Why do people wear flower ropes on their limbs during the Dragon Boat Festival?
Flower rope is not only multicolored silk, but also commonly known as five-color silk.
As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ying Shao's "Romance of Customs" has recorded that tying it on the arm can ward off soldiers, ghosts, and diseases. In the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" and "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", Zhu Suo and five-color seals were used as door decorations on the Dragon Boat Festival, which was believed to be able to ward off evil spirits.
The five colors of the five-color silk represent the five elements. The Han Dynasty believed in the theory of yin and yang of the five elements. The five colors represent the five directions, which are mutually reinforcing and restraining each other, and have the mysterious effect of expelling evil spirits and welcoming good luck. Cyan belongs to wood and represents the east, red belongs to fire and represents the south, yellow belongs to earth and represents the center, white belongs to gold and represents the west, and black belongs to water and represents the north. Animals are used as symbols, the green dragon is in the east, the red bird is in the south, the white tiger is in the west, the basalt (tortoise and snake) is in the north, and the yellow dragon is in the center, all of which are spiritual creatures. The symbolic meaning of five-colored silk that can ward off evil spirits and plagues is far more obvious than its actual function, because there is no specific explanation as to why these colors can ward off disasters and diseases. It can be seen that this is a miraculous object with magical power and symbol in popular belief. It is obviously different from the medicinal functions of moxa leaves, calamus, and realgar used in festivals. It is purely a need for good luck in popular belief.
However, on the other hand, the festive colorful silk fully expresses the meaning of congratulations.
Children use five-color silk to tie their necks and wrap their hands and feet, which are commonly known as life-extending threads, life-extending threads, centenary threads, and health threads. Women from northern ethnic groups in the Liao Dynasty tied five-colored silk on their arms on Dragon Boat Festival, commonly known as acacia knots. Women in the Liao Dynasty tied colorful silk into human-shaped hairpins in their buns, which is also called a thread of longevity. The emperors of the Liao and Jin Dynasties wore five-color silk and gave it to all their officials and subordinates, also known as the longevity thread. In the south of the Yangtze River, paper and silk are folded into squares of water chestnuts and then wrapped with colorful silk. They are given to each other during festivals. Women wear this festival ornament called "folding squares" on their chests to show their achievements in female labor. These customs are less related to avoiding war and ghosts and curing diseases and plagues, and are more about blessing and celebrating birthdays from a positive perspective. This is exactly the positive theme of the Dragon Boat Festival, which not only exorcises evil spirits and avoids plague, but also congratulates and prays for longevity.