the shrewd businessmen seized the opportunity to launch a grand holiday gift early, in my indifferent heart again flipped up a strong plot of the native land.
Folk over the lunar calendar, the holiday is tethered to the ankle of the sun . When the reddish sunset came into the room from the north window, my mother said, "It's almost the Dragon Boat Festival." Every evening, I went to gaze at the sunset, hoping: more, more. My mother, who was a man of few words, also made preparations for cutting and pasting various kinds of paper gourds, and a few cuts were made, and realistically shaped gourds were placed in front of you. From then on, the festivities of the holiday will be presented on the doors, windows, cabinets. The years have mottled the paper cuts, but the past is still there, and the joy is still there.