Dragon Boat Festival is a festival celebrated all over the world. People all over China seem to be eating zongzi. But every place has its own customs, and there are always some unique customs different from ours, and Tianjin is no exception. Let's take a look:
One of the customs of Tianjin Dragon Boat Festival: rubbing realgar on the forehead
On the Dragon Boat Festival, Tianjin people put realgar on their foreheads to ward off evil spirits. The ancients believed that realgar "can kill all kinds of poisons, avoid all kinds of evils, cure all kinds of poisons, and people look up to it, crouch in the mountains, and avoid all kinds of poisons in the rivers." Because it is inconvenient for children to drink realgar wine, people put realgar wine on children's ears, nose, forehead, hands and feet and draw a king on their forehead during the Dragon Boat Festival. One borrows realgar to drive away poison, and the other borrows tiger (the "king" looks like a tiger's forehead, and the tiger is the king of all animals, because it replaces the tiger) to suppress evil.
Put realgar on the forehead, indicating that the child is healthy and safe; Eliminating disasters and plagues for children symbolizes happiness and auspiciousness. Shanxi Hequ county records: "Drinking realgar wine during the Dragon Boat Festival and applying it to children's forehead, hands and feet can cure diseases and prolong life."
The second custom of Tianjin Dragon Boat Festival: eating Wudu cake
There used to be a custom of Dragon Boat Festival in old Tianjin, which was to eat poisonous cakes immediately, and Tianjin people also ate poisonous cakes. Poison cake is a round cake specially made for Dragon Boat Festival, but it is actually a rose cake. It was once a common gift for Tianjin people to print pictures of five poisons (snakes, centipedes, scorpions, spiders and toads) on small cakes or make them into poison shapes with molds.
According to legend, it is a work of winning, which was changed by the handwriting of the 42nd generation Shi Tian in the late Yuan Dynasty. Eating it can ward off evil spirits and avoid epidemics, but long before it was recorded in Chinese, foreign missionaries had observed a custom diet system similar to Tianjin Wudu cake. The Mid-Autumn Festival is at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival on May 5th. This custom of avoiding evil spirits and epidemics on May 5th can be traced back to before the Han Dynasty. Swallowable disgusting symbols are Shi Tian's secret method, which was called the calligraphy circle in the Song Dynasty. Since the Song Dynasty, the astronomical symbols in the book world spread in two opposite directions, and evolved into the custom of Tianjin Dragon Boat Festival Five Poisons Cake in the late Qing Dynasty.
The third custom of Tianjin Dragon Boat Festival: wearing sachets.
The Dragon Boat Festival is also called "Bathing Orchid Festival", and wearing sachets is also one of the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival in Tianjin. Chinese herbal medicines such as Rhizoma Atractylodis, Herba Agastaches, Evodia rutaecarpa, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, Cortex Cinnamomi, Fructus Amomi, Radix Angelicae Dahuricae, etc. are made into powder, packed in special cloth bags, and worn on the chest, waist and navel, which has the functions of fragrance, insect repellent, plague prevention and disease prevention. It can also be hung in the car or at home. Since ancient times, there has been a saying in China that "wearing vanilla bags is not afraid of five bugs".
Children wear sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is said to mean to ward off evil spirits and plague. Actually, it is used to decorate the inner head. Fan Qin of the Wei State of the Three Kingdoms wrote a poem in "Fixed Love": "Why knock at the door, the sachet is behind the elbow." The steps of Princess Tongchang in the Tang Dynasty were decorated with five-color sachets, and every trip was full of fragrance. Because most of the exotic spices came from foreign tributes, the court also took sachets as a gift. The custom of wearing sachets is also very popular among the people. "Liu Hua Angle Li Dou when new, whose wine is not bottles today. I can stop the wind in the legendary swordsman, but I followed Artemisia leaves to the Pearl Gate. " This ancient poem describes the custom of people celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival at that time.
The fourth custom of Tianjin Dragon Boat Festival: wearing a tiger to pull.
The "Tiger Tara" in Tianjin population is a folk ornament of the Dragon Boat Festival, and it is a pendant made of handmade fabrics, such as tigers, zongzi, brooms and gourds. This is made of silk thread. This fabric product is made of five-color silk thread, and is filled with herbs such as Acorus calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, Liu Hua, garlic, etc., which can play the role of expelling insects and avoiding epidemics in summer.
In the past, every Dragon Boat Festival, women at home would hang their own hand-sewn "tiger ties" on the back of their children's collars to ward off evil spirits and keep them safe all their lives. There are fewer people who can do "tiger pulling" now, and only a few old people can do it, such as my third aunt. Since having a baby, every year, Sanyi will make a "tiger pull" for the child, which is a happy and auspicious picture.
The fifth custom of Tianjin Dragon Boat Festival: inserting wormwood
In the traditional Dragon Boat Festival in Tianjin, there are many things to ward off evil spirits, and wormwood is one of them. Tianjin people call it Artemisia argyi. Artemisia argyi has fragrance, which can repel mosquitoes, flies, insects and ants and purify the air. The so-called hanging calamus on the door means inserting calamus and moxa sticks on the lintel or hanging them in the hall.
On the Dragon Boat Festival, all kinds of flowers and plants that can drive away evil spirits and diseases have long been arranged. People regard wormwood and calamus as one of the important contents of the Dragon Boat Festival. Such as wormwood hanging on the door, Jingchu Chronicle: "Collecting wormwood is like hanging a door with poison gas." This is because mugwort is an important medicinal plant, and it can also be used for treating diseases, moxibustion at acupoints and expelling insects. Folium Artemisiae Argyi contains the most oil in May (it is in the vigorous period of warm growth at this time), so the effect is the best, and people are scrambling to pick folium Artemisiae Argyi. Several mugwort plants are often hung at home. Because of its special fragrance, people use it to ward off evil spirits, prevent mosquitoes and ward off evil spirits.
Dragon Boat Festival, as the intangible cultural heritage of mankind, is not only a kind of inheritance of traditional culture in the past, but also a festival facing the future. By carrying out various custom activities, cultural heritage will be integrated into festivals, so that children can relive the excellent traditions of the Chinese nation on the Dragon Boat Festival every year; Feel the nobleness of the great patriotic poet's personality, enhance the national consciousness and the sense of mission of inheriting culture.