It is said that after Qu Yuan died, the people of Chu State were extremely sad and flocked to the Miluo River to pay their respects to Qu Yuan. The fishermen rowed their boats and fished for his true body back and forth on the river. A fisherman took out the rice balls, eggs and other food prepared for Qu Yuan and threw them into the river "plop, plop", saying that when the fish, lobsters and crabs were full, they would not bite Dr. Qu's body.
People followed suit after seeing it. An old doctor took a jar of realgar wine and poured it into the river, saying it was to stun dragons and water animals so as not to harm Doctor Qu. Later, for fear that the rice balls would be eaten by dragons, people came up with the idea of ??wrapping the rice with neem leaves and wrapping it with colored silk, which developed into rice dumplings. Since then, on the fifth day of May every year, there has been the custom of dragon boat racing, eating rice dumplings, and drinking realgar wine to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.
Extended information:
The significance of the Dragon Boat Festival:
1. Commemorate Qu Yuan, the great national poet in history. Qu Yuan, named Ping, was a native of Chu during the Warring States Period. He was born on the seventh day of the first lunar month in the fifth year of King Wei of Chu, or in the twenty-seventh year of King Xuan of Chu, and died in the ninth year of King Xiang of Chu.
2. To commemorate the death of Cao E, a filial daughter of the Eastern Han Dynasty who threw herself into the river to save her father. Cao E was a native of Shangyu in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Her father drowned in the river and her body was not seen for several days. At that time, her filial daughter Cao E was only fourteen years old and cried along the river day and night. Seventeen days later, he also threw himself into the river on May 5th. Five days later, he took out his father's body. This was passed down as a myth, and then passed down to the county governor, who ordered Du Shang to erect a monument for it and his disciple Handan Chun to write a memorial in praise of it.
The tomb of the filial daughter Cao E is located in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today. It is later said that the stele of Cao E was written by King Yi of the Jin Dynasty. In order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, later generations built the Cao E temple at the place where Cao E threw herself into the river. The village and town where she lived was renamed Cao E town, and the place where Cao E died for her father was named Cao E river.
3. Commemorate the modern revolutionary female poet Qiu Jin. Qiu Jin died for his country on June 5th. In order to respect his poems and mourn his heroic deeds, later generations commemorated it in conjunction with the Poet's Day. The Poet's Day was also designated as the Dragon Boat Festival in memory of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan.
Qiu Jin, also known as Ruiqing Jingxiong, also known as Jianhu Nvxia, also known as Yugu, was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. He was good at poetry, lyrics, songs, and rhymes when he was young, and liked to ride horses and fencing. Hua Mulan and Qin Liangyu are still alive. Zhi Bei participated in the revolution at the age of 28 and had a great influence. He planned an uprising and was arrested by Qing soldiers during a meeting. He was unyielding and died heroically in Xuanhengkou, Shaoxing on June 5, the 33rd year of Guangxu.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Dragon Boat Festival