Dragon Boat Festival: Warding Off Evil

Dragon Boat Festival occurs on May 5th on the lunar calendar. It is believed that the yang (roughly “heat”) energy is the highest on this day of the year, making the herbs collected on the Dragon Boat Festival (especially at noon) super effective against diseases. At the same time, May is when the “five poisons” (scorpions, snakes, centipedes, geckos, and toads) begin to make their appearances. As such, a series of traditions was developed to protect people from these “poisons”.

As mentioned before, the ancient Chinese believed that the herbs collected on May 5th at noon are the strongest in strength. One herb people will collect is the Chinese mugwort. People will hang the herb at their front door during the Dragon Boat Festival to ward off the “five poisons” and ghosts. While this practice might sound superstitious, it has been found that the concentration of oil responsible for deterring bugs in Chinese mugwort is the highest in May, meaning the ancient Chinese were right in that the herbs were strongest in strength around the Dragon Boat Festival (although not for the right reasons).

Another thing people might do with the herbs is to put them in a pouch made from five-color strings. The five colors (red, green, yellow, white, and black) correspond to the five elements (fire, wood, earth, metal, and water)—the people were trying to harness the power of the five elements to ward off evil. The five-color strings can also be worn on their own as a bracelet to achieve the same effect.

Realgar wine is another item that was thought to have the ability to ward off the “five poisons”. Famously, in the folktale “The Legend of the White Snake”, realgar wine made Bai Suzhen unable to maintain her human form, resulting in her exposing the fact that she was a snake to her husband. During the Dragon Boat Festival, people will drink and wipe the wine around their house. From a modern perspective, alcohol does have the ability to kill bacteria, meaning there was some logic to alcohol wiping. People will also use realgar wine to write the word "king" 王 on their kid’s forehead to achieve the same effect.

Other traditions to protect people from the “poisons” include bathing in Perrin water, poking a needle through each of the drawings of the “five poisons”, and soaking in dragon boat water. While these practices are superstitious, these traditions are fun to participate in. And that’s all that matters.