Time of the Dragon Boat Festival

In the season of summer, the weather becomes hotter and disease more common. It is also the time of year when snakes and insects breed in greater numbers. The Dragon Boat Festival is observed early in the fifth lunar month on the day when the sun is center-most in the sky, the days in this month considered especially hot. As a result, such names as “Poison Month” and “Bad Days” appeared for this month. According to legend, the Dragon Boat Festival was originally celebrated among people in southern China to worship dragons. Over time, it was integrated into summer customs for curing diseases and preventing epidemics in the north. It has also been attached to commemorations of historical figures such as Qu Yuan, Wu Zixu, and Cao E in the south. The festival is marked by hanging calamus, wearing moxa leaves, tying together colorful threads, orchid bathing, eating sticky rice dumplings, drinking realgar wine, and racing dragon boats to seek blessings and auspiciousness while suppressing misfortune and averting calamity.

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  Xu Qixie Ji
  Continued Records on Universal Harmony

  Written by Wu Jun (469-520), Liang dynasty
  Manuscript copy from Complete Books of the Four Repositories (Wenyuan Pavilion edition), Qianlong reign (1736-1795), Qing dynasty

  Xu Qixie Ji is a collection of supernatural stories written by Southern Dynasties literatus Wu Jun (469-520). It is the earliest work that associates Qu Yuan with the Dragon Boat Festival; by that time, Qu Yuan had been deceased for over 750 years.

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  Chuxue Ji
  Notes on First Learning

  Compiled on imperial decree by Xu Jian (659-729), et al., Tang dynasty
  Manuscript copy from Complete Books of the Four Repositories (Wenyuan Pavilion edition), Qianlong reign (1736-1795), Qing dynasty

  Chuxue Ji was originally compiled to help the sons of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang check various subjects when writing composition. It includes what is considered the earliest record of the Dragon Boat Festival in Fudoki, which states: “On the Dragon Boat Festival in a midsummer, zongzi with duck meat is prepared in bamboo leaves.”