Dragon Boat Festival

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Dragon Boat Festival

Applicant: Xihu District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province

Project No.: 451

Project No.: Ⅹ - 3

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Zhejiang Province

Type: Extension Project

Applicant: Xihu District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province

Protection unit: Dragon Boat Association of Jiangcun village, Xihu District, Hangzhou

Dragon Boat Festival (Dragon Boat Festival in Jiangcun Village)

Applicant: Xihu District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province

The Dragon Boat Race of Jiangcun is a folk activity organized by the residents of Jiangcun street in Xihu District of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. During the hundreds of years from the Ming Dynasty to now, the custom of dragon boat rowing in Jiangcun has never stopped. Even during the "Cultural Revolution", villagers in various villages secretly organized this folk activity on Dragon Boat Day. It is said that when Emperor Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River, he saw dragon boat rowing as lively as a fair in Jiangcun, so he granted the "Dragon Boat Festival". Since then, the title of "Dragon Boat Festival" in Jiangcun has been used to this day and spread to Wuchang, Gudang, Yile and other towns around.

The origin of dragon boat race in Jiangcun is related to flood. From April 24 of the lunar calendar to the Dragon Boat Festival of May 13, villagers spontaneously invite the Dragon King, offer the Dragon King, thank the Dragon King and eat Dragon Boat wine in the village, and ask the Dragon King not to flood. On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, the peak is to wrap and eat Zongzi; hang Artemisia argyi leaves, calamus, peach branches, garlic, gray zongzi (good seeds) in front of the door; eat "five yellow", that is, the yolk of realgar wine, yellow croaker, cucumber, eel, salted duck egg; hang sachet; for the newly married daughter's house, zongzi, towel, fan, etc. should be prepared and sent to the man's house on this day, and the items should be distributed to relatives and friends, commonly known as "five yellow" "Zan Jie". Jiangcun Dragon Boat Festival focuses on the performance and entertainment of dragon boats. Every year, on the day of Dragon Boat Festival, one or two hundred dragon boats gather in shentankouyang of Xixi wetland.

"Shengyang" has a prescribed route. Each dragon boat should first row all around shentankou ocean, and finally make a 360 degree rotation in the middle of shentankou ocean (commonly known as "mud carrying dam"). After the Dragon Boat Festival, the villagers gathered to eat Dragon Boat wine. There are some local sayings in Jiang Village, such as "Dragon Boat Festival is as big as new year", "rowing dragon boat is strong to celebrate the bumper year, watching dragon boat is auspicious to ensure safety". Such a kind of traditional folk activities, which seek harmony, share happiness, gather human resources and gather people's hearts, are constantly held every year, and every year is better than every year. Therefore, Jiangcun street was named "the hometown of Chinese folk culture and art (dragon boat)" by the Ministry of culture in 2008.