The next day is the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, that is, the traditional Dragon Boat Festival, before dawn in the morning, Wang Sulan has already gotten up to wash and then began to prepare the morning meal, in the Jiangyang area, the breakfast of the Dragon Boat Festival has a lot of exquisiteness, to boil eggs, steamed zongzi, drink realgar wine, etc., the Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional and grand festival of the Chinese nation.

The Dragon Boat Festival originated in China, it was originally a festival for the Chinese people to dispel diseases and prevent epidemics, in the land of Wuyue, before the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a custom of holding tribal totem sacrifices in the form of dragon boat racing on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month; Later, because of the Warring States Period, the Chu State doctor and poet Qu Yuan committed suicide by throwing himself into the river on this day, in order to commemorate Qu Yuan, this day became a traditional festival for the Chinese Han people; In some areas, there are also sayings commemorating Wu Zixu and filial piety Cao E.

The legend about the Dragon Boat Festival commemorating the poet Qu Yuan is like this, Qu Yuan, living in the Warring States Period, was ambitious when he was young, showed amazing talents, and won the trust of King Chu Huai, the official to the "Zuo disciple", according to Sima Qian's "Historical Records", he "discussed state affairs with Wang Tu" inside, and "met guests and dealt with princes" outside, and was in charge of internal affairs and foreign affairs.

The Warring States period was originally a chaotic period when Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei, and Qin were fighting for hegemony. At that time, only the states of Chu and Qi could compete with them. In view of the situation at that time, Qu Yuan advocated reforming internal affairs and advocating joint resistance against Qin externally, thus infringing on the interests of the upper ruling class, and was excluded and framed by Zheng Sleeve, Shangguan Dafu, and Ling Yin Zijiao, the favored concubines of King Chu Huai, who were bribed by Qin.

The confused King Huai listened to the slander, gradually alienated Qu Yuan, and exiled him to northern Hanbei, but King Huai of Chu was deceived by the Qin State and became a prisoner for three years and died in a foreign country.

Qu Yuan was extremely angry when he saw all this. He was adamantly opposed to humiliating surrender to the Qin state, which was even more persecuted by his political enemies. The newly enthroned King Xiang of Chu was even more mediocre than his father and banished Qu Yuan to a more remote place than northern Han.

During his long journey in exile, Qu Yuan was greatly devastated and devastated in his spirit and life. One day he was wandering along the riverside, and met a hermit who was fishing, and when the hermit saw that his face was haggard and his description was withered, and his spirit was low, he advised him to "not be stubborn" and "be easy-going", and it would not be long before he could join the powerful people. Qu Yuan said: "Ning went to Xiangliu and was buried in the belly of the river fish; Can An be white with a bright brightness, and covered with the dust of the world? "It means that I would rather jump into the river and die in the belly of a fish, so that my white and noble character can be covered with the dust of the world.

In 278 A.D., the capital of Chu was broken by the Qin soldiers, the poet Qu Yuan suffered a great blow mentally, seeing the difficulty of breaking the country, but unable to exert his own strength, he was worried, in extreme disappointment and pain, Qu Yuan went to the Miluo River on the east side of the Yangtze River, bouldering and sinking. He was about sixty-two years old when he died, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

Legend has it that after Qu Yuan's death, the people of Chu were extremely sad and flocked to the Miluo River to pay their respects to Qu Yuan. The fishermen rowed their boats and fished his real body up and down the river. A fisherman took out the rice balls, eggs and other food prepared for Qu Yuan, and threw them into the river "plop, plop", saying that when the fish, lobsters and crabs were full, they would not bite Dr. Qu's body. When people saw it, they followed suit. An old physician brought a jar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying that he wanted to stun the dragon and water beast with medicine, so as not to hurt Dr. Qu. Later, because they were afraid that the rice balls would be eaten by the dragon, people came up with the idea of wrapping rice with neem leaves, wrapping colored silk on the outside, and developing into brown seeds.

In fact, according to historical records, after Qu Yuan's death, many people in the society did not recognize him at that time, just like Sima Qian in the Han Dynasty said "not tolerated in the world", until Song Yu, Song Yu was the first person to write a eulogy for Qu Yuan. "The heart of a husband and a gentleman is also not sick to people, and it is not used by the public. should be timeless and not self-seeking, helping things but not doing merit, is to benefit and have nowhere to return, and there is no collection of grievances" From the eulogy, Song Yu expressed his understanding and regret for Qu Yuan, and expressed his deep respect for Qu Yuan. Song Yu later tried to learn from Qu Yuan in Cifu, and developed Chu Ci on the basis of Qu Yuan, so at that time, people called Song Yu the greatest Cifu family after Qu Yuan.

The second legend of the Dragon Boat Festival is widely spread in the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and it is to commemorate Wu Zixu in the Spring and Autumn Period. Wu Zixu was a famous member, a native of Chu, his father and brother were killed by the king of Chu, and later Wu Zixu abandoned the secret and turned to the Ming, ran to Wu State, helped Wu to attack Chu, and entered the Chu capital Yingcheng in five battles. At that time, King Chuping was dead, and Wu Zixu dug up the grave and whipped 300 corpses to avenge King Chuping's killing of his father and brother.

After the death of King Wu Lu, his son Fu Cha succeeded to the throne, the morale of the Wu army was high, a hundred battles were won, the Yue Kingdom was defeated, the Yue King Gou Jian asked for peace, and the husband sent Xu Zhi. Wu Zixu suggested that the Yue State should be completely eliminated, the husband did not listen, Wu Guo Dazai, bribed by the Yue State, slandered and framed Wu Zixu, the husband sent a letter, gave Wu Zixu a sword, and Wu Zixu died. Wu Zixu was originally loyal and good, regarded death as home, and said to his neighbors before he died: "After I die, I will gouge out my eyes and hang them on the east gate of Wu Jingzhi to see the Yue army enter the city to destroy Wu", and he killed himself, and the husband was furious when he heard this, so he ordered Wu Zixu's body to be put in leather and put it into the river on May 5, so it is said that the Dragon Boat Festival is also the day to commemorate Wu Zixu.

Another legend of the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the filial piety of Cao E in the Eastern Han Dynasty to save her father and throw herself into the river. Cao E is a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and a long time ago, there was a small fishing village under the Phoenix Mountain on the west bank of the ancient Shunjiang River in Shangyu. There is a fisherman surnamed Cao in the village. The fisherman had a daughter named Cao E. In the spring and summer of one year, there were continuous heavy rains on both sides of the river, and the flood of the Shunjiang River swelled. Cao E's father was afraid of missing the fishing flood, so he insisted on going out of the river to fish despite Cao E's objections.

's father went, and Cao E was not at ease at home. She ran to the embankment again and again to look. Later, Cao E searched up and down the river and did not see her father. The sun was about to set, and Cao E learned from her father's companion that they were stretching their nets together, when suddenly a big wave pushed her father's boat into the whirlpool, and his father washed the river away. Cao E frightened her soul when she heard this, shouted "Father, father", and chased downstream.

She was crying back and forth by the river, calling out to her father. On the eighth day, Cao E looked at the river and saw her father struggling with the water. Cao E threw herself into the river.

After another three days, the river was calm and calm, but people saw a stream of river water circling on the river more than ten miles downstream, as if someone was swimming. People rushed over and found that it was Cao E and her father. Although Cao E died, she was able to recover her father's body and carry him to the riverbank, and people said that it was her filial piety that moved the heavens.

It is said that the choppy waters of the Cao'e River are always calm when flowing through the Cao'e Temple. The local people believe that it is because Jiang Shui feels ashamed of his filial daughter Cao E.

Cao E's filial piety touched the heaven and earth, but also moved the surrounding villagers, they buried Cao E's father and daughter, and built a temple by the river where Cao E jumped to save her father, sculpted her statue, respected her as "filial piety", and called the fishing village Cao'e Village, and renamed the river Cao'e River. Every time Cao E saves her father, Cao E temple will hold a grand temple fair, all provinces and provinces have come to worship Cao E's filial piety, many people inscribe plaques to praise Cao E's filial piety. It is said that the day when Cao E threw herself into the river was the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, so many people regarded the Dragon Boat Festival as a day to remember the filial daughter Cao E.

There is another legend of the Dragon Boat Festival that says that the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar is the "evil day" of the ten evils, there are many taboo sayings about this day, in the Han Dynasty, people believe that the fifth day of May is the evil month, the evil day, and there is the custom of "not lifting the child of May", that is, the baby born on May 5th, whether it is a man or a woman, can not be raised, once raised, the man harms the father, the woman harms the mother. There are even sayings such as "when you come to the official in May, you will not be moved", "Building a house in May will make people bald". This custom also became popular from the Warring States period at the latest, and continued to prevail until the Han Dynasty. This custom is recorded in the Han Wang Chong's "On Heng", Ying Shao's "Customs and Customs" and "Book of the Later Han Dynasty".

May 5 is the evil month and evil day, so the folk on this day to eliminate the plague, drive away evil spirits, seek auspiciousness, so there are related cultural activities, forming a quite distinctive Dragon Boat Festival.

The Dragon Boat Festival is the traditional habit of the Chinese people for more than 2,000 years, due to the vast area of China, many ethnic groups, and many stories and legends, so not only there are many different festival names, but also different customs in various places. Its contents mainly include: the daughter goes back to her parents' house, hangs the bell Kui statue, welcomes the ghost boat, hides the noon, posts the noon leaf charm, hangs the calamus, wormwood, swims all kinds of diseases, wears a sachet, prepares the livestock, races the dragon boat, competes, hits, swings, paints realgar for children, drinks realgar wine, calamus wine, eats five poison cakes, salted eggs, zongzi and seasonal fresh fruits, etc.

In the Jiangyang area of Central and Southern Province, when the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated, every household should hang wormwood, calamus or pomegranate, garlic and so on at the gate. Mugwort, ficus, and calamus are usually tied into a bunch with red paper or red thread rope, and then plugged or hung on the door. Because there is a saying that calamus is the head of the five rui in the sky, the symbol is to drive away the ominous sword, because of the season of growth and shape, this plant is regarded as a sense of "hundred yin qi", the leaves are sword-shaped, inserted in the door can ward off evil. Therefore, the Taoist monks called it "Water Sword", and later customs extended it to "Pu Sword", which is said to be able to cut a thousand evils.

In Jiangyang, the breakfast of the Dragon Boat Festival, the whole family whether they can drink alcohol or not, should drink some realgar wine, in addition to drinking, but also dip the realgar wine and smear it on the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and other five senses and seven orifices, to avoid the "five poisons" and remove the plague. In the minds of the ancients, the Dragon Boat Festival is a poisonous day and an evil day, and this idea has been handed down in folk beliefs, so there are all kinds of customs of seeking peace and relieving disasters. In fact, to put it bluntly, this is due to the hot and dry weather in summer, people are prone to illness, and plague is also prone to epidemics; In addition, snakes and insects breed and are easy to bite people, so you should be very careful, which is why this habit is formed.

The custom of drinking realgar wine during the Dragon Boat Festival was extremely popular in the Yangtze River basin in the past. As the old saying goes, "If you drink realgar wine, the sick will go away." "Realgar is a mineral, commonly known as "cockscomb", the main component of which is arsenic sulfide and contains mercury, which is toxic. The realgar wine that is generally drunk is only made by adding a small amount of realgar to the liquor or self-brewed rice wine, and there is no pure drink. Realgar wine has the effect of sterilization, insect repellency and detoxification, and is also used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat skin diseases. In ancient times, when there were no disinfectants such as iodine wine, soaking wine with realgar could dispel poison and relieve itching. For children who have not reached the age of drinking, adults smear realgar wine on their foreheads, ears, nose, hands and feet, etc., which is intended to disinfect and prevent diseases, and prevent insects from biting.

At more than six o'clock, the sky was already bright, Cheng Ziying got up, came out to the small courtyard, saw that the kitchen door was open, and walked over, Wang Sulan and Yue Yulin were busy preparing for the Dragon Boat Festival breakfast in the kitchen, a large pot of steaming zongzi has been steamed, is being soaked in the cold water in the basin, and several dishes have been fried on the board.

Seeing Cheng Ziying standing at the door of the kitchen, Wang Sulan smiled and said, Ziying, are you up? Why don't you sleep more, I sat in the car for most of the day yesterday, and walked around the streets for an afternoon in the afternoon, aren't you tired?

Cheng Ziying said, Auntie, I'm not tired. Why do you spend so much money on breakfast? Just have a little bit of breakfast to eat.

Wang Sulan said, girl, today is the Dragon Boat Festival, there is a lot of exquisiteness, the things for this festival are prepared in advance, no trouble at all, you go to the activities first, wash and wash, and we will have the Dragon Boat Festival and eat breakfast after a while.

Cheng Ziying came out of the kitchen and went to the bathroom, and when she turned back from the bathroom, she saw that Yue Haohan had already gotten up, wearing sportswear, and was moving her body in the yard.

Cheng Ziying walked along the playground of No. 1 Middle School with Yue Haohan, and the teachers and family members of the school's morning exercise greeted Yue Haohan with a smile, and looked at Cheng Ziying behind Yue Haohan kindly, and some people praised in a low voice, the two of them are really talented and beautiful.

The two of them took a walk on the playground, Cheng Ziying stood next to Yue Haohan and watched Yue Haohan play Tai Chi again, the two of them returned home, and when they arrived at the gate of the yard, they saw their father Yue Yulin hanging "mugwort" above the gate, Yue Haohan hurriedly stepped forward to help, Yue Yulin smiled and said, you guys go home and wash up and let's start eating, I'm okay alone.

After washing, when he arrived at the hall, Yue Haojiang had already set the dining table, a large plate of zongzi had been placed in the center of the table, and there was half a bowl of white sugar in a bowl next to it.

Cheng Ziying took the zongzi, dipped it in white sugar in the bowl, and said, vast, I haven't had such a grand Dragon Boat Festival since I was a child.

Yue Haohan said, Ziying, no matter what kind of festival it is, it seems to be a big city in the countryside and small places, and the metropolis is greatly affected by Western culture, and people are busy, so they don't pay much attention to traditional festivals.

As he spoke, Yue Haohan urged Cheng Ziying and said, "Taste this zongzi and see how it tastes?" Zongzi was called "horn millet in ancient times", the legend is invented for the sacrifice of Qu Yuan who threw himself into the river, and the real written record of zongzi is seen in the "Wind and Soil Record" in the Jin and Zhou dynasties; The rice dumplings with an orderly circulation and the longest history are the honey cold rice dumplings from Xi'an, which are contained in Tang Wei Juyuan's "Recipe".

Cheng Ziying began to eat the zongzi in her hand, and Yue Haohan continued, saying, "The zongzi are fragrant, fragrant kitchen." Artemisia leaves are fragrant, full of fragrance. The peach branch was inserted on the gate, and the wheat was yellow when he went out. Duanyang here, Duanyang there, Duanyang everywhere. "This is a popular folk song in Jiangyang that describes the Dragon Boat Festival, and I have known this folk song since I was a child. When I was a child, my family lacked food, and after the Spring Festival every year, I began to look forward to the Dragon Boat Festival every day.

Cheng Ziying took a few bites, nodded, and said with a smile, delicious, really delicious, Auntie's steamed zongzi is so good!

As she spoke, Wang Sulan entered the hall with two plates of dishes, and said, Haohan, go and help bring the dishes from the kitchen, and we will start to eat, and bring the hot realgar wine over.

Generally speaking, the customs of people everywhere to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival are similar, and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival is the same throughout the ages. Today's zongzi are even more diverse and brilliant. Nowadays, the zongzi in various places are generally wrapped in glutinous rice in a shell, but the color contained in it is determined according to the specialties and customs of various places, and the famous ones are longan zongzi, meat zongzi, crystal zongzi, lotus seed paste zongzi, candied fruit zongzi, chestnut zongzi, spicy zongzi, sauerkraut zongzi, ham zongzi, salted egg zongzi and so on......