Dragon Boat Festival originated from the worship of natural phenomena and evolved from the ancient Dragon Boat Festival. The origins of the Dragon Boat Festival include: paying homage to Qu Yuan, paying homage to Wu Zixu, filial piety to his daughter Cao E, intermediary introduction, honest official Chen Lin, King Gou Jian of Yue, avoiding evil spirits, and summer solstice. , but the most widely circulated is qu yuan memorial hall in zigui county. According to legend, Qu Yuan, a poet of Chu State in the Warring States Period, committed suicide by jumping on the Miluo River on the fifth day of May, and the Chu people never gave up. Later, this custom was handed down and gradually developed into the Dragon Boat Festival custom of racing dragon boats and eating zongzi.
I think three of the many origins of the Dragon Boat Festival are worth mentioning. Let's take a look:
? One of the origins of Dragon Boat Festival: in memory of Qu Yuan?
According to the history book Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Sheng, Qu Yuan (about 339 BC-about 278 BC) and Danyang (now Zigui, Yichang, Hubei) were ministers in the Spring and Autumn Period.
According to legend, Qu Yuan advocated using talents and empowering people to make them rich, and urged them to unite against Qin, which was strongly opposed by others. Qu Yuan was deposed, expelled from the capital, and exiled to the Yuan and Xiang river basins. During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote poems such as Li Sao, Tian Wen and Jiu Ge, which worried about the country and the people. In 278 BC, Qin Jun invaded Kyoto, Chu. Qu Yuan was heartbroken to see his motherland being invaded, but he was reluctant to give up his motherland. On May 5th, after he wrote his last poem "Huai Sha", he plunged into the Miluo River and wrote a magnificent patriotic movement with his own life. After Qu Yuan threw himself into the river, the local people immediately rowed to rescue him. 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. After that, on the fifth day of May every year, there is the custom of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. In memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, this is a story told by Qu Yuan.
According to literature records, the myth novel Continued Harmony written by Wu Yun of Southern Liang Dynasty in the Southern and Northern Dynasties first linked Qu Yuan to the Dragon Boat Festival. At this time, Qu Yuan has been dead for more than 750 years. It can be seen from the lost text of Customs Tong (written by Ying Shao at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty) copied by Ou Yangxun in the Tang Dynasty that Qu Yuan was already in the folklore of the Dragon Boat Festival when Xu Dong, the emperor gaozu, died more than 400 years ago. Although many Dragon Boat Festival customs have nothing to do with Qu Yuan, Qu Yuan's patriotic spirit and touching poems have been deeply rooted in people's hearts for thousands of years, so people "cherish it as filial piety, tell it to the world and spread it to the Tao". Therefore, the theory of commemorating Qu Yuan has the widest and deepest influence and occupies the mainstream position. In the field of folk culture, China people associate dragon boat racing and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival with commemorating Qu Yuan.
? The second origin of Dragon Boat Festival: filial daughter Cao E said?
Cao E is a famous filial daughter in the history of China. She was from Shangyu, Huiji, Han Dynasty. Cao E's father's name is Cao Xu. According to this book, Cao Xu is a wizard who can sing and dance. In the second year of Han 'an, that is, the fifth day of May in A.D. 143, Cao was unfortunately drowned in Shunjiang during the ritual activities to welcome Wu Zixu, and his body was never found. At that time, Cao E was only fourteen years old. In order to find her father, Cao E was heartbroken and cried day and night by the river. In this way, after seventeen days, Cao E also threw herself into the river.
Five days later, Cao E floated out of the river holding the body of his father Cao Xu, which became a strange story and spread to the county government. At that time, Shangyu county magistrate specially erected a monument for it, and invited his student and famous writer Han Danchun to eulogize it. This is the famous stone tablet of Cao E, also known as Duchamp Cao E's obituary or Cao E's obituary. It is said that after the completion of Cao E Monument, countless literati paid tribute to it. Cai Yong, a famous writer and calligrapher in the Eastern Han Dynasty, is one of them. In addition, there are Cao Cao and Yang Xiu. Cao E's filial piety has also become famous.
Since then, the village where Cao E lived has been renamed as Cao E Town, and the river mourning his father has also been renamed as Cao E River. The imperial court also established a temple to comfort his filial piety, and people respected Cao E as the "filial queen". In order to commemorate Cao E's great filial piety, later generations held a sacrificial ceremony to commemorate Cao E on the fifth day of May, that is, the Dragon Boat Festival, which is also called the filial piety festival.
Filial piety is the most profound ethical concept of the Chinese nation. Zeng Guofan, the "first minister of the late Qing Dynasty", once said with emotion: "Reading all the books in the world is nothing more than a word of filial piety." A word of filial piety can reflect the overall characteristics of China traditional culture. On the occasion of the Dragon Boat Festival, everyone should take this opportunity to inherit and carry forward the culture of filial piety, interpret the connotation of filial piety with actions, and create a social fashion of respecting and loving the elderly and being grateful to their parents!
The third origin of Dragon Boat Festival: in memory of Wu Zixu?
On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the Dragon Boat Festival was held in Gulang Village, Xingtan, Shunde, Guangdong. More than 500 people from the local Wu family in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Taishan, Sihui, Rongxian, Guangxi and Gulang attended this grand traditional folk festival.
Gulang Village is located in Xingtan Town, Shunde, 5.5 kilometers northwest of the town center, facing Ganzhu Beach, with an area of 5.42 square kilometers and a registered population of more than 4,800. Gulang Village is known as "Xijiang goes to Gulang first". There are many waterways and ancient bridges in the village. Gulang, a little-known ancient village, is a "paradise" with small bridges and flowing water, ancestral temples everywhere, ancient temples everywhere and lush trees.
The "Xuwang (Wu Zixu) Cultural Festival and Wu Zixu Sacrifice Ceremony of Gulang Dragon Boat Festival" held in Gulang Village is the second time this year. This traditional folk activity embodies the nostalgia, affection and national feelings, and fully embodies the good fashion of the Wu clan in Gulang Village to care for their ancestors and love their country. The ceremony was held in Wugong Temple in southern Sichuan, showing Wu's solemnity and style!
After the ceremony, representatives from Shunde Gulang Shunan Caring Association, Hong Kong Xingtan Association, Shunde Wu Association and Xushan Monthly Publishing House successively delivered speeches. After that, eulogy was read out, and ancestor worship and parade were held.
Speaking of the origin of Dragon Boat Festival, everyone knows Qu Yuan, but few people know Wu Zixu. Another explanation about the origin of Dragon Boat Festival is related to the story of Wu Zixu. Suzhou people, in particular, only worship Wu Zixu and not Qu Yuan during the Dragon Boat Festival, knowing the story of Wu Zixu's growing old overnight.
Wu Zixu, a native of Chu, abandoned the dark and turned to the bright, helped Wu attack Chu, and invaded Ying City, the capital of Chu, in the Five Wars. After the death of the King of Wu, his son Fu Cha succeeded to the throne, and Wu Jun's morale was high and he defeated Yue. Gou Jian, the King of Yue, made peace, and Fu Cha agreed. Zi Xu suggested the complete elimination of Yue State, but Fu Cha did not listen. Tu Wu was bribed by the state of Yue to frame Zi Xu, but Fu Cha believed it and slandered Zi Xu to commit suicide. Zi Xu is a loyal person. Before he died, he said to his neighbor: After I die, I will gouge out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Jason Wu, watching the Vietnamese army enter the city and destroy Wu. Focha heard that the body of the child was put into the river on May 5th. The people of Wu cherished Wu Zixu & prime; s patriotism and loyalty, and since then, the Dragon Boat Festival has been held every year to commemorate Xugong.