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Chongqing News

Calamus in Dragon Boat Festival

2017-05-26 11:25:15

Chongqing Place Name Culture Map (Calamus in Dragon Boat Festival) (Photo from Chongqing Geographic Information Center)

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- The Dragon Boat Festival is right around the corner. Other than dragon-boat racing and zongzi, do you know other customs relating the festival? Recently, the Chongqing Planning Bureau and Chongqing Geographic Information Center jointly released the Chongqing Place Name Culture Map (Calamus in Dragon Boat Festival) and summarizes all place names relating to “Calamus” in Chongqing, helping people understand Dragon Boat Festival from locations.

Calamus is a vigorously growing plant. Generally, it grows in moist environments like bogs and rivers. The plant is fragrant and can expel insects and is one of the “four elegant plants” along with orchid, narcissus and chrysanthemum. Now, people contact the calamus most in Dragon Boat Festival.

In ancient times, to expel disease and unhealthy factors and seek auspicious omens, people chose the arrow-shape and fragrant calamus. On the Dragon Boat Festival, people hung calamus on or near doors in order to pray for family safeness and social peace. Gradually, it became a custom and has lasted until now. It has become a traditional folk activity and symbol in Dragon Boat Festival, along with dragon-boat racing, Zongzi and realgar wine.

For thousands of years, hanging calamus has been a tradition in Chongqing. Many places were named after calamus (“Changpu” in Chinese). Those places are often connected with water, such as calamus pool, calamus puddle and calamus brook, in order to reflect the geographical conditions. The humid and rainy weather, densely covered brook and bog and soft soil in Chongqing provide excellent natural environments for calamus. (Translated by Ma Shuangshuang, Fathom Language Limited)

 

 

Editor:Jiang Yiwei