However, there are exceptions. The Dragon Boat Festival in Wu Dong always commemorates Wu Zixu, who was thrown into the great river on May 5th, instead of Qu Yuan. Moreover, the custom of holding tribal totem sacrifice on this day in wuyue is much earlier than in the Spring and Autumn Period. On the Dragon Boat Festival, there are customs of eating zongzi, racing dragon boats, hanging calamus, wormwood, wormwood leaves, smoked atractylodes rhizome, angelica dahurica and drinking realgar wine. "Dragon Boat Festival" is one of the national legal holidays and is listed in the world intangible cultural heritage list.
Legend has it that the Dragon Boat Festival commemorates Qu Yuan, a Chu poet in the Warring States Period, who committed suicide in the Miluo River on the fifth day of May. Qu Ping, formerly known as Qu Yuan, was born in Danyang (now Zigui, Hubei Province) at the end of the Warring States Period and descended from Qu Xian, the son of Xiong Tong in Chu Wuwang. Although Qu Yuan was loyal to Chu Huaiwang, he was repeatedly rejected. After the death of King Huai, Xiang Wang was exiled because he listened to slanderers, and finally died in the Miluo River.
This theory originated from the Peace of Continuation of Qi written by Wu Jun in the Liang Dynasty and the Chronicle of Jingchu in the Southern Dynasty. It is said that after Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River, the local people immediately rowed for rescue, and all the way to Dongting Lake, but Qu Yuan's body was never seen. It was raining at that time, and the boats on the lake gathered at the pavilion on the shore. When people learned that it was to salvage the sage Dr. Qu, they went out in the rain and rushed into the vast Dongting Lake.
In order to mourn, people rowed on rivers, and later it gradually developed into a dragon boat race. People were afraid that fish in the river would eat his body, so they went home and threw rice balls into the river to prevent fish and shrimp from ruining Qu Yuan's body. Later, eating zongzi became a custom. Eating zongzi and racing dragon boats on the Dragon Boat Festival seems to be related to commemorating Qu Yuan, as evidenced by Wen Xiu's poem "Dragon Boat Festival" in the Tang Dynasty: "The festival is divided into Dragon Boat Festival, and it is rumored that it is Qu Yuan. It is ridiculous that the Chu River is empty and cannot be washed directly. "
"Zongzi is fragrant, and the kitchen is fragrant. Folium Artemisiae Argyi smells fragrant. Peach branches are inserted in the grating, and you can see the wheat yellow when you go out. It's sunny here, sunny there and sunny everywhere. " This is a popular song describing the ancient Dragon Boat Festival. Generally speaking, people all over the world have the same custom of celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival. Eating zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival is the same in China.