What is Dragon Boat Festival? When is the Lunar New Year 2023? Origin and meaning

Around this time, you will easily see many neighborhoods, especially those inhabited by Chinese people, busy preparing for an important holiday.

The Dragon Boat Festival is a common New Year of some countries influenced by Chinese culture. However, in Vietnam, this New Year’s Day also has very special meanings.

See also : 17 important lunar holidays in Vietnam in 2022

What day is the Dragon Boat Festival?

Tet Doan Ngo takes place on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month , it is also known as Tet Doan Duong. Duan Ngo means the beginning of midday (Doan: opening, Ngo: midday) and yang means the sun, which is yang, and Doan yang means starting when yang is flourishing.

In Vietnam, Tet is also known under the folk name “Tet to kill insects” . Not only in Vietnam or China, but also in North Korea and South Korea, there are Dragon Horse Festival. Therefore, this occasion is actually an Asian New Year custom associated with the concept of the circulation of the weather in the year.

Doan Ngo New Year 2023 (May 5th of the lunar calendar) will fall on Thursday, June 22, 2023.

Origin of Dragon Boat Festival

Origin of Dragon Boat Festival

Origin of Dragon Boat Festival in China

Legend originates from China

Many people believe that the Dragon Boat Festival originated in China , associated with many thrilling stories and the most prominent one is the story of a mandarin named Khuat Nguyen.

The story is about the great god of Chu, Qu Yuan, during the Warring States period. He is a loyal servant of Chu country and also a famous cultural house. In one time to dissuade the king, he was harmed by a false god, he frustratedly threw himself down to the Mi La river to commit suicide on the 5th day of the 2nd lunar month.

People mourn for the loyalty, every year to this day everyone makes Banh Bao and floats it in the river to commemorate Khuat Nguyen.

Origin of the Dragon Boat Festival in Vietnam

For Vietnamese people, this holiday is a holiday with a completely different meaning . According to documents from the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, in the past, on a successful and bountiful crop, farmers celebrated because of the good harvest, but that year’s insects came to destroy everything.

People worried about how to get rid of this pest, suddenly an old man from far away called Doi Trun. He instructed the people in each house to set up an offering table of ash cake and fruit, then go out in front of his house to exercise. Everyone followed suit, but after a while, the insects and swarms fell down. And so on this day, farmers set up a table to worship to get rid of insects, since the 5th day of the 5th lunar month is the day “Tet to kill insects” and also called “Tet Doan Ngo” because the worship time is usually in the middle of the year. Horse hour.

Therefore, it is not possible to conceive of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year as originating from China as some people still think it is today.

Meaning of Dragon Boat Festival

Meaning of Dragon Boat Festival

Besides the meaning of killing pests that destroy crops, the Vietnamese also think that this is an opportunity to eliminate diseases during the season change .

The ancients believed that the human digestive system often contained harmful parasites that could not always be eliminated. Only on May 5, these parasites often surface and this is an opportunity for people to eat sour, acrid foods to get rid of them.

Worshiping the Dragon Horse in Vietnam

Family Feast

The Gia Tien offerings include:

• A tray of vegetarian rice
• Vegetarian cakes, vegetarian sticky rice
• Three cups of three-color wine, white, red, and yellow, with a little bit of majesty mixed in it
• 9 red gerbera flowers set on a fruit tray
• Three cups of tea, three different flavors, with boat gold, bullion, and gold leaf
• The five-color fruit tray has five flavors: spicy, sour, bitter, salty, and sweet
• Can buy a little bit of hell money

Family Feast

The ceremony to pray to the Jade Emperor and the Gods

Prepare the altar to be worshiped outdoors, placed facing the South.

The offerings to pray to the Jade Emperor and the God Fairy include:

• The ceremony table is spread with a wide red cloth
• The five-color fruit tray has five flavors: spicy, sour, bitter, salty, and sweet
• Vegetarian cakes, a raspberry
• 5 cups of five-color wine white, red, yellow, blue, black. There is a little bit of majesty in the wine
• 9 red gerbera flowers set on a fruit tray
• A red umbrella with a golden border
• 5 cups of tea in five different flavors, with boat gold, bullion, and gold leaf

Reference : Vows, offerings for Doan Ngo New Year 2022 according to Vietnamese tradition

The ceremony to pray to the Jade Emperor and the Gods

What do you eat on Lunar New Year?

Glutinous rice, Hanoi plum, litchi, banh ú,…

Fruit

On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, fruit is indispensable on the ancestral altar and family dinner. The fifth lunar month is the season of litchi and plums in Hanoi . The taste of sweet and sour fruits makes Tet more rich.

In the South, fruits that are popular for worshiping grandparents and eating include mangoes, rambutans, watermelons, lychees, etc. because these are the specialty fruits of this region. When offering and eating these fruits, the people here send their wishes that the crops will be lush, the pathogens will be destroyed, and the fruit trees will flourish.

Ash cake (Banh ú ash)

Banh ú tro has many different names such as banh ú, banh gio and banh yin and depending on the region, there will be many variations and wrapped in many different shapes. The cake is made of rice soaked in ash water that is burned with firewood or straw and wrapped in banana leaves .

The cake has a medium sweet taste, is flexible, has a characteristic clear color, is easy to eat, easy to digest, and cool to the gut. If it is an ash cake without filling, it is usually eaten with malt or molasses.

Ash cake (Banh ú ash)

Duck meat

A few days before and also on the 5th of May every year, almost every market in the North and Central is always busy buying and selling live ducks because families often make many dishes from ducks.

People in the Central region believe that from May 5 onwards, ducks have started their season, becoming fat and meatier. So on this day, most Central families will choose to buy and process delicious duck dishes such as boiled duck, roasted duck, potential duck, …

Roasted duck

Glutinous rice wine

Rice wine or wine is also a very popular specialty to worship and eat in all three regions of the North, Central and South on May 5 , people believe that eating rice wine and drinking wine on this day helps kill insects very well.

Glutinous rice wine is a mixture of fermented glutinous rice and sticky rice. The stage starts from cooking a pot of sticky rice with whole grain, then sprinkled with a layer of yeast, incubated for three days. Place this basket of sticky rice on a pot, catch the water mixed with the wine. After finishing the rice wine, sticky rice will have a sweet, spicy, and slightly sour taste , so whether young or old, this dish is very popular.

Glutinous rice wine

Lotus seed tea, black bean tea, water drifting tea and millet tea

Two indispensable tea dishes on this day are lotus seed tea and black bean tea, which have a very good cooling effect . The rainy and sunny May weather is easy to cause minor diseases, so eating tea on this day is chosen by many people to prevent diseases and pray for health.

The next dish of tea is no longer strange to the culture of the three regions when it is present in most important occasions such as the Lunar New Year, the December 23 offering to bring Ong Tao to Heaven, the Han Thuc New Year, that is water-drifting tea. And Tet on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month is no exception. The tea balls are round, beautiful, sweet aroma and have many meanings, so they are used by many generations to offer to heaven and earth, ancestors to pray for good luck.

Finally, there is a dish of tea from Hue every May 5th. Millet tea is tea made from millet seeds with the skin removed, soaked and then boiled until soft. Then people add sugar water and a little ginger to the pot of boiling millet and it’s done. The tea has a viscous texture, golden color, fragrant and sweet.

Lotus seed tea and black bean tea

The best and most meaningful Lunar New Year wishes

Dragon Boat Festival is a big holiday of the year, every family gathers to enjoy delicious and typical dishes. Besides, on this day, people also give each other good wishes, wish for health and success in life. The wishes will give us strength to live more happily and comfortably.

1. Today 5/5 is the Dragon Boat Festival. Wishing everyone a lot of health, always happiness, peace, luck and warm moments of reunion with family.

2. On the occasion of the Dragon Boat Festival on May 5, I wish everyone a lot of health, “kill many insects”, and wish the farmers a bountiful harvest.

3. Wishing everyone a happy and warm May 5, Lunar New Year. Remember to get up early to eat sticky rice to kill many insects for abundant health.

See more : 50+ good, meaningful 2022 Dragon Boat wishes to loved ones

The best and most meaningful Lunar New Year wishes

Activities taking place on Dragon Boat Festival

In addition to the worshiping tray on May 5 at the Ngo hour (12 noon) of the day, people in the countryside will invite each other to pick leaves to bring home to cook steaming water to clean the body and relieve colds . According to folklore, 12 o’clock on 5/5 is the time with the best yang, the sun shines best in the year. In some places, it is customary to hang wormwood to ward off evil spirits.

For that reason, in the North, sticky rice dishes, especially sticky rice wine, are indispensable on this day . According to folklore, it is very effective when eaten as soon as you wake up. This wine is mainly fermented sticky rice with whole grain, also known as “the”. People often use white sticky rice and cam ma to make sticky rice, let it cool, sprinkle with yeast, and brew it for three days. The basket of sticky rice is placed on a pot, collecting the wine water so that when eaten, mixed with it, creating a very pleasant sweet and spicy taste. Old people and children can all eat this wine.

Glutinous rice cake

In the central provinces, the indispensable dish in the tray of rice offerings is ú ash cake . Every house buys dozens of cakes or more. In addition, according to the tradition of Southern people, duck meat is also an indispensable thing for this holiday. In Ho Chi Minh City, roast ducks and roast pigs are often higher than normal days.

Banh ú tro

On this day, many people still bathe with coriander leaves to prevent diseases and eliminate insects . In coastal areas, people swim at the right time of the Horse.

Leaves smell

In addition, many people believe that on this day, the yang qi is the strongest of the year, so it is very suitable to pray for peace . According to that, the leaves picked during this time are believed to have the best effect, so doctors often go to the mountains to find medicine.

Anyone who has a cold on this New Year is advised to use 5 types of eucalyptus leaves, mulberry leaves, cactus, five claws and lemongrass to cook with steam to reduce the disease.

Another custom very familiar to the Vietnamese is that the family buys cactus to keep in the house to avoid evil spirits.

Cactus

Taboos on Dragon Boat Festival

Don’t look in the mirror after midnight

Folks believe that after 12 o’clock on the night of May 5, the yin energy is very active, so it is absolutely not advisable to look in the mirror or take pictures in front of the mirror to avoid attracting evil spirits that negatively affect health and may occur. difficult to explain.

Avoid stopping in murky places

On this day, grandparents often tell family members when leaving the house, they should not stop in murky, dimly lit places such as cemeteries, hospitals, funeral homes, … because it will cause harm. affect health. However, not only on this day, on weekdays you should also not stop at these places because in fact these places can contain pathogens.

Avoid dropping or losing money

According to the old concept, losing money on New Year’s Day on May 5 is considered as losing one’s fortune, causing bad luck to go down. So when going out, please pay attention to your personal belongings to avoid dropping or losing them.

Avoid dropping or losing money

Abstain from messy slippers

Shoes in Chinese are homophones with the word “ta”, if left messy, it will easily attract evil spirits. Therefore, pay attention to neatly arrange shoes to avoid affecting the fortune and love lines.

Abstain from messy slippers

Learn about Dragon Boat Festival in Eastern countries

China

In China, the Dragon Boat Festival also takes place on the 5th of May and is also known as the Chongwu Festival because it is the two numbers 5 meet . The Trung Ngu Festival here is often held quite solemnly with activities such as dragon boat racing alongside folk activities of making fragrant bags, making lanterns and redecorating the houses of local people.

Boat Racing Association in China

Japan

In the land of the rising sun – Japan, this New Year is also considered a holiday for boys . The image of the carp fish believed to bring health and intelligence is often hung by families to wish their children success. In addition, Japanese people often worship and eat mochi on this New Year.

Japanese Carp Flag

Korea

For Korea, the Dragon Boat Festival or Dano is one of the three biggest traditional festivals of the year, bringing with it long-standing culture and customs through many meaningful activities. First of all, this is an opportunity for the members to return to reunite to continue the traditional values. Also on this day, women and children often bathe with iris leaves, play folk games and wear traditional costumes.

Dano Day in Korea

Questions about Dragon Boat Festival

Why is the Lunar New Year called the New Year to kill insects?

In the past, insects bombarded crops, causing crops to fail, when suddenly an old man appeared claiming to be Doi Truan from another region. This old man told the farmers that each family set up a simple offering consisting of banh gio (ash), fruit and exercised in front of the house while offering. After doing exactly what he told him, after a while, the insect fell and disappeared.

Since then, people have kept this day as the Tet holiday to kill insects. Today, the insect killing festival is still performed very thoughtfully in Vietnamese villages, perhaps because it is associated with our country’s agricultural culture.

Insect killing festival

Why does the Dragon Boat Festival fall on the 5th of the 5th lunar month?

According to Master Tran Long, University of Social Sciences and Humanities (National University of Ho Chi Minh City), our people used to celebrate Tet in the 11th lunar month (also known as the month of Ti), so in May It is the middle month of the year, which is also the time when the Chiem crop has just ended and the harvest season has entered . So at this time, people make offerings as a way of thanking heaven and earth, ancestors, and celebrating a successful harvest.

According to the analysis of Dr. Long, “Doan” means the beginning, “Ngo” means noon, which is the hottest time of the day (from 11 am to 13 pm).So Doan Ngo can be understood as “the opening day of the chain.” hottest day of the year”.

Because wet rice farmers often have to observe the weather and have a suitable planting direction, since then the Tet holiday in Vietnam was formed.

What’s the difference between the Dragon Boat Festival in the 3 regions?

According to Assoc. Dr. Pham Ngoc Trung – former Dean of the Faculty of Culture, Academy of Journalism and Propaganda , people in the Northern Delta often use sticky rice and wine to kill insects and insects . Because of the ancient concept, because of the concentration of sticky rice and the spicy yeast of alcohol, it can repel and destroy harmful parasites for the body.

Offering cake and fruit

In the Central region, one of the areas with the harshest weather in Vietnam, will celebrate this New Year by making large offerings to pray for peace and a bountiful harvest. The tray of the Central people often has rice and wine as a “tool” to kill insects and rice paper, millet tea and indispensable cake.

In the South, rice wine is also considered an indispensable worshiping material , but in a different form. The rice wine here is rolled into round balls, served with sticky rice. According to the tradition of Southern people, duck meat is also an indispensable offering for this important occasion.

Offering trays in the South

Thus, it can be said that the Lunar New Year is the Mid-year Tet, first to remember ancestors to pray for a bountiful harvest not to be destroyed by insects, then to wish for healing and health. It has been associated with the beliefs of the whole community, becoming a traditional Tet holiday. Besides, let’s spend the best and most meaningful Lunar New Year wishes for relatives and friends.

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