Except for the zongzi and dragon boat race, people also keep out evil during the festival by drinking realgar wine, wearing the perfume pouch and five-color silk, hanging plants such as Chinese moxa and calamus over their doors and pasting paper cut-outs in their windows.

 

 

Zongzi, a pyramid-shaped with glutinous rice dumpling wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves, is the specific food on the day. In north China, people favor the red date as the filling, and south China, they prefer sweetened bean paste, fresh meat, or egg yolk.

 

As the legend says, people boiled sticky rice with reed leaves on May 5 of Chinese lunar calendar and then throwing it into the river, to sacrifice to Qu Yuan. However, more people considered Zongzi as a symbol of luck, as the pronunciation of "zong" has the similar pronunciation of "zhong" in Chinese. This character has a positive meaning, often used in words such as winning a prize or scoring high on an exam.

 

 

Realgar wine or Xiong Huang wine is a Chinese alcoholic drink. It is often used to against mosquitoes and other insects during the hot summers, and as a general antidote against poison in ancient Asia.

 

Moreover, drawing with realgar on the forehead of the Dragon Boat Festival can ward off the insects. The typical method is to draw on the forehead. Painting Chinese word "Wang" with realgar, which means realgar can avoid poison and tiger's image will ward off evil.

 

 

During the festival, parents also need to dress their children up with a perfume pouch to protect them from illness. They will sew little bags with the colorful silk, then fill the bags with perfumes or herbal medicines, and finally string them with silk threads. 

 

 

Some areas will boil tea eggs and brine eggs to eat on the Dragon Boat Festival. They will paint red on eggshell, with colorful net bags, hanging in a child's neck, for blessing children, and hopping them are safe.

 

These activities not only strengthen bonds within families but also build a peaceful relationship between humanity and nature.