The Dragon Boat Festival is here, you must let your children know these things

Silently, I couldn’t tell the difference between the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. A few days ago, I asked Xiaonuo, a classmate in the small class: There will be a holiday next week. Do you know what holiday will be celebrated? Xiao Nuo said with a confused look: Is it the Mid-Autumn Festival? I remember that when I was a child, I never confused the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Why? Because they are very different! In our hometown, the Dragon Boat Festival is directly called \”Festival\”. This is the only festival in the year without a prefix, which shows its importance. At that time, rural children had two new sets of clothes every year, one for the New Year and one for the Dragon Boat Festival. The former was a winter dress and the latter was a summer dress. Every year when the Dragon Boat Festival is coming, my mother will go to pick rice dumpling leaves in advance. When I grew up, I went there twice. Zong leaves are actually the leaves of a kind of bamboo, which usually grows along rivers or streams. In our mountains in Fujian, the vegetation is very lush, so the weeds around the rice dumpling leaves are numerous and dense, making it actually not easy to pick them. After harvesting the rice dumpling leaves, they should be washed in the sink, and each leaf should be brushed clean from both sides with a brush. This kind of thing is usually done by children. My sister and I have been doing it for many years, so we are very impressed. A few days before the Dragon Boat Festival, the family starts making zongzi. My mother soaks the glutinous rice, beans and other ingredients in water in advance. Making rice dumplings is definitely a technical job. The rice inside should not be pressed too hard to avoid undercooking, nor should it be too loose, otherwise the rice grains will fall off when you peel off the rice dumpling leaves when eating. What\’s more difficult is that the shape of the rice dumplings and the binding of the ropes are very particular. My brothers and sisters and I don’t know how to do this. In my memory, my parents were responsible for packing the bags. We counted them in groups of 10 and tied the ropes together to make it easier to count and give away or store. There was no pressure cooker at that time, and the rice dumplings would take a whole day to cook. The cooked rice dumplings can be hung for half a month without going bad. Give children some sense of holiday rituals When talking about the Dragon Boat Festival, people of our generation may be filled with memories. On the other hand, today\’s children, not to mention four- or five-year-old children like Xiao Nuo, even many eight- or nine-year-old primary school students cannot tell the difference between the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. In their impression, during the festival, they don’t have to go to school, and their parents don’t have to go to work. They can take themselves out to play, eat delicious food, and receive gifts. There seems to be really no big difference between this section and that section. The country has made the Dragon Boat Festival a statutory holiday, not just to provide benefits to the majority of workers. The Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival, Qingming Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are the four traditional festivals in China. As parents, if we treat the Dragon Boat Festival the same as the Mid-Autumn Festival, we are actually wasting a great opportunity for our children to learn and understand traditional culture. This cannot but be said to be our dereliction of duty. However, children born in the city do not have many opportunities to make rice dumplings with their own hands. As for eating rice dumplings, they can do it every day throughout the year. Even if they are eaten on the Dragon Boat Festival, their special meaning will not be revealed. then what should we do? In addition to eating rice dumplings, we can at least teach our children some relevant knowledge. It would be even better if we still have the opportunity to watch dragon boat racing and participate in some traditional festival activities. Today, Nuo Xi’s mother summarized some knowledge about the Dragon Boat Festival. You can tell your children selectively. The origin of Dragon Boat FestivalThere are various theories about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. For younger children, we can only tell them the most widely circulated one: the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan was a native of Chu State and died for his country. In early May 5 He jumped into the Miluo River that day. Local people were afraid that the hungry fish and shrimp would eat Qu Yuan\’s body, so they wrapped rice, beans and other grains in rice dumpling leaves and threw them into the river for the fish and shrimp to eat. Later, it gradually evolved into the current rice dumplings. For older children, we can tell them: The Dragon Boat Festival has a history of more than 2,500 years. It was first a festival custom to ward off poison and evil spirits. Later, it spawned a variety of sacrificial activities, mainly commemorating Qu Yuan, commemorating Wu Zixu, and commemorating the filial daughter Cao E wait. The story of Wu Zixu: King Wu\’s husband believed the slander and ordered Wu Zixu to die. Before Wu Zixu died, he told people: \”After I die, dig out my eyes and hang them on the east city gate. I want to see the Yue army enter the city and destroy Wu.\” When Fu Chai heard about it, he was furious and ordered Wu Zixu\’s body to be thrown into the river on May 5th. Cao E\’s story: Cao E\’s father drowned in the river, and the body could not be found for several days. The 14-year-old Cao E cried day and night by the river. 17 days later, on the fifth day of May, Cao E also jumped into the river. , and came out holding his father’s body five days later. Customs related to Dragon Boat Festival Dragon Boat Festival customs are slightly different across the country. The most widely spread are as follows: 1. Eating rice dumplings. Eating rice dumplings has been consistent throughout the country throughout the ages. It’s just that the color and taste of zongzi are related to the specialties and customs of various places. The taste of rice dumplings generally ranges from sweet to salty. The salty ones are mostly meat rice dumplings, chicken rice dumplings, sauerkraut rice dumplings, ham rice dumplings, etc. For sweet ones, generally add: red dates, longan, beans, bean paste, etc. 2. Dragon boat racing usually has some commemorative ceremonies before the dragon boat racing. In Miluo, Hunan, before dragon boat racing, you have to go to Quzi Temple to pay homage to the temple. In Guangdong, before dragon boat racing, one has to worship the God of the South China Sea. In coastal areas of Fujian and Taiwan, Mazu is worshiped. In some places, chickens are killed and blood is dripped on the faucet. Not only do we have dragon boat races in China, but in recent years there have been international dragon boat competitions, attracting athletes from all over the world. 3. Drinking realgar wine. In \”The Legend of White Snake\”, the White Snake drank the realgar wine given to her by Xu Xian on the Dragon Boat Festival. As a result, she appeared in the shape of a snake and scared Xu Xian to death. Then she went to look for Ganoderma lucidum to save him. For children who cannot drink alcohol, adults will smear realgar wine on their foreheads, ears, noses, palms, soles of feet, etc. to disinfect and prevent diseases and keep away insects. 4. Mugwort leaves, calamus, garlic mugwort, calamus and garlic are called the \”Three Friends of the Dragon Boat Festival\”. Mugwort and calamus contain aromatic oils, which have the same bactericidal effect as garlic. Regarding hanging calamus, there is such a legend in our hometown: Once upon a time, bandits burned, killed and plundered the village, and people fled with their families. There was a woman holding a child in her hand and carrying a child on her back. Slowly, the bandits caught up. When the bandit leader saw her, he asked, \”Why do you carry the eldest son on your back, but hold the younger son in your hand?\” The woman replied, \”The child on your back is the child of my eldest brother\’s family, and his whole family is No more, only this child is left, so we must protect it. The one I am holding is my own son…\” The bandit leader listened to herShe was touched by her words, so she told her: Don\’t run away, go home and hang the calamus on the door, so that the bandits will not disturb your home. After the woman returned home, she told her neighbors about this method, and so the idea spread to hundreds of people, and even every house had calamus hanging on it. An interesting custom: Foreword painting: During the Dragon Boat Festival, realgar wine is used to draw the word \”王\” on a child\’s forehead. Realgar can drive away poison, and the word \”王\” represents tiger, which can ward off evil spirits. 5. Ethnic minorities and foreigners celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. Wu Bing\’an, a famous folklorist, said that among our 56 ethnic groups, 29 ethnic groups (just over half) celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, but different ethnic groups have different customs. For example, during the Dragon Boat Festival, the Yi people go into the mountains to collect herbs for disease prevention and treatment; the Mulao people carry paper boats to the fields to drive away pests during the Dragon Boat Festival; the Miao people not only hold dragon boat racing, but also perform drumming and singing during the Dragon Boat Festival. , mountain climbing, partying and other activities; Tibetan folk celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, young men and women go to the countryside to have fun, horse racing, singing and dancing, games and other activities. Of course, it’s not just China that celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival, Japan and South Korea also celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. South Korea\’s \”Gangneung Dragon Boat Festival\” is very famous, with millions of tourists from South Korea and all over the world every year. This is due to the local government\’s emphasis on and protection of folk intangible culture. The Gangneung Dragon Boat Festival was designated as an \”Important Intangible Cultural Heritage\” and \”Important Intangible Cultural Relics\” in 1967, and in 2005 it was designated as an \”Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity\” by UNESCO. In 2009, the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival was included in the Representative List of Human Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Dragon Boat Festival was the first Chinese festival to be selected as a world intangible cultural heritage. 6. Nursery rhymes and ancient poems about the Dragon Boat Festival. For younger children, you can teach them to sing nursery rhymes about the Dragon Boat Festival. The following songs are widely circulated and catchy: (1) May 5th is the Dragon Boat Festival. A moxa stick is placed on the door, and the fragrance fills the hall. Eat rice dumplings and sprinkle with sugar. The dragon boat was launched into the water and was filled with joy. (2) May 5th is the Dragon Boat Festival, so I carry a bamboo basket into the valley; the grass beside the stream is fragrant, and the most fragrant is calamus. (3) Brown seeds are fragrant and fragrant in the kitchen. The fragrance of mugwort leaves fills the hall. Peach branches are stuck on the door, and when you go out, you can see the yellow wheat. Duanyang here, Duanyang there, Duanyang everywhere. (4) Peaches are red and apricots are yellow; May 5th is the Dragon Boat Festival; rice dumpling leaves are fragrant and wrapped with grains; peel a rice dumpling and dip it in sugar; a happy life will last forever. Older children can take this opportunity to learn two ancient poems related to the Dragon Boat Festival, such as: On May 5th, the Song Dynasty\’s Mei Yaochen, Qu Shi, died, and the people of Chu could not tolerate it. There is no need for slander, just want to kill the dragon. The hatred in life has not been forgotten, but there is no trace of it. Yuanxiang\’s green pool water should illuminate thousands of peaks. The Dragon Boat Festival of Tang Dynasty·Wenxiu Festival is divided into whose name is the name of the Dragon Boat Festival? It is rumored to be Qu Yuan throughout the ages. It is laughable that the Chu River is empty and indistinct, but it cannot wash away the injustice of the direct ministers. I competed with Zhang Lei (lěi) of the Dragon Boat Festival Song Dynasty to overcome the deep sorrow and injustice of thousands of years. The loyal soul can be restored once it is gone. After the death of the country and the death of the body, what is there now? Only Li Sao is left in the world. Yi Mao Chong Wu\’s Poems of the Southern Song Dynasty·Lu You Chong Wu The mountain village is beautiful, and the durian flowers have suddenly become numerous. The rice dumpling bun is divided into two buns, and the moxa is tied with a dangerous crown. The old folk prescriptions are used to store medicines, and elixirs are also prescribed for those with weak bodies. As the sun sets, I finish my work and smile at the cup and plate. During the Dragon Boat Festival at Lao She, it happened to be windy and rainy, and the village children were still wearing their old clothes; they invited each other to carry their coir raincoats, and they dared to fall in love with the thatched cottage for the sake of mud; there were guests who were just like flesh and blood, and had no money to buy wine and sell articles; in those days, there were three feet of fish in the house, and no one could do it. It tastes like beans today.