Ancestor Worship to Commemorate the Sages
The representative of the sages to be commemorated is Qu Yuan, who is loyal to the country; Eastern Han Dynasty’s Cao'e is the representative of obey their parents; Wen Tianxiang is representative of the national integrity; Zhong Kui is the representative of presiding justice. Beijing’s scholars have the tradition to worship the sages during the Dragon Boat Festival in the Erxiasanzhong Temple, inside of which dedicated to Zhuge Liang, Yue Fei, Wen Tianxiang.
Hanging calamus and leaves for anti-plague and disaster prevention
The folk belief that May is the toxic month, and the fifth day is a toxic day. On the Dragon Boat Festival, most Beijing people hang some calamus and leaves in front of the yard door and eaves.
The most luxurious offerings: rose cake
After being removed from table, the offerings for the deities and ancestor become the food of the whole family. Generally, the common family only offers some things like Wudu cake which is similar to the Walnut Cookies, and removed on the fifth night. Some more rich family will offer some jujubes, glutinous rice, zongzi, and fresh fruit, and remove a kind of offering each day to prevent rot. Rich people offer the roses cakes, and the ones made with the roses output from western Beijing Miaofengshan are the most noble. Of course, the price is very high and common people can not afford to eat. Eating rose cake is auspicious in May, so the common families made themselves during this festival.
Zongzi with yellow rice and jujube rice is the most popular
Dragon Boat Festival’s Zongzi in Beijing is made with yellow rice and jujube, wrapped in Weiye leaves. Zongzi is also a kind of holiday gifts, it is the seasonal food, and also can be a meal.
Wearing some colorful dumplings to pray for longer life
The colorful dumplings are the talismans, inside the shell quartet built with cardboard; the size is about 2 cm, outside wrapped with colorful silk, strung together. You can buy them in the streets, but young woman and young girls love to make by themselves. They wear these colorful dumplings on the Dragon Boat Festival, not only to show their exquisite craft, add some festive feeling to the festival, but also can give to their lovers to show their love.
Post gourd flowers
Beijingers like gourd, because gourd is a homonym of a word of happiness (福禄) in Chinese. Gourd flower is said to have the function of prevent the five poisons, posted on May 1 and took off and threw away on May 5.