439-Chapter 5 Festivals and Customs 节日和风俗（6.docVIP

Chapter 5 Festivals and Customs 节日与风俗(6) 6. Celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival 迎端午 Dating from the time full of wars, the Dragon Boat Festival came into existence. We can see one of its customs from its English name—dragon boat. However, in the modern society, the activity is only limited to some large cities. There are also many other meaningful customs in some small towns or villages. As is known to all, eating rice dumplings is one of the most common customs during the Dragon Boat Festival, including my hometown— Jingjiang. At that time, rice, meat and other tasty food will be put together, which will cater to almost everyone’s taste. It is said that the dumplings were made previously to prevent the body of Quyuan from being eaten by fish. But who is Quyuan？QuYuan is a poet who strongly loves his county and at last when he saw his country was overthrown, he jumped into the river. In honor of him, people threw rice into the river to keep fish from eating him, which was developed into the dumplings as we know today. In addition, there are also some funny customs. We often hang the picture of Zhongkui on the wall, who is able to catch ghosts, because people hold the view that only in this way can they get happiness. What’s more, when the day comes, woman who has married will return home to visit parents with their daughters dressed beautifully. Also, it is said that May is a season in which many kinds of sicknesses spread widely and as such in some areas of my city, people will have a bath full of medicine in it to prevent these sicknesses. Not knowing how long the tradition has spread, eating boiled eggs with tea during the Dragon Boat Festival has become a habit for the locals. On top of that, we often pray for good luck by hanging wormwood at the door。As children, the happiest time during the Dragon Boat Festival is when their parents painted the tiger using realgar in the hope of driving away the evil things. According to some experts, the Dragon Boat Festi