25th June, 2020 端午节 [重五节] The Dragon Boat Festival [Double Five Festival]

The Dragon Boat Festival is traditionally held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month [1]. From a Daoist medicine point of view it is also the date to harvest mugwort [artemisia argyi or vulgaris], as it will have absorbed the maximum of Yang – 5 being a Yang number and this date being very close to the summer solstice]. It is also mugwort, which is hung on both sides of the doors to ward off evils and demonic spirits. For city dwellers, who do not have access to mugwort like the countryside, it is handed out in bundles at supermarkets- a sign that this ancient tradition lives on. Another plant used for the same purpose is calamus [菖蒲] due to its resemblance to a sword.

According to Sun Si Miao’s Supplemental Prescriptions Worth a Thousand [Pieces] of Gold [千金翼方] Rou Cong Rong [肉苁蓉], Hu Lu [葫芦] and garlic [大蒜] are also collected on the very same day. Li Shi Fu, abbot of Five Immortals Temple, would even comment that this date was the birthday of the medicine king, Sun Si Miao, and therefore suitable for picking any kind of medicine.

Another part of the folklore belief in China [often mislabelled as superstition] is painting a dot of realgar powder [雄黄] on children’s forehead or sprinkling a line across in front of the doorsteps, both practices have shamanistic reason –safeguarding the person from evil influences but also very pragmatically to repel mosquitoes and other blood sucking insect. It comes as no surprise that traditional incense for meditation purposes contained realgar as well [2].

[1] This date will vary in the Gregorian calendar from year to year.
[2] As a warning, realgar can release toxic substances when burnt and should no longer be used in incense sticks