Sending away the summer heat: the folk custom of sending away the plague, keeping safe and sending away the summer heat boat has a long history. During the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, there were frequent epidemics in Jiazhi area, especially in the midsummer heat. The local residents thought it was caused by five plague gods, so they built five shrines on the riverside and prayed and made wishes from time to time, hoping to get rid of diseases and eliminate disasters.
Because Jiaji is near Jiaojiangkou, there are many fishermen along the coast. In order to pray for the safety of fishing at sea, the fishermen decided to worship them collectively on the hot summer day and send the boat carrying the offerings to Jiaojiangkou. This is also the origin of today's "fishing festival" custom of sending summer boats. For local fishermen, this custom may be the most important day of the year.
Although the origin of Xia Chuan is accompanied by the legend of five "atheletes", with the changes of the times, the legend is gradually changing. The five "plague gods" have also become "five saints", and there are many legends about the "five saints" helping fishermen to remove danger and transport water and food at sea.
One of the most popular sayings is this: The Five Saints, surnamed Zhang, Liu, Zhao, Shi and Zhong respectively, were all scholars of the same clan during their lifetime and were all killed by the emperor. After their death, ghosts always existed and often caused troubles, so the emperor named them five disaster messengers and the people called them "five saints". Because the five saints are regarded as evil spirits, people should not only worship them, but also send them away, so the form of "sending Xia Zhou" was born.