The Dragon Boat Festival customs in Jiaxing originated in the Southern Song Dynasty, reached their peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and have survived since the Republic of China. They have become popular again after the founding of New China. In recent years, the annual China-Jiaxing Jiangnan Cultural Festival has held Dragon Boat Festival folk cultural activities as a fixed project during the Dragon Boat Festival, so that this folk custom can be restored, inherited and promoted. The main contents of Jiaxing Dragon Boat Festival customs include sacrificial customs, food customs, entertainment customs and belief customs. Sacrificial customs. The first is the Wu Xiang Sacrifice. On the Dragon Boat Festival, people will bring offerings to the Wu Xiang Temple and Xushan Temple in Nanhu to worship Wu Zixu. The second is the Dragon Sacrifice. Before holding the grand Nanhu Dragon Boat Race, the participating fleets must first carry the dragon head to the Dragon Sacrifice. Then, the dragon head is installed on the bow, colorful lights are hung on the dragon boat, and the dragon boat is carried into the water. The priest (the host of the ceremony or the oldest person on the scene) dips a brush in cinnabar and dots it on the dragon head. With a cannon shot, hundreds of boats compete for the current, which attracts cheers from both sides and thousands of people. Food customs. The first is to eat silkworm rice. The Dragon Boat Festival is the season for spring silkworm harvest in Jiaxing. To celebrate the harvest of silkworms, silkworm families light candles and burn incense that night, offer chickens and pig heads to worship the silkworm god Leizu, and kowtow to "silkworms and good luck", which also means rewarding oneself, commonly known as "eating silkworm rice". The second is to eat "five yellows". That is, cucumbers, yellow croakers, yellow eels, yellow mud eggs (salted duck eggs), and wine are eaten on the Dragon Boat Festival. The third is to eat zongzi. As one of the birthplaces of rice culture, the custom of making and eating zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival has been popular for thousands of years. Jiaxing Wufangzhai Zongzi enjoys a high reputation throughout the country and even in Southeast Asia. Entertainment customs. In the history of Jiaxing, the Nanhu Dragon Boat Race has always been the main folk event of the Dragon Boat Festival. After witnessing the grand occasion of the Dragon Boat Race on the Misty Rain Tower, the famous Qing Dynasty poets Ma Xueqian and Wu Xilin wrote poems "Watching the Race from the Misty Rain Tower" and "Watching the Race on the Fifth Day of Nanhu" respectively. Beliefs and customs. First, every household hangs calamus, garlic, and mugwort. Second, they burn and smoke Atractylodes lancea and Angelica dahurica. Third, they write the word "king" on children's foreheads with tung oil and wear sachets on their bodies. In the old days, farmers in Xinfeng and Jingxiang Township had the custom of measuring noon with bricks (standing a brick in the yard, and when the shadow of the brick could not be seen, it was noon), and on this day, they smoked yellow smoke (using sulfur, tung oil, etc.) to repel insects. Fourth, women use silk to make hair accessories in the shape of villains, tigers, centipedes, snakes, etc., and insert them on their heads, which are called "health talismans" to ward off evil spirits and keep fit. Fifth, they hang images of Zhong Kui and Guandi in the hall to exorcise evil spirits; in the market, they beat gongs and drums, dance the black-faced Zhong Kui and the red-bearded Tianshi dance to exorcise evil spirits and pray for peace. Jiaxing is known as the "granary of the world" and the "land of fish and rice". It is also the earliest and most important Dragon Boat Festival race cultural area. It has the typical Jiangnan water village style and the profound accumulation of Wuyue culture, which laid the foundation for the inheritance of Jiaxing's Dragon Boat Festival customs. Jiaxing Dragon Boat Festival customs have a long history, rich festival connotations, complete traditional customs, and strong local characteristics. Jiaxing Dragon Boat Festival customs have been included in the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. Information source: Jiaxing Library Information source: Jiaxing Library