Dragon Boat Festival
01 · Historical Records
The Sacred Boat Gathering has its source in the old custom of expelling pestilence. In the eastern Hubei and Jianghan region the fifth month has from ancient times been a month of epidemic; the notion of averting sickness at Duanwu did not suit the local seasonal calendar, so the local people adopted the sending of a pestilence-averting sacred boat as the means of dispelling calamity, joining the Chu custom of sacrificing to Qu Yuan with the custom of averting disaster. The area around Daoshifu Village on Xisai Mountain lies against the river, where the current swirls back, the water is broad and open and boats are convenient; the custom accordingly became something shared by the whole settlement. The gathering period extends across several dozen days, from the start of work to the sending off of the boat all following the season, and it also spans rice transplanting and prayers for rain, being in effect an extension of the agricultural calendar.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Xisai Sacred Boat Gathering is a traditional grand event with which the villagers of Daoshifu, Xisai District, Huangshi City, celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival; its main activities include the rituals and events of making the sacred boat, staging operas, holding processions and sending the sacred boat into the water. From the work-starting ceremony for the dragon boat on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month — the birthday of the Buddha — when the sacred boat is built, through the consecration of the sacred boat conducted by a Taoist priest at the zi hour (midnight) of the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, to the official gathering period from the fifteenth to the eighteenth of the fifth month, the whole activity lasts 40 days, making it currently one of the longest blessing events of the Dragon Boat Festival in China. At 8 a.m. on the sixteenth day of the fifth lunar month the sacred boat goes out in procession; every household hangs calamus and mugwort by the door, sets an incense table at the entrance, lights incense and candles, and lays out offerings such as wine, tea, rice and fruit. At each house the villagers set off firecrackers to welcome it, scatter tea and rice, and pay worship. On the evening of the seventeenth day of the fifth lunar month, forty-eight ever-burning lamps are lit for the sacred boat, and the night is spent in Taoist jiao rites and vigil. On the morning of the eighteenth day of the fifth lunar month the sacred boat leaves its shrine palace; the Taoist priest and all the members of the Sacred Boat Gathering together clear the way for it, and sixteen young men carry the sacred boat respectfully into the river, letting the current carry the dragon boat downstream and east into the sea. At this moment the many fishing boats on the river set incense and altars at their bows, firecrackers go off in unison, and they circle the sacred boat three times in farewell. On the great embankment where the sacred boat enters the river, thousands upon thousands of villagers put their palms together and kneel in worship of the sacred boat, praying that it will carry away illness, pestilence and disaster, and hoping for a year of auspiciousness, happiness and well-being. The people spontaneously organize the Sacred Boat Gathering, holding traditional folk cultural activities themed on dispelling disaster, curing illness and praying for peace, health and longevity. By means of the form of "sending the sacred boat," the Sacred Boat Gathering averts disaster and prays for blessings for the people of the region; it is the most spectacular kind of folk gathering among Dragon Boat Festival customs and has a history of more than a thousand years to this day. Ever since the legend of commemorating Qu Yuan merged with the Dragon Boat Festival, and especially after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the activities of the Sacred Boat Gathering have also been linked with the legend of mourning Qu Yuan, injecting new vitality into the traditional festival. During the Sacred Boat Gathering the mass cultural activities are rich and colorful; the carefully built pavilions and towers with carved beams and painted pillars are of exquisite workmanship, magnificent in bearing and full of character, and possess high artistic value.
The opening rite on the eighth day
On the Buddha’s birthday a rite opens the work of building the spirit boat, choosing masters and helpers who take turns through the month that follows.
Consecration at midnight
At midnight on the fifth day a Taoist priest consecrates the boat, after which its painted pavilions and beams may be shown to the public.
The procession on the sixteenth
On the morning of the sixteenth the boat goes in procession; households hang herbs, set tables and scatter tea and rice as the procession passes.
Forty-eight lamps and the night vigil
Forty-eight lamps are lit on the seventeenth night and a vigil is kept through the night before the boat is carried out.
Launching the spirit boat
Sixteen young men carry the boat to the river and let the current take it downstream while fishing boats circle it three times and the crowd kneels on the dike.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
During the Sacred Boat Gathering, the local people sing Chu opera day and night, and people from all the surrounding villages and hills come to make vows and seek blessings from the sacred boat.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
This event is grand in scale, has a deep mass foundation, and has been transmitted without interruption to the present; it expresses the content of ancient folk Duanwu customs in a concentrated and vivid way and has precious cultural value.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Tan Guozheng 05-2970
- Liu Guisheng 05-2971
- Xiang Fuchang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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