The customs of the Loong Boat Festival

 The Loong Boat Festival, also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, double Fifth Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival, is a traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. With a history of over 2,500 years, this festival is widely spread among various ethnic groups in China. And the 2026 Loong Boat Festival holiday falls from June 19th to June 21st.

 The customs of the Loong Boat Festival in China are rich and diverse, integrating multiple cultural connotations such as praying for blessings and warding off evil, commemorating ancestors, and promoting physical fitness. The main traditional customs include:

• Dragon Boat Race: One of the most representative activities, originating from the people rowing boats to search for Qu Yuan who jumped into the river, has now become a folk event that combines competition and unity spirit.
• Eating Zongzi: Zongzi are made by wrapping glutinous rice and various fillings (such as candied dates, red bean paste, salted egg yolk, fresh meat, etc.) with zongzi leaves. They are mostly shaped in triangles or quadrilaterals, symbolizing the commemoration of Qu Yuan and also implying the drive away of evil and harm.
• Hanging mugwort and calamus: People often hang fresh mugwort and calamus by the door, believing that their fragrance can drive away insects and evil spirits, purify the air, and embody the family's wishes for peace and health.
• Wearing five-colored silk threads (colorful ropes): A bracelet woven from silk threads in red, yellow, blue, green, and white is tied around a child's wrist, symbolizing the drive to ward off diseases and disasters. After the festival, it is taken off and thrown into the water during the first rain, symbolizing the removal of bad luck.
• Wearing perfumed sachets: Small cloth bags filled with fragrant Chinese herbal medicine, which not only serve as mosquito repellents and prevent diseases but are also regarded as auspicious symbols conveying blessings.
• Drinking realgar wine and applying it on children's foreheads: The ancients believed that realgar had the effect of driving away snakes and detoxifying. In some places, the custom of drinking or using it externally is still retained. However, it should be noted that modern medicine indicates that it contains arsenic compounds and is not suitable for internal consumption.
• Avoiding the "Five Poisons": The fifth lunar month is regarded as the "Poison Month". Snakes, scorpions, centipedes, geckos, and toads are collectively known as the "Five Poisons" among the people. Preventions and exorcisms are carried out by posting talismans and making fans themed around the Five Poisons.
• Gathering herbs and bathing with herbal water: On the Dragon Boat Festival, mugwort, orchid grass, and other herbs are collected and boiled into a decoction for bathing, known as the "Bathing Orchid Festival", which is intended to prevent diseases and strengthen the body.
• Drinking Water at Noon/Loong Boat Water: It is believed that the well water or river water drawn at noon on the Dragon Boat Festival possesses the power of extreme yang, which can be preserved for a long time and used for making tea, preparing medicine, or washing face, symbolizing the removal of illness and refreshment.
• Doubaicao game: an ancient folk entertainment, which is divided into "literary dou" (competing in knowledge of flowers and plants) and "martial dou" (testing the toughness of grass stems), commonly seen in children's play.

 In addition, some regions also have unique customs such as flying paper kites, offering sacrifices to Zhong Kui statues, and making crispy cakes with toad ingredients. In 2009, the Loong Boat Festival in China was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, highlighting its profound cultural value and global influence.