The shape of the dragon boat used as a racing boat changes with the times and different regions. According to reports, in the old days, the dragon boat on the West Lake was about forty or fifty feet long, with a high head and tail and a dragon shape. There are two floors up and down in the middle cabin, and there is a leading prince and a swing at the bow, both dressed as children. The prince stood still and the swing swung up and down. Next to it are bows, crossbows, swords, halberds and other "eighteen martial arts" and various flags. There is a centipede flag at the end, gongs and drums are played on the lower deck of the middle cabin, and sailors are paddling beside it.
The dragon boat in Suzhou is divided into various colors, with flags inserted at four corners, and it is advocated to squat in the middle cabin with both hands, with 16 rowers on each side. The main hook of the pole stands at the bow, which is called the head pole. On the bow pavilion, children with good looks were chosen to dress up as Taige stories, and they were called the protagonist Prince. With colored ropes tied high at the stern, children who are good at paddling perform programs such as No.1 Scholar, Boy Worship Guanyin, Pointing to the Rising Sun, Yang Fei Sleeping in Spring, etc.
The dragon boat used in competitions today is much simpler than in the old days. Ships are divided into red dragon, green dragon, yellow dragon, white dragon and black dragon by color. The decoration of the hull, the umbrella and flag on the boat, the clothes of the rowers and even the paddles all require the same color. Dragon boats in Hubei and Hunan are as short as 70 feet and as long as 1 1 foot. They paddle like Youlong. The dragon boat in Fujian has a carved dragon head at the bow, and its mouth can be opened and closed and its tongue can be turned. The dragon boat in Guizhou is a combination of three canoes. The longer one in the middle is called the "mother ship", and there are drummers on board. The two hulls on both sides are slightly shorter and are called "sub-boats".
There are dragon boats in every township in Wenzhou, and there are incense officials and gods in every temple, which specialize in rowing dragon boats. During the Duanyang Festival, new dragon boats will be built in some places. On the first day of April, drums will be played to open the doors of temples, offering sacrifices to officials and gods, and shipbuilding will begin. Generally, the doors are not opened until the first day of May, and the boat is rowed immediately after offering sacrifices to the gods, commonly known as "Sheung Shui". When the dragon boat returns, it is called "receiving incense", and when it ends, it is called "dispersing the river" or "washing the lane". The dragon boat is turned over, reorganized the next day and carried to the temple for preservation. It is also a sacrifice to the official god. According to legend, Guan Xiang is a child god who likes to play with people, so young people are said. In the dragon boat race area, people who row dragon boats have to pay dragon boat fees, treat people to wine, set off firecrackers and offer sacrifices to welcome them, which is called "putting incense cases". (Now these customs are gone) Dragon bows are similar everywhere. Some painted dragon forest on the hull, and the movable dragon tail was placed at the head and tail, which was small in shape. Some drew several dragon forests on the hull, and they were headless and tailless, but they were large in shape. Dragon boats in every township have their own flags with fixed colors. If there are several dragon boats in a township, flags should also be used to distinguish the signs. Take the ancient custom of Nantang River in the southern suburbs of Wenzhou as an example. Some flags are blue, and the dragon head, tail and hull are all blue, which is called "Qinglong". According to legend, among the four directions, only the seven houses of the East Black Dragon are called dragons, so green is a positive color. This Nantang River is dominated by Shencheng, so the dragon boat in the Tang Temple in Shencheng East is particularly large, with 16 stalls and 44 people on board, named Daqing, which is regarded as the dragon mother. Other dragon boats must first appear in front of Dongtang Temple, and the temple steward will reward Ayabeni and Qing, but the dragon dare not compete with them. Other small ones are called Qinglong, and other yellow ones are called Huanglong. The flag is white, and the color of the ship is also white, commonly known as "White Dragon". If it is a red flag, the hull is also dyed red, which is called "red neon ridge" and so on. Because the southern dialect is red, it is a water dragon, and it is impatient, so it changed its name to indicate taboo. There is no black dragon in the dragon boat. It is said that Oolong is fierce, and some people say that Xuanwu in the north is a turtle, which climbs slowly and can't fight for its life. So there is no black dragon boat in Wenzhou. Two-boat race, water chasing waves, two dragons competing for the championship, rivers in various towns, all walks of life and enter the dragon, do not interfere with each other.
Therefore, it is known as the land of big dragon and the land of small dragon.
The number of dragon boats, rated as 36, is called slots, commonly known as "thirty-six incense sticks". If it is a small dragon, there are thirteen gears on the hull, and twenty-six people paddle. There is a flag on the hull, and there are two tips on the back, one singing god, two drums, two gongs and two incense sticks, which is exactly the number of thirty-six. The dragon has eighteen gears. Thirty-six people rowed on both sides, plus twelve deacons, including drums, tips, gongs, flags, singing gods and holding incense fights, needed 48 people. Rowers dress according to the color of the national flag. In Cangnan and other places, it is defined as mourning Qu Yuan in white clothes and white hats. At present, the dragon boat is rated as 42 people, with thirteen or six rowers, one in the front, one in the back, one in the flag palm, one in the drum, one in the gong and one singing the gods. The four of them are standing in the middle of the dragon boat. The dragon boat has nineteen gears. Take the 18th gear, and move forward to the first gear. Dragon boats don't turn around during the race, but people will turn around and sit in the opposite direction. The drums of the dragon boat are very rhythmic, and the drums that turn around are dense drums. )
On the surface of the boat, the drum is in the middle, and people paddling on both sides should listen. Both ends are pointed, which is the rudder. Therefore, as the saying goes, "Drums are commands, while tips are life." Gong is used to listen to drums, and it also has an encouraging effect. The flag is a clear boat color, so that the audience on the shore can identify it. Only those who sing with sticks and fight with incense are for the purpose of offering incense to the official gods, which has no effect in the competition.
Among the dragon boats in Wenzhou, Shangtang and Xiatang in Yongjia are the most famous. The Dragon Fight is conducted in the fast-flowing nanxi river, with a distance of ten miles and a round trip of twenty miles. If you drift with the tide and rise in the middle, or drift with the tide and fall in the middle, you must fight to the end and never stop. In addition, there is no change in direction, and it has to be ranked last. It is equipped with sharp oars at the tail end, two people at the tip and two people at the bow to keep the balance between the fore and aft of the ship. At the faucet, the two men held the faucet and acted together with 36 paddles, greatly enhancing the speed. The road is long and the water is against the wind, the wind is tight and the waves are urgent, the gongs and drums are loud and the shouts are loud. Really brave.
The residents in Yueqing who take part in dragon boating are called "Dragon Lake", and a group in Dragon Lake is called "Dragon Bell", and the location of the dragon bell is called "Dragon Bottom". Some natural villages are even divided into independent units to hold some public welfare undertakings or undertake some social obligations. Every year, there is a leader of the waterspout rowing boat, commonly known as "the first thing" or "the first family", who is selected by the waterspouts in turn or by lottery. Hose families pay by quantity or by family. People who take part in boating are subsidized, such as a kilo of pork per person per day in the town. In the name of waterspouts, congratulations to all waterspouts on their weddings, the birth of the first boy, the building of a house and promotion, and the graduation of universities and middle schools after the abolition of the imperial examination. To congratulate, there should be a dragon boat HongLing or a red cloth tied to the "dragon neck", commonly known as "hanging red", as well as "incense gold" and food gifts. In the old society, some hoses often illegally cut down camphor trees or stole the longest Chinese fir in the "tree temple" (wooden line), which led to litigation disputes. In the west of Yueqing County, there are several dragon boats in Nature Village, which are called "Ten Dragons in the Land Group" or "Seven Dragons in the South House". (The biggest dragon boat race in Yueqing is in the North White Elephant, and hundreds of dragon boats take part every time-spontaneously). For example, there are 100 dragon boats in Xiaoyin Lake in Baishi Town, Yueqing. On that day every year, there are more than 100 dragon boats in the whole area, and banners provide prize-winning rewards. Men, women, children and the audience are crowded. Some areas, such as Cocoon in Ryan, don't have their own dragon boats. Before the Dragon Boat Festival, they detained the transport boats on the river and used them as dragon boats with cables. They send the boatmen silver rice every day and let them go three days later. If they win the first place, they will not only give preferential treatment to boaters, but also enjoy rich wine and meat. However, in Wenzhou, which is located in mountainous and semi-mountainous areas, there are many dry lands, few paddy fields, no river ports and no custom of rowing dragon boats on the Dragon Boat Festival.