Duanwu Rain, a folk custom for fortune telling. According to folk beliefs, if it rains on May 5, it would be vicious, if not, it is auspicious. This custom has already existed in Song dynasty. Chen Yuanjing cited in his General Records for Seasonal Practices from Tiyaolu, “If it is fine on May 5, people would sunburn their medical herbs, and there would be no disasters. If it rains, ghosts would expose their medicine, so people would often catch diseases. This is a popular saying from people in Fujian.” Xu Yueqing wrote in A Poem Responding to Li Shizhou on Dragon Boat Festival, “People in Linchuan believe that if it rains on Duanwu, ghosts would thrive while people would languish.” Poet Zhao Huaiyu in Qing dynasty noted, “If there is no rain on Duanwu, it will be a harvest year”.
Dragon Boat Race and Sacrifice to Quyuan and Cao’e
The term dragon boat first appeared in an ancient book before Qin dynasty called Biography of Heavenly Son Mu, “The heavenly son rod on bird boat and dragon boat on large lakes.” And Xiangjun in Nine Songs notes, “Drive flying dragon to fight north, and make my way on Dongting Lake.” Then, “Water flows shallow on beach stones, while the flying dragon moves magnificently”. Many scholars believe that flying dragon mentioned here is dragon boat. Xiangjun describes that Xiang people drove their dragon boats and dropped jade pendent into the river to commemorate a certain historical person. This agrees with soul boat and the images in Silk Picture of Men Driving Dragon, as they proved each other. Jingchu Seasonal Records narrates, “May 5 is called orchid bathing festival… On this day, people race with boat, and collect various herbs.” Afterwards, there are numerous records for boat racing in poetry, novels, and annuals, etc.
Dragon boat is different from common boat in size and number of rowing people. In Huangpu Guangzhou, the dragon boat is 33 meters long with 100 people on board, among whom about 80 are rowers. In Nanning, the dragon boat is over 20 meters long, with over 50 people on board. In Miluo Hunan province, the dragon boat is 16 to 22 meters long, with 24 to 48 rowers. In Fuzhou Fujian province, the boat is 18 meters long, and 32 rowers. The design of dragon boat is usually long and narrow, with bow decorated with dragon head, while the stern is made into dragon tail. The color of dragon head can be red, black, and grey, which are all similar to the dragon lantern, but in different postures. Dragon head is often carved out of wood, then painted with different colors (but there are also designs made of paper and gauze). Dragon tail is often carved out of a whole piece of wood with scales on surface. Except dragon head and tail, on board there are also gongs, drums, and flags, with colorful paintings on the boat body. In Shunde, Guangdong province, boat is decorated with dragon tablets, flags at the head and tail, commander flag, couplets, flower and grass, etc. There is also an umbrella embroidered with dragon, phoenix, the eight immortals, etc. But, ordinary dragon boat would not have so many decorations, just installed with colored triangle flags, and strings of festoons. In the ancient time, dragon boat is also rather splendid, for instance the dragon boat in Boat Racing in Dragon Pool painted in Yuan dynasty, has its dragon head held high, big and lively, with exquisite carvings. The dragon tail also stretches firmly up, with several layers of buildings and pavilions painted on the dragon body. If this painting is a copy of a real boat, we can conclude that the ancient dragon boat should be rather delicate in workmanship. In Tracing up Quyuan of Dianshizhai Gallery, the painting also expresses a dragon boat in Wuhu, with its dragon head projects up high, and buildings painted on. In some places, the design of dragon boat remains some gorgeous ancient styles.
(Source: bjchinese.bjedu.cn)
