Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival, a traditional Chinese holiday, begins tomorrow, June 3! Leimande bag company wishes everyone a safe and enjoyable Dragon Boat Festival. Here, let's take a look at the Dragon Boat Festival's beginnings.

In remembrance of Qu Yuan

Qu Yuan was a minister of King Huai of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period, according to the "Historical Records", "Qu Yuan Jia Sheng." He campaigned for the promotion of knowledgeable and capable people, a rich country, and a strong army, as well as an alliance with Qi against Qin, which was vehemently opposed by noblemen like Zilan, Qu Yuan was greedy dismissal, was driven out of the city, and exiled to Yuan, Xiang basin. He was in exile and penned "Li Sao," "Heavenly Questions," "Nine Songs," and other immortal poetry, all with a unique style and far-reaching impact (hence the Dragon Boat Festival's alternative name, Poet's Day). The Qin army conquered China in 278 B.C.

According to legend, the people of Chu mourned Qu Yuan's death and came to the Miluo River to pay their respects to him. Fishermen rowed their boats up the river to recover his body. One fisherman dropped rice balls, eggs, and other food prepared for Qu Yuan into the river, claiming that when the fish, dragons, shrimp, and crabs had eaten enough, they would not bite Qu's body. After witnessing this, others followed suit. To avoid hurting Qu Yuan, an ancient physician carried a jar of Xiong Huang wine and poured it into the river. People later came up with neem leaves as a substitute for rice balls because they were afraid the dragon would eat them.

Later in the year, on the fifth day of the fifth month, there is a tradition of dragon boat racing, eating zongzi, and sipping Xionghuang wine to celebrate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.

Recalling Wu Zixu

The Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC-476 BC) of Wu Zixu is commemorated in the second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival, which is extensively disseminated throughout Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Wu Zixu was a Chu native whose father and brother were both slaughtered by the Chu king, but later Zixu abandoned the darkness for the light and fled to Wu, assisting Wu in the conquest of Chu, and fighting five battles to take the Chu capital of Ying. King Ping of Chu had already dead at the time, but Zixu excavated the grave and lashed 300 corpses to avenge his father and brother's deaths.King Helu of Wu's son Fucha ascended to the throne after his father's death, and the Wu army was in great spirits, having won over a hundred battles.Fu Cha refused to listen to Zixu's suggestion that the state of Yue be utterly annihilated. "After I die, hang my eyes on the east gate of Wu's capital to observe the Yue army enter the city and destroy Wu," he said to his neighbor before killing himself. The news infuriated Fucha, who ordered Zixu's body to be taken and thrown into the river in leather on May 5, which is why the Dragon Boat Festival is also a day to remember Wu Zixu.

Derived from the ancient Guyue people's totemic rites

A large number of unearthed objects and recent archaeological research have established that a form of Neolithic cultural remnant defined by geometric printed pottery existed in the vast area of the Yangtze River's middle and lower reaches during the Neolithic period. The surviving clan, according to experts, belonged to a faction that worshiped the dragon's emblem—ancient Baiyue's name. They had the tradition of breaking hair and tattooing, dwelling in the water township, and comparing themselves to the descendants of the dragon, according to ornaments on the unearthed pottery and historical legends.Small bronze tools like shovels and chisels are among their production tools, which contain a great number of stone tools. Cooking food on the seal pattern pottery tripod is distinctive to them as a household item of jars and pots, and it is one of their community's symbols. There were still Baiyue people until the Qin and Han dynasties, and the Dragon Boat Holiday was a festival they devised for ancestor worship.