There are more than 20 days left before the Dragon Boat Festival, and dragon boat rowing is an important folk activity during the Dragon Boat Festival in Panyu District. May 15 is the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, Shatou Village, Shatou Street, Panyu District, held a "dragon" activity in the dragon dock on the right bank of the Danshan Fenhong River (Shatou Street), and the five dragon boats hidden in the water were successively "out of the water" with the joint efforts of the villagers, preparing to welcome the Dragon Boat Festival dragon boat folk activities.
Villagers scrub dragon boats at the dragon dock
At about 9 o'clock in the morning of the same day, the reporter saw in the dragon dock of Shatou Village on the right bank of the Danshan Fenhong River (Shatou Street) that the water in the dragon dock had been basically drained, and five traditional dragon boats were exposed to the water, and many villagers rolled up their sleeves to scrub the dragon boats. According to the villager Uncle Ying, every year on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, the village will salvage the dragon boat from the water, commonly known as "the dragon", they dry the dragon boat, wipe the oil, June 5 (the last day of the fourth lunar month) to the Nanshan ancient temple to "invite the dragon". From the beginning of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, participate in the "Ten Towns Dragon Boat Meeting" Dragon Boat Festival Dragon Boat Festival in ten villages on the north bank of the bridge river in the city, and the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth month of May is just Shatou Jing, and dozens of dragon boats will participate in the parade on the same day.
As a Lingnan water town, Panyu has vertical and horizontal rivers and dense water networks, inheriting the endless dragon boat culture. Ten villages, including Xinqiao Village, Shigang East Village, Shigang West Village, Pangjiang West Village, Panjiang East Village, Shaxu No. 1 Village, Shaxu No. 2 Village, Shatou Village, Lianhu Village, and Beihai Village, on the north bank of the Shiqiao River, form the "Ten Township Dragon Boat Club". From the first day of the fifth lunar month to the seventh day of the fifth lunar month every year, the villages will be visited according to a fixed schedule, among which the first day of May is the Shigang view, the second day of May is the riverside view, the third day of May is the Xinqiao view, the fourth day of May is the sand market view, the fifth day of May is the Shatou view, the sixth day of May is the lotus lake view, and the seventh day of May is the North Sea view. This custom has continued since ancient times.
Text/photo: Panyu financial media reporter Wang Hanwen and Zhang Zhongming