The origins of the Dragon Boat Festival go back a long way, and its traditional customs are still passed down today
The Dragon Boat Festival is an important traditional Chinese festival, held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month each year. It is also known as the Duanyang Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Chongwu Festival. Together with the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival, it is known as one of China's four major traditional festivals, and it has a long history of observance among the people.
Regarding the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, the most widely circulated account is that it commemorates Qu Yuan. Legend has it that during the Warring States period, the Chu state poet Qu Yuan, in grief and indignation, threw himself into a river; the people raced out in boats to search for him and threw rice food into the river, which later gradually evolved into the customs of dragon boat racing and eating zongzi. In addition, there are also folk legends commemorating Wu Zixu, the filial daughter Cao E, and others, and some views hold that the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the dragon totem sacrifices of ancient ancestors and is closely related to seasonal activities in midsummer to ward off evil and prevent plague.
The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival are rich and varied. Although they differ slightly from place to place, they are broadly similar. Common activities include dragon boat racing, eating zongzi, hanging mugwort and calamus, wearing sachets, tying five-color strings, and drinking realgar wine, most of which express wishes to dispel illness and prevent epidemics and to pray for peace and health. Because of differences in northern and southern dietary habits, zongzi have also developed local flavors that vary between savory and sweet.
Today, the Dragon Boat Festival is not only a day for family reunions and visiting relatives and friends, but also carries deep feelings of love for home and country and cultural memory. It has been included in the national intangible cultural heritage list, and it is also the first traditional Chinese festival to be inscribed on the world intangible cultural heritage list. It still radiates vitality in people's lives today.