The fifth day of the fifth lunar month is an annual traditional festival in China-Duanyang Festival, also known as Dragon Boat Festival, Summer Moon Festival, Daughter's Day and so on. This folk custom has been circulated for more than two thousand years.

The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival: the popular saying is nothing more than to commemorate Qu Yuan, Cao E or Wu Zixu. According to Wen Yiduo's research, the fifth day of May was the day when the ancient "dragon" tribes in Wuyue area held totem sacrifices. In fact, these explanations are not as conclusive as the "evil (sound) day.

In the pre-Qin era, it was generally believed that May 5th was an unlucky day, May was a poison month, and the 5th was an evil day. May 5 is approaching the summer solstice. During this period, poisonous snakes, mosquitoes and other harmful animals began to breed and plague began to spread. Five is the number of yang, heavy five has the meaning of "extreme yang", yin and yang are not in harmony, so the custom of "hiding from the afternoon" was formed, which was later misinformed and became the Dragon Boat Festival. In order to cope with the natural changes, people have taken a series of measures. For example, Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals stipulates that people should abstain from sex and fast this month.

In addition to dragon boat racing, eating zongzi, eggs, garlic and other folk activities, through the lively atmosphere of the Dragon Boat Festival and the fresh fragrance of zongzi, we will find that this festival is an out-and-out ancient medicine festival, during which many customs are closely related to medicine.

◆ Yu Lan Tang: "Da Dai Li Ji" contains: "On May 5, the orchid is stored for bathing. "It shows that the Zhou Dynasty already had the custom of storing orchid and bathing, which was also to avoid harm. This custom later had many changes, and various places had different medicine bathing customs. The medicines used included calamus, wormwood leaves, cypress leaves, peach leaves, etc., or one or more mixed decoctions. This custom has been passed down to this day and is said to cure skin diseases and get rid of evil spirits.

◆ Eat zongzi: As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, there were zongzi. After the Jin Dynasty, zongzi became a fixed food for the Dragon Boat Festival. The content has changed. The main material has become glutinous rice, which is mainly cooked. At the same time, there is also a "puzzle rice dumpling" with the addition of traditional Chinese medicine puzzle kernel ". Since then, new additives have emerged, such as red dates, adzuki beans, walnuts and other fruits, as well as traditional Chinese medicine, and then wild leaves have also changed into indocalamus leaves and reed leaves.

◆ Dragon Boat: The "Cisse Shenzhou Association" in Huangshi, Hubei, which was listed as a world intangible cultural heritage last year, may have retained an even older custom. The local Shenzhou, with the core of praying for peace and health, prolonging life and prolonging life, embodies the wish of the ancients to drive away pestilence and evil, eliminate disasters and diseases, and has a history of more than 2000 years. During the Shenzhou meeting, every household will hang calamus wormwood leaves by the door, set up incense cases at the door, burn incense candles, and put wine, tea, rice, fruit and other offerings. Every time the Shenzhou arrives, the villagers will set off firecrackers to greet them, sprinkle tea and rice, and worship them. Pray to take away the disease, take away the plague, take away the disaster, pray for a year of good luck, happiness, well-being.

◆ hanging wormwood leaves and calamus: it is a very popular practice to sweep the courtyard during the dragon boat festival and insert calamus, wormwood sticks and banyan branches into the lintel. The leaves of Acorus calamus also contain volatile aromatic oil, which is a refreshing, bone-strengthening, insecticidal and sterilizing drug. The ancients inserted moxa and calamus had a certain preventive effect.

◆ Wear sachet: The sachet is worn on the chest and fragrant. The contents of the sachet also have many changes. Its functions include sweat-absorbing, exorcising, insect-repelling, epidemic prevention, etc. The production is becoming more and more sophisticated and has become a unique folk art of the Dragon Boat Festival. The sachet has the meaning of avoiding evil spirits and expelling pestilence, and has been welcomed by the people so far.

◆ Drink realgar wine: Drink realgar wine on Dragon Boat Festival has the function of driving disease and fitness. Realgar is a kind of mineral. Soaking it into wine with calamus root can inhibit the proliferation of bacteria. Therefore, there is a saying that "if you drink realgar wine, all diseases will go away" (★Pharmacists remind: keep tradition, respect science! The main component of realgar is arsenic sulfide, which has strong toxicity. It is recommended to use it in the form of holidays and do not take it). Children can't drink. Adults will wipe the realgar wine on their noses and ears and draw a "king" on their foreheads to bless the children to grow up safely.

◆ Medicine Collection: This is one of the ancient Dragon Boat Festival customs. It is probably because the aboveground part of the herbal medicine grows luxuriantly and matures before and after the Dragon Boat Festival, and the medicinal properties are good. Some drugs are strictly required to be processed on May 5. The custom of catching toads in the Dragon Boat Festival originated from the legend of "toads and soldiers" in the Han Dynasty. In modern times, there are many areas with the custom of catching toads in the Dragon Boat Festival. Chansu is a kind of precious traditional Chinese medicine. The Qing Dynasty Palace Hospital stipulates that the fifth day of the fifth month of the fifth lunar month is the crisp day. When catching toads, the officials of the hospital had to talk about pomp and pomp, wear ceremonial ceremonies, line up and hold streamers, and play drum music. There is a poem that satirizes: "Break out of Fengcheng with vigor and power, and the noise advocates neon. Penetra Lin Phi mang as a tiger, catch a toad gouge eyes."

It is not difficult to see from the Dragon Boat Festival customs how naturally Chinese medicine penetrates into the daily life of the Chinese people. This is all in line with the ancient Chinese who believed that the Dragon Boat Festival is a day of the year when the yang is prosperous and the yin and yang are converted. From the beginning of a yin, the need for timely medication "to ward off evil spirits and poisons" is closely related.