What are the customs and traditions of the Dragon Boat Festival in Henan?

The delicious zongzi dragon boat race is another year of Dragon Boat Festival. In a blink of an eye, the annual Dragon Boat Festival holiday is coming. How did you spend the Dragon Boat Festival this year? Below, let's take a look at how Henan people spend the Dragon Boat Festival.

1, eat zongzi

Eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional custom of China people. Different from the variety of dumplings in the south, we only eat jujube dumplings in Henan.

The traditional form of zongzi is triangle, which is usually wrapped the day before, cooked at night and eaten in the morning. It tastes sweet, soft and delicious. Generally, it is named according to the material of the package. Glutinous rice dumplings are called zongzi, adzuki bean dumplings are called adzuki bean dumplings, and jujube dumplings are called jujube dumplings. The homonym of jujube dumplings is "jujube", so children who plan to study can win the first prize early.

But although zongzi is delicious, it is high in calories and sugar, so it is not suitable for gluttony.

Step 2 cook garlic and eggs

Every Dragon Boat Festival in rural Henan, housewives get up early and cook garlic and eggs prepared in advance for breakfast. Garlic is newly harvested in the field and smells wet and crisp. The purple skin outside is very eye-catching Eggs are fresh eggs that have just been picked up from the grass nest, with the residual temperature of the chicken's ass. Put garlic and eggs together in the pot, and add some mugwort leaves by the way. When cooked, the eggs will be eaten with garlic cloves. It is said that eating like this can also eliminate diseases and disasters. In some places, put some mugwort leaves when cooking garlic and eggs. Eating garlic, eggs and fried buns for breakfast is said to avoid the "five poisons" and is good for health.

3. Stir-fried vegetables and sugar cakes

In some places in Henan, fried vegetables and sugar cakes are also eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival. Because the Dragon Boat Festival comes to the wheat harvest season every year, which is the time of busy farming. At that time, life was hard, there was little oil and water in the stomach, and the meat was not well preserved. So we fried sugar cakes and vegetables, and sent them to each other for tasting!

Deep-fried vegetable corners and sugar cakes must be covered with the hot side of vegetable oil. The stuffing of the corner must be fresh leek and sweet potato powder, and the sugar cake is wrapped with white sugar mixed with flour. What is fried in this way is delicious-golden in appearance, soft and glutinous inside, and will never produce a hard taste. But these foods are greasy, just like zongzi. Don't be greedy.

4. hanging mugwort leaves

As the saying goes, "Willows are inserted in the Qingming Festival, and mugwort leaves are inserted in the Dragon Boat Festival". mugwort leaves have the meaning of inviting blessings and eliminating diseases and disasters. Influenced by the old saying that May 5th is an "evil day", people in Henan have the habit of hanging mugwort leaves on the Dragon Boat Festival to drive away all kinds of poison and protect the health of their families.

5, wearing a sachet, wearing a five-color rope

On the Dragon Boat Festival, children will wear sachets, which is said to ward off evil spirits and plague. The sachet is made of colored silk thread or rags. The sachet contains cinnabar, realgar and fragrant medicine, which are wrapped in silk cloth and fragrant, and then tied into ropes with colored silk threads to make strings of various shapes, which are exquisite and lovely. Five-color silk thread is the mascot and ornament of the Dragon Boat Festival. The custom of tying five-color silk thread originates from the concept of five elements in ancient China, which holds that five colors are auspicious colors.

6. Beat a hundred herbs

There is a custom of dragon boat race in the southern Dragon Boat Festival, but in former Henan, children often played a game called "Fighting Hundred Herbs" on the Dragon Boat Festival. The battle of hundred herbs originated in the Zhou Dynasty. The Book of Songs Nan Zhou Xiang Jian is about fighting grass. In the North-South Tide, the south gradually turned fighting a hundred herbs into a cultural and entertainment custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. Zong Yi's Chronicle of Jingchu's Age said: "On May 5, four people joined forces to fight a hundred herbs, and there was another hundred herbs war." The Dragon Boat Festival is not only played by the people, but also in the palace.

"Hundred Herbs Fight" means pulling out roots or leaves at the same time, which is tougher than anyone else. Bai Juyi, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, once wrote, "Making dust and mowing grass makes you happy every day."

Dragon Boat Festival, an ancient traditional festival, is a continuation of history and culture. Various folk customs during festivals not only enrich the spiritual and cultural life, promote the communication between people, but also inherit and carry forward the traditional culture well, making us cherish our festivals, our families and our lives more.