The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival: According to the historical records in memory of Qu Yuan, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 278 BC, Qu Yuan, a doctor and patriotic poet of the State of Chu, was heartbroken with grief and indignation. He resolutely wrote his masterpiece Huai Sha and threw himself into the Miluo River. People along the river are racing to salvage with boats, evoking souls along the water surface and throwing zongzi into the river to prevent fish and shrimp from eating into his body. This custom has lasted for more than two thousand years.
For thousands of years, Qu Yuan's patriotic spirit and touching poems have been deeply rooted in people's hearts. People "remember it, mourn it, pass on its words to the world and pass it on." In the field of folk culture, China people have since closely linked the dragon boat race and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival with the commemoration of Qu Yuan. With the growing influence of Qu Yuan, the Dragon Boat Festival, which began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, gradually spread and became a festival of the Chinese nation.
The second origin of the Dragon Boat Festival: In memory of the filial daughter Cao E, on May 5th one year, Cao E's father sang "Meeting God" again with the expectation of the local people. He was caught in a storm and disappeared from the vast river. Fourteen-year-old Cao E hurried to the river to find her father after hearing the news. A few days later, she still couldn't find her father's whereabouts, but she remained stubbornly by the river for nearly twenty days, with no result, so she resolutely jumped into the boundless river. Five days later, Cao E surfaced with her father's body in her arms. When she was found, she had stopped breathing.
Cao E, a child of 14 years old, has been looking for her father, even though she knows he can't survive. In the flower season, I lost my life early in order to be filial. This true story is recorded in Ye Fan's Book of the Later Han Dynasty in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, as well as in other historical materials. Local officials felt it, so they buried them later and built a monument to praise Cao E's filial piety. Since then, on May 5 every year, local people will solemnly commemorate Cao E. ..
The origin of Dragon Boat Festival III: Commemorating Wu Zixu's "The Chronicle of Jingchu": "On May 5, Wu Jun will be welcomed." Wu Zixu devoted himself to being killed, and his body was thrown into the river and turned into a pottery god. On the fifth day of May every year, menarche appears at the mouth of Qiantang River, and people follow the tide by boat, hoping to see Wu Zixu.
Wu Zixu was very talented and won the trust of He Lv, the prince of Wu. He was loyal and helped the king of Wu to break the strong Chu in the west, unite the gold in the north and serve the Vietnamese in the south, and the national strength of Wu reached its peak. After the death of Yan Lu, the king of Wu, he continued to assist Fu Cha to ascend to the throne and helped Wu defeat Yue.
Wu Zixu analyzed that due to the limitation of natural conditions, wuyue can only have one of the two, so he advocated that the state of Yue must perish. However, Fu Cha, the king of Wu, prided himself on his exploits, listened to Bo's slanderers and let Yue live. And put Wu Zixu to death. On the fifth day of May, Zixu's body was taken away, wrapped in leather and put into the river.
Three years after Wu Zixu's death, Wu was destroyed by Yue, and Fu Cha hid his face and committed suicide. The people of Wu miss Wu Zixu, the pillar of the country. For thousands of years, there has been a saying in Jiangsu and Zhejiang that after Wu Zixu's death, his faithful soul will never die, which became Shen Tao's saying. The Dragon Boat Festival is a day to commemorate Wu Zixu.