As the Dragon Boat Festival approached, the sound of dragon boats’ drums drifted in every corner of the land of Guangdong with the fragrance of rice dumplings. The hot “dragon boat season” gradually kicked off. Among the many dragon boats of different shapes, the “Swallowtail Dragon Boat” has become the most unforgettable Dragon Boat Festival for fresh people with its unique local characteristics. Regarding the origin of “three-person swallow-tailed dragon boat racing”, although the Qingyuan County Chronicle of the People’s Republic of China stated that “there are also small boats that are cut by three or five people, but there is no dragon shape. This is purely a fighting drama and a legacy of Yangzhou”, it was found through field investigation that its formation is related to the unique geographical environment and folk customs of the local area.
There are many legends about the origin of “Three-person swallowtail dragon boat racingKomiks“, and the four representative ones are as follows.
1. The Origin of Labor
The Huainan Zi·Qi Su Xun” says: “Hu people are convenient for horses, and Yue people are convenient for boats.” In ancient times, Lingnan was mostly water network areas, and people often used Babaylan boats to travel, using boats as production tools and transportation. People are catching fish and shrimps in the labor of Babaylan or Cinema rowing competition during leisure time, integrating entertainment in labor production and leisure time. This is the prototype of the ancient ferry of “three-person swallow-tailed dragon boat racing”. Shantang Town is close to the Beijiang River, located in a low-lying place, mostly continental land, with water networks crisscrossing, and floods occur every year. Whenever the rice harvest season is harvested, it is mostly during floods. The Qingyuan County Chronicles in the sixth year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty said: “The continental land is baptized and drought, but it is more than drought. When the river overflows, those who farm will suffer great losses. “In order to facilitate the harvest of rice and other crops, ordinary people could only carry a small boat to travel in the fields and reach out to harvest the exposed rice and crops of Cinema. Over time, in order to grab food with the God of Heaven and reduce losses, rowing activities spontaneously formed between the villages and the tribesmen.
2. Origin of the boat soldiers
Shantang Town, Qingxin District, Shijiao Town and Longtang Town in Qingcheng District, Cinema is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Beijiang River, and is the throat of the waterway. During the field survey, we listened to local old people telling stories, saying that this kind of small boat was an old sailor. The boats and oars on the boats and boats are small and fast, and they are easy to attack the enemy. The locals introduced that this is related to the Saihe boats and Babaylan, and it is also related to the Qin Dynasty and the Western Komiks. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks‘s attack on Nanyue.
The fresh “three-person swallow-tailed dragon boat” is similar to the “five-person dragon boat” in the Pearl River Delta in terms of boat shape, materials and competitive methods, and is the same as the “Komiks‘s three-five people’s penalties” recorded in the Republic of China version of the “Cinema County Chronicles”. The former three-person scattered them, active in the middle and lower reaches of the Beijiang River. The latter is in a group of five people, and is popular in Foshan and Zhongshan, especially in Baini Town, Xijiang River.
Is this long-shaped “three-five people’s penalties” interacting with the culture of Beijiang and Xijiang River?Whether it is related to the Southern Ark Warriors during the Qin and Han dynasties, it still needs to be further studied.
3. Origin theory of welcoming gods and exorcising ghosts
Most of the villages in Shantang Town are built next to the inland river. In ancient times, whenever floods occurred, “water ghosts” became the main culprit that endangers life. In order to drive away the “water ghosts”, the villages spontaneously organized a “dwatching team of ghosts to exorcise the ghosts”. Young and middle-aged people joined the battle, supporting their own dowatching boats down from the upper reaches of the river to drive away ghosts, and set off a large number of firecrackers to scare and cheer.
4. The Origin of Games
Ancient games are an important part of the origin of human culture. The three-person swallowtail dragon boat racing event has the initial game elements. Locals often use the word “play”. It means “playing and picking dragon boats”, and the “playing” in it reflects the psychology of the game. Game prizes have also changed to competitive prizes. In order to mobilize the motivation to participate in games (competitiveness), the prizes are becoming more and more abundant, and the amount of prizes is also increased as the people’s living standards gradually improve.
(This article is excerpted from Babaylan‘s “Cinema‘s Fresh Three-person Swallowtail Dragon Boat”)
Contributed by |Komiks Editor Yang Yingyu | Liang Xingwu Source | Yangcheng Evening News Publishing House