In fact, the real dragon boat race started as early as before the Dragon Boat Festival, and the villages were already gearing up and eager to try. This competition is most related to the honor of the village. The honor of the village will make everyone proud, and the defeat of the competition will make everyone lose. Therefore, people attach great importance to this annual dragon boat race. Those who lose in the first year are determined to get revenge and try their best to rally for the high and low; The team that won the championship last year did not dare to take it lightly, for fear of losing Jingzhou, and asked Qi Xin to join hands to defend the title again. Each village has chosen more than 20 strong boys who can kick over fierce cows and knock down tigers, stop all their work and just practice hard by the river every day. For a time, drums were everywhere in the rivers and lakes, and the competitive atmosphere was extremely tense.
The Dragon Boat Festival of "Every family is wrapped in brown, and every family is inserted with Ai" has finally arrived. Before dawn, the roads leading to the county began to stir up. The villagers brought their money to support their families and rushed dozens of miles into the city to occupy a good place with high terrain and cool land to watch the game. People in the city are taking their time. They eat breakfast slowly and let the children go out to prepare stools for the game.
The sun is getting higher and higher, and the heat wave is coming. At this time, the empty river bank was already crowded with people. The girls were all beautifully dressed, with umbrellas on their shoulders and fragrant fans in their hands, standing on the riverbank in droves, laughing nonstop. Young men also deliberately dress up to show their chic. They are in small groups, pointing and behaving informally. Tens of thousands of spectators dressed in different colors, such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. From a distance, the flowers are colorful, like a colorful garden, really beautiful.
Dragon boat launching ceremony begins. A long string of deafening firecrackers made the river shoot everywhere. After the smoke clears, the audience can see dozens of dragon boats with a length of about 15 meters parked neatly under the starting platform. Each ship is equipped with a wood carving faucet with the word "Wang" engraved on it. The faucet stands upright and stares, swaggering and imposing. An old man stood at the bow with a bright red flag in his hand, imposing. And those two dozen paddlers, dressed in colorful clothes decorated with Long Lin and wearing gold headscarves on their foreheads, sat in the narrow cabin in the order of rowing left and right, holding paddles in their hands, shouting loudly to cheer for themselves and their teammates.
The competition adopts the single-cycle elimination system. The top eight of the last session are ranked according to the rules, and the rest are grouped by lottery, with two boats in each group. The winner wins two out of three games, and the winner enters the next round of finals until the champion and runner-up come out. The competition is fierce, and you will be eliminated without one oar.
A small red flag was raised on the pontoon bridge temporarily used as a starting platform. The audience suddenly fell silent. On the two ships preparing for the competition, the radial hand bent down and held the radial hand tightly, and the gongs and drums were silent, shaped like statues; The flag bearer sat in the bow and stared at the starter. As soon as the starting gun rang, the standard-bearer commanded the ship Qixin Qi Xin to cross the river together to defeat the enemy.
"pa!" The starting gun rang and the flag fell. In a blink of an eye, two long dragons rushed out of more than ten meters away in the dazzling white spray. "Surfing highlights popularity, and jumping waves is the first to fly back." The flag-bearer kept waving the red flag rhythmically, the drummer watched the conductor beat the drums and gongs, the radial hand swung his arm to paddle according to the drums, the helmsman focused on the direction, and all the crew members Qi Xin worked together to make the dragon boat go forward like a sharp long arrow, swishing forward. The audience on both sides of the strait waved straw hats, stamped their feet, clapped their hands, and their voices thundered and screamed.
The competition starts from the pontoon bridge, bypasses the pier under the stone bridge and ends back at the pontoon bridge. The total length is about kilometers. When we set out, we went downstream, and we gathered all our strength. Suddenly, it broke out. The conductor shouted loudly and rowed around quickly, which made the dragon boat rattle and made the race look relaxed and free. It was not until the ship reached the foot of the stone bridge and rowed back against the current, bypassing the pier, that the commander's shouts began to change from high to rough, and the rhythm of gongs and drums changed from rapid "dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong" to dignified, and the frequency of rowing by radial hand slowed down, and the speed of the ship slowed down obviously. But at this time, the people on board are more United and consistent, because they clearly know that if they want to struggle out of this difficult and sultry predicament as soon as possible, and if they want to beat their opponents and win the championship, they can only work hard and rely on the collective strength.
The audience on both sides of the strait seems to have realized the true meaning of life from this tragic March, and the same sense of separation has suddenly narrowed the distance between them and the people on board. They shouted at the top of their lungs with the rhythm of the boat, as if only in this way could they inject their own strength, help them break the waves and push the paddles.
After a fierce competition, the two ships are neck and neck, almost. Whoever can bravely take the upper position at this last moment will win the championship and return home in triumph. The people on the ship are exhausted and it is difficult to concentrate. It is often at this time that many ships are eager to win, impatient in command, and have no rhythm in their hands. As a result, the opponent left behind, and all the efforts were in vain. Since it is a competition, there will be a win or lose in the end. A ship crossed the finish line first, won the pennant, the gongs and drums clanged, and the race ended in groups. As a result, the winner rested on her hips, got carried away and cheered loudly. Losers are depressed and full of grievances, and secretly say goodbye in the following year.
In this way, under the scorching sun and heat wave, the road to champion is getting shorter and shorter, more and more people are eliminated, but the enthusiasm of the audience is getting higher and higher. When the golden bird set in the west, it spread all over the country in the evening, and the third place in the championship was reserved. At this time, as the final winner, the champion team jumped the award flag with bamboo poles and symbolically drew a round trip along the competition route, not only accepting congratulations from the audience on both sides of the strait, but also expressing their gratitude to the audience. Then, the annual Dragon Boat Festival came to an end.
It was late at night, and Jinjiang, which had been noisy all day, calmed down. The shadow is light and thin, and it has fallen asleep. But the intrepidity of dragon chasing waves and the charm of dragon have been deeply engraved in people's hearts.
The dragon boat race in the prosperous times is peaceful and the people live a happy life.