Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, also called Dragon Noon Festival ,Dragon Sun Festival,Central Festival, andBa Lanling Festival. Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient traditional festival that began in the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period in China and has a history of more than 2,000 years.
There are many different opinions on the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, including the commemoration of Qu Yuan , there are also the commemoration of Wu Zixu , the commemoration of filial daughter Cao E, and the origin of ancient Baiyue tribe , the sacrifice of the dragon ancestor. The most well-known one is the saying that commemorates Qu Yuan.
May is also known as evil month . " Book of Rites·Month Orders " says: "This month is the moon, the sun is coming, and the yin and yang are fighting, and life and death are divided." " Shuowen Jiezi " says: "Noon is the stern. In May, the yin energy disobeys the yang and emerges from the ground." Therefore, the various customs of the Dragon Boat Festival mostly start from avoiding evil and warding off disasters.
Dragon Boat Racing , Eating Zongzi, Drinking Realgar Wine , Wearing Flower Rope... The ancients had many programs on Dragon Boat Festival, especially in the important town of the Silk Road Road, Dunhuang , the Dragon Boat Festival customs are very rich and elegant.
The natural changes throughout the year are closely related to people's daily lives. China is an agricultural country, and our ancestors have long noticed the impact of changes in the year-end on agriculture. During these years, the connotation of various cultural activities has been continuously integrated, expanding from agriculture to all aspects of life, including folk customs, religion, art and many other contents. It embodies the crystallization of the wisdom of the Chinese nation and is also the contribution of the Chinese nation to human civilization. As a traditional festival, Dragon Boat Festival is no exception. For today's excerpt, we selected the content related to Dragon Boat Festival in the book "Dunhuang Year Season". Through Dunhuang murals, we can see the reflection of the Dragon Boat Festival culture in the field of art in ancient times. These Dunhuang documents and murals also have important historical and artistic ornamental value.
Author｜Dunhuang Research Institute
"Dunhuang Years and Seasons", author: Dunhuang Research Institute, version: Jiangsu Phoenix Art Publishing House April 2022
The most lively
One person rows the boat and sways the boat, two people hold poles float on the water . In Dunhuang murals, a large number of ancient boat images are preserved.
From the 6th to the 13th century AD, the time span lasted nearly 700 years. The styles of the boat range from simple to traditional, with more than ten types.
rowing sailboat, Mogao Grottoes Cave 323, early Tang
Just these water boat racing scenes can string together a rich and interesting history of boats.
Double-tailed building sailboat, Cave 468 of Mogao Grottoes, Late Tang
Now, we hold lively dragon boat competitions every Dragon Boat Festival. Everyone waving oars , isn’t it the enhanced version of water rowing in ancient murals!
zongcake The sweetest entrance
A piece of zongcake is fragrant and glutinous, and we will talk about the Dragon Boat Festival together.
The ancients were no exception. The sweet and chubby dumplings can be seen in the opening volume of Dunhuang literature. Dunhuang document "Welcome to the Dragon Boat Festival" records: "I am very happy to meet the Jia Festival, and the Dragon Boat Festival is a good morning (day). I have comforted my colleagues, why did I prepare a bunch of rice dumplings? I dare to invite you to visit me. I am so glad to send you a visit." In today's words, my friend, I am very happy when you are visiting the Dragon Boat Festival. Although I have not prepared any luxurious banquets, the rice dumplings are definitely full!
Dunhuang Dragon Boat Festival food is a group of rice dumplings. Since Dunhuang does not produce pine leaves, it does not produce , bamboo leaves that can be made into rice dumplings. Every year, the glutinous rice is cooked and then placed in a shallow container to spread it flat. Some ingredients such as red dates can be sprinkled with heavy pressure on it to make it bond and mold, which is also called zongzi cake locally.
Dunhuang Literature S.5636 "Welcome to Dragon Boat Festival"
Group fans for each other's most literary
Havenly a small fan in hand, smiling at the midsummer hot summer.
If someone is wearing a cloth clothes and shaking a folding fan today, he will definitely be labeled as a literary style.In the summer after being dominated by fans and air conditioners, whether it is round fans or paper fans and , it seems to have become antiques. If you ask someone for a fan, it will become an elegant interest that only literati and poets have.
The gift of a fan is an important official ritual ceremony for the Dragon Boat Festival in ancient Dunhuang. Before the Dragon Boat Festival, the yamen workshops are busy making fans, mostly wooden-handled paper fans with pictures. All kinds of fans are not only a kind of summer utensil, but also a work of art. The Dragon Boat Festival is presented to the subordinates in the morning to express condolences and promote the benevolence.
"Dragon Boat Festival Day" in the "Application Literature" of Dunhuang Documents says: "Ruibin is waiting for the Dragon Boat Festival this morning, I am so grateful to each of you. I am giving a round fan, I wish to promote the benevolent wind. I will not be panicked."
Double phoenix fan, Cave 196 of Mogao Grottoes, Late Tang
Dunhuang Document S.3399 "Application Literature"
The female supporter of the group fan, Cave 116 of Mogao Grottoes, Middle Tang
Drinking and smelling fragrance is the most comfortable
Dragon Boat Festival coincides with the midsummer season, and we gather together to drink together in order to enjoy the same prosperity as the plants and trees, and everyone is happy. A glass of realgar wine, a little bit of mugwort fragrance. Volume 5 of Du Taiqing of the Sui Dynasty quotation "The Book of Jade Candles" quotation "Spring and Autumn Annals" describes: "If things grow together in midsummer, so if you drink wine, people will gather."
Song Su Song "Bencao Tujing" records: "On May 5th, drinking calamus realgar wine to eliminate all diseases and ban hundreds of insects." The ancients believed that realgar can kill hundreds of poisons and ward off hundreds of evils. If you wear it, ghosts and gods will not be approached. When you enter the mountains and forests, tigers and wolves will be hidden, and poisonous substances will not be injured when you walk in Sichuan water. Realgar wine has therefore become a "Dragon Boat Festival Customization" to eliminate diseases, and realgar wine is applied to children's forehead and ears to ward off poison.
There is a smell of wine in the house and a scent of mugwort on the portal. Use of mugwort on Dragon Boat Festival is also a traditional custom. Northern and Northern Dynasties ·Zong Yan's "Jingchu Sui Shi Ji " says: "On May 5, Cooking wormwood is a human being, hanging on the door to ward off poison gas." Those door pillars hanging on mugwort welcoming the arrival of Dragon Boat Festival with refreshing wormwood fragrance, inheriting the unchanging tradition of people's lives for thousands of years.
Climbing high Sand sliding The most enjoyable
Climbing high skating together and experience the joy of the ancients.
"Book of Rites·Monthly Orders" states: "In the midsummer month, you can be high-end, you can look far away, you can ascend to the mountain and pavilions." The Dragon Boat Festival in Dunhuang is the legacy of this custom. Dunhuang document "Dunhuang Record" records: " Dragon Boat Festival , the women and women in the city all rose to the peak, and they all fell down together, and the sound of the sand roared like thunder. When they were at dawn, they were as steep as before. The ancient name was Mingsha , and the sacred sand was sacrificial."
Dragon Boat Festival might as well follow the steps of the ancients, go to Mingsha Mountain to climb high and skate the sand, and feel the happiness of the ancients in the rustling sound of the speeding on the slide.
Dunhuang Literature S.5448 "Dunhuang Record"
Wearing a colorful rope safest
A Multicolor rope , all diseases go with the rain. The night before the Dragon Boat Festival, adults will tie colorful ropes to the children's wrists and ankles while their children are sleeping. After wearing it, you cannot pick it randomly. You must wait until the first heavy rain after the Dragon Boat Festival, pick it down and throw it into the river to wash it away with the rain. The old people said, "Wear the colorful rope, and the insects won't bite you! Take it off and throw it into the river, and the rain will wash away all the illnesses!"
The ancients of Dunhuang also wrote talismans on this day, praying that all evil things will leave quickly. Dunhuang document "Miscellaneous Copy" wrote a Dragon Boat Festival message: "On May 5th, all evil things will be eliminated. Hurry up and as the law!"
, a lively traditional festival is tantamount to a cool nap in midsummer.
In ancient times, the Dragon Boat Festival, children wore colorful ropes and ate rice dumplings, and adults drank realgar wine and wormwood; those who love outdoors, they either played boats on the water or climbed high and slid the sand; those who liked writing and ink drank tea and made fans, and thought about what kind of scenery they would draw on the fan... There are many programs, and they all had their own fun.
Dunhuang Literature S.5636 "Miscellaneous Copy"
In the popular "cloud eating" and "cloud drinking", I want all takeouts for half an hour. Today, will you still pick a handful of mugwort with dewdrops before dawn, quietly tie the children with colorful ropes with mugwort fragrance, wrap a few loving rice dumplings during the day, and shake a simple round fan in the quiet night?
This article is excerpted from the "Dunhuang Year Season" section of "Dunhuang Year Season" and is published by the publisher Jiangsu Phoenix Art Publishing House. Original author: Dunhuang Research Institute Editor-in-chief Zhao Shengliang, Du Juan, etc. Excerpted by: Zhang Ting Introduction Proofreading: Yang Xuli. Reproduction may not be made without the written authorization of the Beijing News.
