The ‘Double Fifth Festival’ is known by other names such as Duanwu Festival or Dragon Boat Festival. This year the famous Dragon Boat festival is scheduled 3 June.

The abbreviated ‘Double fifth’ festival burrows its name from the calendar date; the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in the Chinese calendar. There are various legends about the origins of this festival. In the main it’s a day of remembrance for a poet called Qu Yuan who drowned himself. It’s said fleets of boats decorated in dragons took to the river to find and recover his body.

Apart from the somber note of Qu Yuan, the No. #5 in Chinese metaphysics can equally harbour dark associations. The No. 5 is a chameleon - it carries no trigram and classically resides in the center of the Lo Shou diagram. On one hand, it’s malefic when thought of as untimely (out of period) and a real harbinger of misfortune. Yet when it’s timely the No. 5 is regarded as auspicious in Chinese traditions as it’s closely associated with the Five Elements. However the double pairing of fives, is generally regarded as more negatively.

The ancients name the 5th Lunar month - Sweet Sedge month. The Sweet sedge plant along with Mugwort and garlic were hung above doors on this day for protection purposes. The sweet rush plant is sword like in appearance and coupled with the aroma of garlic they combined to ward off evil. In particular the fifth day of the 5th month is especially cloaked in doom, so annually the collective would rid diseases and bad luck on this day.

The Chinese abide by the philosophy of treating like with like, so the most inauspicious day of the Chinese calendar was met in a combative fashion. As it’s the most yang time of the year (hot sun in the highest point of the skies) all the perceived poisonous creatures would naturally appear. So to repel the hazardous animals they used or consumed poisons - like with like. A host of mind boggling activities were practiced, such as drinking mercury laced wine! (Which BTW we don’t recommend.)

However as the years when by, they adapted their ways and wore charms (Yansheng Coins) and amulets (talismans) to ward off the noxious creatures known as the “Five Poisons” - Snakes, Scorpions, Centipedes, Toads and Spiders. Zhong Kui, the guardian against evil spirits was also pinned to front doors. As pictured above, he’s seen waving his sword at five bats - representing the five blessings (Wufu), as if symbolically bringing these fortunes down to a recipient.

Yansheng Coins, were not legal tender, but these numismatic charms bore numerous Hanzi characters and were used to terrify ghosts among other things. Children wore them, in addition to pouches filled with mugwort - a common name for several species of aromatic plants in the Artemisis family. Mugwort’s folk name is Muggons, and it’s highly prized for its magical prowess and noted for it’s protective qualities. More specifically, in ancient herbal folklore tradition, it’s powers bestow protection from poisons or wild beasts, when one carried on your person.

SACRED SPACE CLEARING

Should you find your property (home or business) is in need of an energetic cleanse, we’re currently running a little promo for subscribers, more info here. And you can find general Space Clearing details and Feng shui consultations via consultation link above. ⧇