B. Bathing with Orchid. Bathing with orchid on Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient custom recorded in Dadaili. Orchid has a kind of sweet scent, and can be put into hot water for bath. King in Clouds of Nine Songs says, “Bathe with orchid to meet its sweet scent”. Jingchu Seasonal Records says, “May 5 is called orchid bathing festival.” Wuzazu of Ming dynasty records, “when orchid water was not available, people took five colored herbs at noon to bathe. Afterwards, people often use calamus and wormwood leaves to bathe. In Guangdong, wormwood, calamus, balsamine, magnolia are used; in Hunan and Guangxi, cypress leaves, dafenggen, wormwood and calamus leaves, peach leaves. No matter old or young, all the people in a family would bathe this way. This custom remains to date, and people believe it can cure skin diseases and dispel vicious energy.
C. Drink calamus wine, realgar wine, cinnabar wine, and spray these wines in house. Jingchu Seasonal Records says, “Add calamus to wine for drink.” This wine smells good and tastes smooth. Later, realgar and cinnabar are added to wine. Wuzazu composed by Xie Zhaozhe in Ming dynasty notes, “Drink calamus wine… then add realgar into wine to drink.” In Yuelingguangyi of Ming dynasty, Feng Yingjing writes, “On May 5, people use cinnabar wine to disperse evil creatures and cure poisoning. Apply this wine on forehead, chest, hand, foot, people are free of accident of being bit by poisonous insects. People also spray it onto wall, door and window to keep away these insects.” This custom circulates widely. Nowadays, in Binyang Guangxi province, on Dragon Boat Festival packs of herbs would be on sale, including realgar, cinnabar, cypress seeds, peach kernel, calamus and wormwood leaves, etc. After soaking them in wine, people would use calamus and wormwood stems to dip into this wine and spray it in wall corner, door, window, and under bed, etc. Parents would also smear this wine on nose, ears, navel to drive away poisonous insects for the safety of the children. In some places, people write the Chinese king character with realgar wine on forehead of babies, so they can bear the sign of tiger (as the forehead wrinkle of tiger is like this Chinese character) to expel evils. In the view of health, these activities contain some scientific reasons, as realgar wine sprayed indoors can kill germs, while drinking calamus wine would be favorable to people’s health.
D. Make Herbal Tea. In some places of the north in China, people would collect some tender tree leaves and wild herbs leaves to cook and dry up as tea leaves. In Chaozhou Guangdong province, people would go to the countryside to collect medical herbs to make herbal tea. This kind of tea is good to health.
On Dragon Boat Festival, people would set up various flowers and plants to expel evil, which is a custom with a long history. Jingchu Seasonal Records first recorded the practice to hang wormwood on door, “Collect wormwood to weave into human figure and hang up on doors to dispel evil energy.” People did this since wormwood has important medical values. It can also be processed into paste to cure diseases, assist acupuncture, and dispel insects. The wormwood in May has the most of plant oil when it is at its zenith, so its efficacy is the best, no wonder people would race to collect it. Except knitting wormwood into human figures, people also make it into tiger shapes called wormwood tiger. Jingchu Seasonal Records notes, “Knit wormwood into tiger or cut colored cloth into tiger, and stick wormwood leaves on, which ornaments are popularly worn by women.” Meanwhile, people would hang calamus bunches, sword, and dragon figure knitted out of it. Capital Seasonal Records writes, “On Dragon Boat Festival, people would hang calamus dragon and wormwood tiger.” Volume 5 of Records of Qing Jia says, “Make sword and whip through calamus, added with peach board and garlic head, then hang it around bed or window to ward off ghosts.” Peach board is an auspicious object to subdue evil spirits, while garlic head is regarded as copper hammer, matched with calamus sword and whip to drive away ghosts and spirits. Furthermore, there is the practice to burn wormwood leaves to dispel mosquitoes and flies. In Hunan and Zhejiang, people would collect kudzu vines and hang them on doors. It is said that these symbolize iron chains to lock spirits, which of course would frighten the evil creatures away.
(Source: bjchinese.bjedu.cn)
