Dragon Boat Festival
Dragon Boat Festival | |
---|---|
Dano, Tết Đoan Ngọ, Yukka Nu Hii |
Chinese name | |
---|---|
Hanyu Pinyin | Lóngchuánjié / Lóngzhōujié |
Wade–Giles | Lung2-chʻuan2-chieh2 / Lung2-chou1-chieh2 |
IPA | [lʊ̌ŋ.ʈʂʰwǎn.tɕjě] / [lʊ̌ŋ.ʈʂóʊ.tɕjě] |
- Double Fifth Festival
- Fifth Month Festival
- Fifth Day Festival
- 重五节 / 双五节
- 重五節 / 雙五節
- 五月節
- 五日節
Transcriptions | |
---|---|
Southern Min | |
Hokkien POJ |
|
Transcriptions | |
---|---|
Southern Min | |
Hokkien POJ | Bah-chàng-cheh / Bah-chàng-choeh |
The Dragon Boat Festival (
In September 2009, UNESCO officially approved its inclusion in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, becoming the first Chinese holiday to be selected.[1][2]
Names
The English language name for the holiday is "Dragon Boat Festival",[3] used as the official English translation of the holiday by the People's Republic of China.[4] It is also referred to in some English sources as Double Fifth Festival which alludes to the day of the festival according to the Chinese calendar.[5]
The Chinese name of the festival is pronounced differently in different
In
History
Origin
The fifth lunar month is considered an unlucky and poisonous month, and the fifth day of the fifth month especially so.[14][15] To get rid of the misfortune, people would put calamus, Artemisia, and garlic above the doors on the fifth day of the fifth month.[14][15] These were believed to help ward off evil by their strong smell and their shape (for instance, calamus leaves are shaped like swords).[15]
Venomous animals were said to appear starting from the fifth day of the fifth month, such as snakes, centipedes, and scorpions; people also supposedly get sick easily after this day.[15] Therefore, during the Dragon Boat Festival, people try to avoid this bad luck.[15] For example, people may put pictures of the five venomous creatures (snake, centipede, scorpion, lizard, toad, and sometimes spider[15]) on the wall and stick needles in them. People may also make paper cutouts of the five creatures and wrap them around the wrists of their children.[16] Big ceremonies and performances developed from these practices in many areas, making the Dragon Boat Festival a day for getting rid of disease and bad luck.
Qu Yuan
The story best known in modern China holds that the festival commemorates the death of the poet and minister
It is said that the local people, who admired him, raced out in their boats to save him, or at least retrieve his body.
During the twentieth century, Qu Yuan became considered a patriotic poet and a symbol of the people. He was promoted as a folk hero and a symbol of Chinese nationalism in the People's Republic of China after the 1949 Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War. The historian and writer Guo Moruo was influential in shaping this view of Qu.[18]
Wu Zixu
Another origin story says that the festival commemorates
Cao E
Although Wu Zixu is commemorated in southeast
Cao E is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu
Pre-existing holiday
Some modern research suggests that the stories of Qu Yuan or Wu Zixu were superimposed onto a pre-existing holiday tradition. The promotion of these stories might have been encouraged by Confucian scholars, seeking to legitimize and strengthen their influence in China. The relationship between zongzi, Qu Yuan and the festival first appeared during the early Han dynasty.[20]
The stories of both Qu Yuan and Wu Zixu were recorded in
According to historians, the holiday originated as a celebration of agriculture, fertility, and
Another theory is that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from
Another suggestion is that the festival celebrates a widespread feature of east Asian agrarian societies: the harvest of winter wheat. Offerings were regularly made to deities and spirits at such times: in the ancient Yue, dragon kings; in the ancient Chu, Qu Yuan; in the ancient Wu, Wu Zixu (as a river god); in ancient Korea, mountain gods (see
Early 20th century
In the early 20th Century the Dragon Boat Festival was observed from the first to the fifth days of the fifth month, and was also known as the Festival of Five Poisonous/Venomous Insects (simplified Chinese: 毒虫节; traditional Chinese: 毒蟲節; pinyin: Dúchóng jié; Wade–Giles: Tu2-chʻung2-chieh2). Yu Der Ling writes in chapter 11 of her 1911 memoir Two Years in the Forbidden City:
The first day of the fifth moon was a busy day for us all, as from the first to the fifth of the fifth moon was the festival of five poisonous insects, which I will explain later—also called the Dragon Boat Festival. ... Now about this Feast. It is also called the Dragon Boat Feast. The fifth of the fifth moon at noon was the most poisonous hour for the poisonous insects, and reptiles such as frogs, lizards, snakes, hide in the mud, for that hour they are paralyzed. Some medical men search for them at that hour and place them in jars, and when they are dried, sometimes use them as medicine. Her Majesty told me this, so that day I went all over everywhere and dug into the ground, but found nothing.[23]
21st century
In 2008 the Dragon Boat Festival was made a national public holiday in China.[24]
Public holiday
The festival was long marked as a cultural festival in China and is a public holiday in China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan. The People's Republic of China government established in 1949 did not initially recognize the Dragon Boat Festival as a public holiday but reintroduced it in 2008 alongside two other festivals in a bid to boost traditional culture.[25][26]
The Dragon Boat Festival is unofficially observed by the
Practices and activities
Three of the most widespread activities conducted during the Dragon Boat Festival are eating (and preparing) zongzi, drinking realgar wine, and racing dragon boats.[29]
Dragon boat racing
Zongzi (traditional Chinese rice dumpling)
A notable part of celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival is making and eating zongzi, also known as sticky rice dumplings, with family members and friends. People traditionally make zongzi by wrapping glutinous rice and fillings in leaves of reed or bamboo, forming a pyramid shape.[14] The leaves also give a special aroma and flavor to the sticky rice and fillings. Choices of fillings vary depending on regions.[14] Northern regions in China prefer sweet or dessert-styled zongzi, with bean paste,[15] jujube,[14] and nuts as fillings. Southern regions in China prefer savory zongzi, with a variety of fillings including eggs and meat.[14][15]
'Wu' (午) in the name 'Duanwu' has a pronunciation similar to that of the number 5 in multiple Chinese dialects, and thus many regions have traditions of eating food that is related to the number 5. For example, the Guangdong and Hong Kong regions have the tradition of having congee made from 5 different beans.[citation needed]
Realgar wine
Realgar wine or Xionghuang wine is a Chinese alcoholic drink that is made from Chinese liquor dosed with powdered realgar, a yellow-orange arsenic sulfide mineral.[14] It was traditionally used as a pesticide, and as a common antidote against disease and venom.[14][22] On the Dragon Boat Festival, people may put realgar wine on parts of children's faces to repel the five poisonous creatures.[31]
5-colored silk-threaded braid
In some regions of China, people, especially children, wear silk ribbons or threads of 5 colors (blue, red, yellow, white, and black, representing the five elements) on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival.[15] People believe that this will help keep evil away.[15]
Other common activities include hanging up icons of
In the early years of the
The sun is considered to be at its strongest around the time of the summer solstice, as the daylight in the northern hemisphere is the longest. The sun, like the
Gallery
-
Hari inOkinawa, Japan
-
Activities to avoid bad luck
-
A bodice worn by children, including symbols of the Five Poisonous Insects on it to deter poisonous insects, and reptiles such as frogs, lizards, snakes.
-
A dragon boat racing in San Francisco, 2008
-
Raw Rice Dumpling
-
Egg balancing in Tangerang, Indonesia
-
ROC (Taiwan) President Ma Ying-jeou visits Liang Island before Dragon Boat Festival (2010)
'恭祝總統端節愉快'
('Respectfully Wishing the President a Joyous Dragon Boat Festival')
See also
- Bon Om Touk
- Dano (Korean festival)
- Traditional Chinese holidays
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
- ^ "Dragon Boat festival - UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage". UNESCO. September 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
- ^ "端午节:中国首个入选世界非遗的节日". Weixin Official Accounts Platform. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
- ^ Chittick (2011), p. 1.
- ^ Chinese Government's Official Web Portal. "Holidays Archived May 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine". 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
- ^ "Double Fifth (Dragon Boat) Festival Archived May 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine".
- ^ Inahata, Kōichirō [in Japanese] (2007). Tango 端午 (たんご). 世界大百科事典 (revised, new ed.). Heibonsha.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) via Japanknowledge. - ^ Lowe (1983), p. 141.
- ^ "Dragon Boat Festival". Taiwan Today. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan). 1 June 1967.
- .
- ^ GovHK. " General holidays for 2014". 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
- ^ Macau Government Tourist Office. "Calendar of Events". 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
- ^ Special Administrative Region of Macao. Office of the Chief Executive. "Ordem Executiva #60/2000". 3 October 2000. Retrieved 3 November 2013. (in Portuguese)
- ^ Special Administrative Region of Macao. Office of the Chief Executive. 《第60/2000號行政命令》. 3 October 2000. Retrieved 3 November 2013. (in Chinese)
- ^ ISBN 9787508516936.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ ISBN 0-8351-2481-9.
- ^ Liu, L. (2011). 'Beijing Review' Color Photographs. vol. 54, issue 23. pp. 42–43.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c SCMP." Earthquake and floods make for the muted festival. Retrieved on 9 June 2008. Archived 25 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- JSTOR 43490204. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ "The river in which she jumped was renamed as Cao's River". Archived from the original on 4 April 2017.
- ^ "The Legends Behind the Dragon Boat Festival". Smithsonian. 14 May 2009.
- ^ a b Eberhard, Wolfram (1952). "The dragon-boat festival". Chinese Festivals. New York: H. Wolff. pp. 69–96.
- ^ a b "Dragon Boat Festival activities expanded". www.chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ Yü, Der Ling (1911). Two Years in the Forbidden City. T. F. Unwin. Project Gutenberg
- ^ "Dragon Boat Festival keeps the beast at bay". www.chinadaily.com.cn. 14 June 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ People's Daily. "Peopledaily." China to revive traditional festivals to boost traditional culture. Retrieved on 9 June 2008.
- ^ Xinhua Net. "First day-off for China's Dragon Boat Festival helps revive tradition Archived 2013-12-22 at the Wayback Machine." Xinhua News Agency. Published 8 June 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2008.
- ^ "Duanwu: The Sino-Korean Dragon Boat Races". China Heritage Quarterly. September 2007.
- ^ a b Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric et al (2005). "Tango no Sekku" in Japan Encyclopedia, pp. 948., p. 948, at Google Books
- ^ "Dragon Boat Festival". China Internet Information Center. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
- ^ Yuan, He (2015). "Textual Research on the Origin of Zongzi". Journal of Nanning Polytechnic.[permanent dead link]
- . Retrieved 28 March 2023.
- ^ "Dragon Boat Festival keeps the beast at bay". chinadailyhk.
- ^ Huang, Ottavia. Hmmm, This Is What I Think: "Dragon Boat Festival: Time to Balance an Egg". 24 June 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
- ISBN 978-1-55488-395-0. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
Bibliography
- Chittick, Andrew (2011). "The Song Navy and the Invention of Dragon Boat Racing". Journal of Song-Yuan Studies. 2011 (41): 1–28. S2CID 162282148.
- Lowe, H. Y. (aka Lü Hsing-yüan 慮興源) (2014) [1983]. "The Dragon Boat Festival". The Adventures of Wu: The Life Cycle of a Peking Man. Translated by JSTOR j.ctt7ztjmr.20.
External links
- Media related to Duanwu Festival at Wikimedia Commons