Aihu, is an ancient object to drive off evil on Dragon Boat Festival, also an ornament. In the ancient time, the Chinese people regarded tiger as a holly beast, so its figure was often used to ward off evils to bless people. General Collection of Customs says, “Tiger is a kind of Yang creature, and the king of beasts. It can kill ghosts and spirits and is also helpful for exorcising.” Thus, people often use tiger to counteract evil spirits, among which Aihu during Dragon Boat Festival is most typical. Aihu can be a product woven by wormwood leaves, or a cutting from cloth and paper with wormwood leaves stuck on the surface. It is often worn on head or the side of the body. The custom to wear Aihu during Dragon Boat Festival has a history of more than a thousand years. In Seasonal Practice Collection composed by Chen Yuangui of Song dynasty has a quotation from Assortments of Seasonal Practice, “On Dragon Boat Festival, people often weave wormwood into tiger shapes, some of which is very tiny in size as a black bean. People also cut colored cloth into small tiger, stuck with wormwood leaves, and wear.” In his poem Poster on Dragon Boat Festival, Wang Yigong says, “Whenever Dragon Boat Festival comes, those women who are deft in sewing would use silk or other cloth to make small tiger or Zongzi, penetrate it with colored threads and hang onto hairpins, or wear it on the back of babies. An ancient poem reads, ‘Aihu is dangling beautifully at the end of jade swallow-shaped hairpin’, it is the referring to this.”
Forehead Painting, a custom to smear realgar wine on the forehead of babies, as people think it would ward off poisonous creatures. The typical way is to write the character Wang (meaning king) on the forehead of the baby with this wine, intended to keep off the poisonous insects, and subdue evils through the might of tiger (the Chinese character Wang is similar in shape to the forehead wrinkles of tiger). Fucha Dunsui of Qing dynasty writes in his book Seasonal Practice of Yanjing, “Whenever Duangyang arrives, parents would take realgar wine to rub on neck, nose, and ears of their children from May 1, intending to avoid poisonous creatures.” Except being smeared on forehead, nose, and ears, realgar wine can also be applied onto other places of the body with the same intention. Hequ County Annals records, “On Dragon Boat Festival, people would drink realgar wine and apply it on forehead, hands, and feet of babies…supposed to repulse viruses and prolong their life.”
Long Life Thread, a health preservation ornament worn during Dragon Boat Festival. It is also referred to as Life Extending Thread, Life Extending Fiber, Life Prolonging thread, Long Life Fiber, or Five Colored Thread, etc. For all of these different names, its shape and function are the identical. Its making is to weave five different colored threads into thin rope, then hang it on the door, tie around the neck or army of the baby, or hang it in mosquito net or cradle, intending to avoid disasters and repulse diseases, to ensure safety and health, and to prolong life span. The shape of this ornament can be assorted into five: one, twist five colored threads into a rope, and tie around the arm; two, tie gold or silver ornaments on five colored threads, and then hang around the neck; three, knitting five colored threads into square and hang in front of the chest; four, knit five colored threads into human figure and wear it; five, knit five colored threads into the shape of the sun, the moon, stars, birds, beasts, etc. and offer to seniors. This custom begins from Han dynasty. Collection of Customs composed in East Han dynasty records, “On Dragon Boat Festival, people often tie five colored threads around arms to avoid ghosts and disasters, and keep people away from diseases, the name of which is long life thread or disaster avoidance fiber.” From then on, this evolved into a custom until now. Seasonal Practice of Yanjing by Fucha Dunsui in Qing dynasty says, “Whenever Dragon Boat Festival comes, those women who are deft in sewing use cloth scraps to make small tiger, Zongzi, bottle gourd, cherry, mulberry, etc., then string them up by five colored thread, and tie it onto hairpin, or on the back of babies.” In Tang and Song dynasties, there were even the practices that the imperial court bestowed this ornament to ministers. Historical record goes that, in the first year of Xingyuan Reign by Emperor Daizong in Tang dynasty, the court bestowed out a spool of this hundred year rope. The Fifteen Section of Rite Records from History of Song Dynasty states, “Yesterday, the court bestowed gold thread life prolonging ribbon, colored fiber life extending thread to officials. On Dragon Boat Festival, they all wore it to the court.”
(Source: bjchinese.bjedu.cn)
