What does it mean that every household hangs wormwood, calamus and garlic on the Dragon Boat Festival?
There is a folk proverb that says, "Willows are inserted in Qingming Festival and Ai is inserted in Dragon Boat Festival". On the Dragon Boat Festival, people regard inserting wormwood and calamus as one of the important contents. Every family sweeps the court, puts calamus and moxa sticks between their eyebrows and hangs them in the class. Acorus calamus, Folium Artemisiae Argyi, Liu Hua, Garlic and Dragon Boat Flower are made into human or tiger shapes, which are called Ai Ren and Ai Hu. It is made into garlands and decorations, beautiful and fragrant, and women compete to wear it to ward off evil spirits.
According to legend, a long time ago, according to the usual practice, there was a disaster in the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Emperor felt sorry for him, so he sent people down to observe the people's feelings. On May 5, the angel of the Emperor of Heaven dressed up as an oil seller and shouted, "One gourd is two catties, and two gourds are three catties." Everyone rushed to buy it, except one old man who not only refused to buy it, but also told the old man that the account was wrong.
When the oil was sold out, the old man followed the old man who didn't buy oil and said, "You are a good man in the world. The plague god sent a plague tonight. You can plant wormwood leaves and calamus under the eaves to avoid the plague. " When the old man heard about it, he told everyone from door to door, so every household planted mugwort and calamus, and the plague could not be reduced, so people were saved safely. Later, it was passed down from generation to generation and became accustomed to it.
The function of hanging wormwood:
Hanging wormwood on the Dragon Boat Festival is more particular. In rural areas, there is a saying that wormwood is not hung on the Dragon Boat Festival.
First, don't hang wormwood after sun exposure. The Dragon Boat Festival is in the midsummer, and it is the time when herbs have the strongest medicinal properties. People say that wormwood exposed to the sun can't be hung up because its medicinal properties become less strong after being exposed to the sun. Therefore, in order to make wormwood have more medicinal value, the more obvious the effect of repelling mosquitoes and flies, people usually pick it on the mountain in the early days of Dragon Boat Festival.