Why is the Dragon Boat Festival called Ankang? What does Ankang mean?

The Dragon Boat Festival culture has a wide influence in the world, and some countries and regions in the world also have activities to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. During the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, people often send each other blessings, usually saying something like "Happy Dragon Boat Festival". Some friends are very curious, why is the Dragon Boat Festival called Ankang? What does "Ankang" mean on the Dragon Boat Festival? You can continue to browse and read to find the answer!

Contents of this article

1. Why is the Dragon Boat Festival called Ankang?

2. What does "Ankang" mean during the Dragon Boat Festival?

3. Dragon Boat Festival: Health or Happiness

4. What are the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival?

Why is the Dragon Boat Festival called Ankang?

Because the Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient epidemic prevention festival. Tracing back to its origin, the Dragon Boat Festival is a festival to drive away poisons and evil spirits, and to ward off disasters and bring good luck. Its original intention is to remind the world to drive away poisons and evil spirits, prevent epidemics, and protect lives. Therefore, the blessing of the Dragon Boat Festival is not happiness, but health.

In the eyes of the ancients, May was also called the "poisonous month" and the "evil month".

Among the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival, for example, the Han people will insert mugwort and calamus in front of the door, the Yi people will go into the mountains to collect herbs, the Mulao people will carry paper boats to the fields and ask wizards to drive away pests, and the Tibetans will go up the mountains to pick flowers, wipe their eyes and bathe their bodies with spring water.

The focus of the Dragon Boat Festival is to drive away poison and avoid epidemics, and to protect the health of the family with food, accessories, decorations, incense and bathing.

What does "Ankang" mean for Dragon Boat Festival?

It means wishing each other a safe and healthy Dragon Boat Festival. Because the Dragon Boat Festival is a festival of sacrifice, we cannot wish each other happiness. We can use words such as auspicious and well-being to express our blessings. The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Duanyang Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Chongwu Festival, Tianzhong Festival, etc., is one of the four major traditional festivals in China.

The Dragon Boat Festival was originally a festival created by ancient people to worship the Dragon Ancestor, pray for blessings and ward off evil spirits. Legend has it that Qu Yuan, a poet from the Chu State during the Warring States Period, committed suicide by jumping into the Miluo River on May 5th. Later generations also used the Dragon Boat Festival as a festival to commemorate Qu Yuan.

The Dragon Boat Festival culture has a wide influence in the world, and some countries and regions in the world also have activities to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival.

The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival covers ancient astrological culture, humanities and philosophy, and contains profound and rich cultural connotations. It has blended various folk customs into one in the process of inheritance and development. Due to different regional cultures, there are differences in customs or details in different places.

Dragon Boat Festival: Health or Happiness

During the Dragon Boat Festival, people often wish each other well, usually saying something like "Happy Dragon Boat Festival". But some people objected. Some people say that the Dragon Boat Festival is actually a festival for worshipping ancestors. On this day, Wu Zixu threw himself into the Qiantang River, Cao E threw himself into the Cao'e River to save her father, and Qu Yuan threw himself into the Miluo River. Therefore, when wishing each other well, people usually use words like "auspicious" and "healthy".

There is also a view that traditional Chinese society is an agricultural society, and production and life are affected by the change of seasons. The Dragon Boat Festival is the season when the weather changes from cold to hot, so this festival is closely related to the season. During the Dragon Boat Festival, various pests and five poisons breed, and the people set up the Dragon Boat Festival to expel evil spirits, avoid poisons, and prevent diseases. Drinking realgar wine, hanging wormwood and mugwort leaves, and fumigating atractylodes and angelica during the Dragon Boat Festival are all to repel insects and avoid evil spirits. Therefore, the original intention of setting up the Dragon Boat Festival is to be joyful and festive, to expel poisons and bring peace, and it is not a sacrificial festival like the Qingming Festival.

What are the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival?

The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival include: dragon boat racing, picking herbs, hanging mugwort, worshiping gods and ancestors, drinking realgar wine, eating rice dumplings, flying kites, tying five-colored silk threads, wearing sachets, etc. The customs of the Dragon Boat Festival are very rich and colorful. Due to different regional cultures, there are differences in the content or details of the customs in different regions.

For children who cannot drink alcohol, realgar wine is usually applied to the children's ears, nose, forehead, hands, feet, etc. on the Dragon Boat Festival.

The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year and is one of my country's four major traditional festivals. It originated from the worship of natural celestial phenomena and evolved from the dragon worship in ancient times.

Dragon boat racing is usually held in southern my country, usually in places where there are rivers, such as Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, etc.