我们为什么过端午？一个诗人、一条江，和两千年的纪念

Today, we'll talk about a festival celebrated every year, yet whose origin many can't quite explain — the Dragon Boat Festival.

The Dragon Boat Festival

falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month,

so it's also called the 'Fifth-Month Festival'.

For many Chinese people,

Duanwu

means a three-day holiday,

a table full of zongzi,

and also

the lively dragon boats on the river.

But have you ever wondered:

the things we do today,

where do they actually come from?

Today,

we'll lay it all out,

one piece at a time,

and make it clear.

First,

the most important name of all — Qu Yuan.

Qu Yuan

lived over two thousand years ago.

At that time,

China was not yet unified,

split into several states.

Qu Yuan

was a minister of one of them, the state of Chu,

and at the same time,

a remarkable poet.

How patriotic was he?

He wished with all his heart to make Chu

stronger,

so it wouldn't be bullied by other states.

He gave the king

much good advice.

But

the wicked men around the king,

who disliked him,

were always speaking ill of him to the king.

As a result,

Qu Yuan was not only passed over,

but instead,

again and again,

was driven out of the capital.

He could only watch, helplessly,

as the Chu he loved so deeply

declined day by day.

In the end,

the worst news came after all:

Chu's capital

was, by the powerful state of Qin,

broken through.

For Qu Yuan,

it was as if the sky had fallen.

He simply could not bear

to watch his country perish.

And so,

in utter grief,

he picked up a stone,

and threw himself into the Miluo River.

That day

was exactly the fifth of the fifth month.

As the news spread,

the common folk on both banks

were stricken with grief.

They loved this poet so dearly.

People rowed their boats,

rushing out onto the river,

searching everywhere for his body,

yet could not find it.

So that the fish in the river

would not gnaw at Qu Yuan,

people, one after another,

took rice and food

and threw it into the river.

Some even

poured realgar wine into the river,

to drug the 'evil dragon' in the water, it was said.

You see,

many of today's customs,

their source is right here.

People rowing boats to find Qu Yuan

slowly evolved into

today's dragon-boat racing.

Throwing rice balls into the river

slowly evolved into

the zongzi we eat today.

Of course,

the story of Duanwu

has another side too.

In fact,

before Qu Yuan,

the ancients already felt

that the fifth lunar month

was a 'poison month'.

Because the weather turns hot,

snakes and insects multiply,

and people fall ill easily.

So,

many Duanwu customs

were, from the start, about 'health'.

For example,

hanging mugwort at the door,

wearing a scented sachet,

and on children's wrists,

tying five-color threads.

These

were all the ancients'

ways of praying for safety and driving off illness,

a kind of method.

And so,

the remembrance of Qu Yuan

and the ancient health customs

slowly,

merged together,

and became the Dragon Boat Festival we know today.

Speaking of this,

I want to say one more thing to you.

A man

has been gone for over two thousand years.

But because of him,

an entire people,

every year,

pause once for him,

eat a bite of zongzi,

watch a dragon-boat race.

This kind of memory

is truly remarkable.

Finally,

I want to leave you two questions.

First,

of the Dragon Boat Festival,

what do you like most —

which part?

The zongzi,

the dragon boats,

or that

story about Qu Yuan?

Second,

over two thousand years have passed.

Do you think

what people truly commemorate in Qu Yuan

is the man himself,

or

is it that quality in him —

that 'knowing it's hard, yet holding on',

that spirit?

These two questions

have no standard answer.

But they're worth our

thinking about slowly.