Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Jie) is one of the six major Chinese holidays, along with Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival and others.
On June 19, the Confucius Institute of Tomsk State University invites everyone to celebrate this holiday in front of the main building.
The festive events will include a small concert, traditional games and master classes on making amulets against evil spirits and diseases: "luo dian" (mother-of-pearl hairpin), hair clips made of Suno silk, aroma bags, pendants in the form of hieroglyphs and bracelets-amulets.
The Dragon Boat Festival has several versions of its origin. The most popular is that the festival is celebrated in respect for the memory of the famous poet and official Qu, who lived in the era of the Warring States around 340-278 BC. For a long time, Qu served as a minister at the court of the ruler of the kingdom of Chu. He was known as an honest and wise adviser. One of his rivals, who had a strong influence on the ruler, slandered Qu, after which the letter was expelled from the capital. The former minister wrote many works about love for his state. Some are very popular in China to this day.
While the poet was in exile, in 278 BC the Qin Empire was captured by the Chu kingdom. When he learnt about this, Qu fell into despair and committed ritual suicide, drowning in the river on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. The locals were amazed at his devotion to his homeland. They took boats down the river to retrieve his body. Trying to scare the fish away from the body, residents hit the water with oars and threw balls of sticky rice - zongzi (粽子) into the water. At the same time, people sitting in boats beat drums to scare away evil spirits.
Even before the legend of Qu Yuan, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month was considered a holiday and marked the beginning of the summer season. With the onset of heat, poisonous insects come to the surface: millipedes, scorpions, snakes, toads and spiders. Residents of ancient China tried to divert "infection" from the house - they hung protective suspension bags in the door and window openings, weaved bracelets to ward off infectious insects.
Some plants were thought to deter evil spirits and improve health, especially in children. On the days of the holiday, many made and wore special bags with medicinal herbs on their necks.
