During the Dragon Boat Festival every year, different places in the country have different customs, but the most recognized of them is eating rice dumplings, racing dragon boats, hanging wormwood, hanging calamus and drinking Xionghuang wine, which shows the recognition and importance of the broad masses of the people in China for the traditional Festival of the Dragon Boat Festival.
Although these customs are already familiar to most people, how much do you know about the historical origins behind them?
Image: Screenshot of Dragon Boat Festival data
First, the love story behind "hanging calamus"
1. A member of the poor masses
The custom of "hanging calamus" in the Dragon Boat Festival, everyone knows that it is auspicious, but everyone does not know that this is actually closely related to a love story of ancient folk, saying that in ancient times, there was a shrewd talent, although in many scientific expeditions, he married a beautiful and capable girl as a wife.
The woman's name was Rui Ying, and although the two of them seemed to be a little poorer, they could barely sustain themselves by relying on the efforts of their hands. However, people are not as good as the sky, and one day they are not beautiful, and they have ushered in a continuous drought that has not been encountered for decades, which makes the field almost grainless, and it seems that food and clothing will become a problem.
Although the days were a little bitter again, but Ruiying still did not give up, and did everything in her power to try to zhang Luo, seeing that the Dragon Boat Festival was coming, in order to make the family become lively, she racked her brains, but at a glance, she looked at the four walls of the family, only the calamus planted by the father-in-law was lush in the field.
So Ruiying went to dig up a few to clean up, after looking around, she felt that it was the most conspicuous and the most beautiful to hang on the door, she had a feeling and hair, and also thought of a poem hanging in front of the door, lamenting that the working people rely on the sky to eat, and the fate is uncertain.
Image: Hanging calamus anime screenshot
2. The touching story of loyalty and unswervingness
Xiucai was busy outside all day, and when he came home in the evening, he suddenly saw the poems written by his wife, and he felt that his life was bitter, and he was also tired of his wife, and he felt ashamed and embarrassed in his heart, and suddenly felt depressed in his heart Xiucai did not go directly into the house, but went to the field to wander, wanting to sort out the clues of various things.
At this moment, he saw an old cow unattended in the field, so he prepared to "take the sheep by the hand", but at this moment, the owner of the cow suddenly appeared, and as a result, xiucai was twisted to the official palace.
Xiu Cai was an honest man, his character was also famous in ten miles and eight townships, when Zhixian understood the ins and outs of the matter, he called Ruiying to the official palace, in the public court, this woman who did not go out of the door on weekdays did not have the slightest fear, but wanted to come to pen and ink paper, and wrote a seven-word poem with his hand, indicating that he would be with her husband, not abandoned, and share happiness and suffering.
This move made everyone including Zhixian deeply moved, and finally the owner of the cow also expressed forgiveness, in this way, Xiucai was not only not guilty, but also received dozens of silver rewards from the county, and the two small families thanked Zhixian for their kindness, and then took this money to open a tavern, and the days slowly became prosperous.
Later, Ruiying's deeds spread more and more widely, and people also believed that hanging a handful of calamus in front of the door before the Dragon Boat Festival would be able to do everything in a murderous manner, drive away evil spirits and avoid harm, which is the origin of the folk custom of "hanging calamus" in the Dragon Boat Festival.
Image: Stills of a woman and her husband
Second, "hanging wormwood" and national hatred
1. Huang Chao's doubts
After talking about the historical allusions of "hanging calamus", let's talk about the story behind "hanging wormwood", saying that during the Tang Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty, with the intensification of civil land annexation, social class contradictions began to intensify rapidly, and the people were not happy to give birth, and Huang Chao, a famous luodi talent in Chinese history, finally couldn't bear it, and he organized and launched the "Yellow Nest Uprising" in his hometown.
Although Huang Chao was also a reader, but fighting and killing people was not ambiguous, almost everywhere the corpses were all over the field, there was no grass, at that time, but whenever the common people heard that the Huang Chao army was coming, they were dragging their families with their mouths and running away non-stop.
Once, Huang Chao found that there was a woman in the fleeing mass ranks who behaved very abnormally, completely different from others, and took a closer look, it turned out that the women actually held the larger child tightly in their arms, while the young child was just holding it with her hands, which was completely unreasonable!
Huang Chao was very puzzled by the woman's move, so he stopped the woman and asked curiously, "Everyone else is a child who cares more about the younger, but why do you want to hold the older one and let the smaller self go?" This question can startle the woman.
Picture: Stills of a woman holding a child
2. Women's contributions
Although she was extremely frightened in her heart, the woman still stood up her chest and replied with a spirit: "This older child in her arms is not my own child, but the child of my uncle's family." The child in my hand is my own. However, Uncle Dashi entrusted the child to me before, no matter when it was, it should be loyal, and in case of an emergency, I could only choose one of the two, and I could only abandon my child and keep my only offspring."
Although Huang Chao was a fierce lord, but the human heart is still flesh after all, he was deeply touched by the woman's words, so he moved his heart of compassion, and said to the woman: "It is not easy for you to escape as a woman, but now you have to take two children, it is really difficult, or you don't have to run away, go home with peace of mind, take out a handful of wormwood and insert it in the doorway, so that after my army enters the city, it will not hurt you when it sees wormwood."
Image: Screenshot of wormwood data
According to what Huang Chao said, the woman rushed home and immediately took out the wormwood and hung it in front of the door, this matter soon went away, was known by many people, so everyone held the idea that it was desirable to believe that it was not credible, and also began to hang wormwood in front of their homes.
As a result, when the Yellow Nest army arrived, it was surprising to find that almost every household in the city had wormwood in front of the door, which was embarrassing. In order to prove that he "means what he says", Huang Chao can only abide by the agreement he made with the woman, and orders his soldiers to do nothing to the common people, and everyone in the whole city is thus spared.
Later, in order to commemorate the merits of this woman, people would hang a wormwood plant at the door every mid-autumn festival, and slowly, this became a custom.
Image: Stills of the Yellow Nest Army
Of course, we can't check the authenticity of these ancient books, but what is certain is that most of the customs, including "hanging calamus" and "hanging wormwood", are the emotional sustenance of the ancients for thousands of years, and they are also the symbols of the great spirit of Chinese civilization.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!