The Dragon Boat Festival is commemorating Qu Yuan.

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is commonly known as the "Dragon Boat Festival". "Wu" and "Wu" are connected, and "Wu" is the number of Yang, so the Dragon Boat Festival is also known as Duanwu, Chongwu, Duanyang, Zhongtian, etc. It is a traditional festival of the Han people in my country. The essential activities on this day gradually evolved into: eating rice dumplings, racing dragon boats, hanging calamus and mugwort leaves, smoking atractylodes and angelica, and drinking realgar wine. It is said that eating rice dumplings and racing dragon boats are to commemorate Qu Yuan, so after liberation, the Dragon Boat Festival was named "Poet's Day" to commemorate Qu Yuan. As for hanging calamus and moxa leaves, smoking atractylodes and angelica, and drinking realgar wine, it is said to suppress evil spirits. Although the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated every year, the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival is not very clear. To sum up, there are roughly the following theories.

First, commemorate Qu Yuan’s speech. This theory first came from the records of Wu Jun of the Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty, "Xu Qi Xie Ji" and "Jingchu Sui Shi Ji" of the Northern Zhou Dynasty Zongmao. It is said that Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and was trapped by dragons after his death. People mourned his death and threw colorful silk rice dumplings into the water on this day to drive away mosquitoes and dragons. It is also said that after Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River, local people immediately rowed boats to rescue him after hearing the news. They went straight to Dongting Lake, but did not see Qu Yuan's body. At that time, it happened to be a rainy day, and the boats on the lake gathered together at the pavilion on the shore. When people learned that they were salvaging the virtuous minister Qu, they went out in the rain again and rushed into the vast Dongting Lake. In order to express their grief, people went boating on the rivers, and then it gradually developed into dragon boat racing. 'It seems that eating rice dumplings and racing dragon boats on the Dragon Boat Festival are related to the commemoration of Qu Yuan. There is a poem "Dragon Boat Festival" by Wenxiu of the Tang Dynasty as evidence: "Who said that the festival is divided into Dragon Boat Festival? It has been rumored to be Qu Yuan through the ages. It is ridiculous that the Chu River is empty and cannot be washed away. "Zhichen is wronged."

Second, Yingtao God said. This statement comes from the "Cao E Stele" of the Eastern Han Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu Zixu, a loyal minister of the State of Wu, died unjustly and turned into a god of waves. People mourned and offered sacrifices to him, hence the Dragon Boat Festival.

Three, Dragon Festival. This statement comes from Wen Yiduo's "Dragon Boat Festival" and "Dragon Boat Festival History Education". He believes that the fifth day of May is the day when the "dragon" tribe in the ancient Daiyue region held totem sacrifices. The main reasons are: (1) The two most important activities of the Dragon Boat Festival, eating rice dumplings and racing boats, are both related to dragons. Zongzi thrown into the water are often stolen by mosquito dragons, while dragon boats are used for the ferry races. (2) The ferry race is particularly closely related to the ancient Wuyue region, and the people of Wuyue also have the custom of cutting off their hair and getting tattoos "to look like dragons". (3) In ancient times, there was a folk custom of "tying arms with colorful silk" on the fifth day of May. This should be a relic of the "dragon son-like" tattoo custom.

Four, the evil sun. According to "Historical Records", Mengchang Jun Tian Wen was born on the fifth day of May. His father asked his mother to abandon Tian Wen on the grounds that the child born on this day would harm his father. "Customs and Customs" of the Eastern Han Dynasty also has a saying that "a child is born on May 5th, a male will harm the father, and a female will harm the mother." General Wang Zhene of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was born on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, and his grandfather named him "Zhene". Zhao Ji, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, was born on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and was fostered outside the palace since childhood. It can be seen that in ancient times, it was a common phenomenon to regard the fifth day of May as an evil day. In this way, it is logical to plant calamus and mugwort leaves on this day to drive away ghosts, smoke atractylodes and angelica and drink realgar wine to ward off epidemics.

Five, said the summer solstice. Liu Deqian, who holds this view, put forward three main reasons in "Another Story of the Origin of the Dragon Boat Festival" and "Interesting Talks about Traditional Chinese Festivals": (1) The authoritative book "Jingchu Suishi Ji" does not It mentions the festival custom of eating rice dumplings on the fifth day of May, but it is written that eating rice dumplings is included in the Summer Solstice Festival. As for Jingdu, the "Jade Candle Collection" written by Du Taiqing in the Sui Dynasty listed it as an entertainment activity on the summer solstice, which shows that it is not necessarily true. It was to salvage the great poet Qu Yuan who threw himself into the river. (2) Some contents in the Dragon Boat Festival customs, such as "stepping on hundreds of herbs", "fighting on hundreds of herbs", and "collecting miscellaneous herbs", actually have nothing to do with Qu Yuan's age. The first explanation of the Dragon Boat Festival in "The Scenery is Hua Ji Li" is: "The sun leaves are shining brightly, and the Dragon Boat Festival is in the middle of summer, so the Dragon Boat Festival can also be called the Tianzhong Festival. Therefore, the earliest origin of the Wu Festival must be the summer solstice. There are many theories, but the theory of commemorating Qu Yuan has the most widespread influence. Because of Qu Yuan's outstanding personality and art, people are willing to attribute this anniversary to him.