18/06/2026
东山岛的年节时间轴｜第7篇：榕青又绿，端午归来
明天2026年6月19日（周五），农历五月初五日。漳州人称"五月节"或"午日节" 。这个传承两千多年的节日，在漳州各地展现鲜明特色，尤以东山（铜山）与康美村最富海防文化与乡土情怀。
端午的起源，其实早于屈原投江的传说。五月初五辟邪驱疫之俗，在先秦典籍中已有记载，是先民对仲夏时节蛇虫滋生、疫病易发的集体回应。然而公元前278年，屈原抱石沉入汨罗江的那一跃，又赋予了这个节日更深的人文精神，使它从时令仪式升华为一种文明的情感记忆。两千余年后，这份记忆依然流淌着，流进东山岛每一户挂起榕枝的门楣之间。
当第一株艾草挂上门楣，端午就不再只是节气上的日期。
节前一日
端午节的序幕，往往在前一天傍晚便悄悄拉开。妇女将买回的薄饼皮、荷叶包壳和一扎新鲜蔬菜铺陈在厨房案台上。艾草和菖蒲还带着市场清早的露水，搁在角落，整间屋子开始隐约飘出一种只属于端阳的草木气息、微微辛凉的、让人一闻便安心的气息。
节日
从黎明开始，妇女先把屋里屋外清扫一遍，再用柳枝蘸雄黄水细细喷洒每一个角落，苍术、白芷在房间里燃起，青烟缭绕，这是旧时东山岛驱蚊辟疫的方式，也是她给全家人安置的一道无声护佑。
「五月五日午，赠我一枝艾」此时吸足阳气的艾草，散发出端午独有的清香。那股草木之气仿佛穿透岁月，让人一闻便知道：端午到了。
五月五，过端午，插榕青，食碱粽，龙舟竞渡震天鼓！
东山的门楣密码
外地人或许不解：为何东山人的门上，总要多挂上几枝翠绿的榕叶？这背后藏着一段与郑成功水师有关的历史。东山旧称铜山，早年风沙肆虐，菖蒲艾草难以存活，偏偏榕树抗得住一切。据乾隆《铜山志》载，郑成功在此操练水师时，因榕树"干硬韧可制棍棒，叶茂可蔽日"而下令广植。端午插榕枝，遂由军令变成乡俗，由乡俗变成代代相传的门楣守护。
艾草、菖蒲、榕树枝、铁树叶、柳枝，随意成束，挂在大门之上，东山人称之"顺阳三友"。其实，组合并无定法，重要的从来不是挂什么，而是把它挂上去的那份心意。动手挂上去的人，心里盛的是"愿全家这一年风调雨顺、万事大吉"。
午时水与洗身礼
正午十二时整，妇女从庭院的井中取水，谓之午时水。东山人信这一刻的井水最为灵验。
午时水倒入大澡盆，兑入早已煮好的艾草水，香气腾腾，招呼孩子们一一入盆。
洗罢换上新夏装，胸前别上三角形的红布小香包，内含香草与平安符，暖香从那一刻开始，贴身陪过整个夏天。
家里若有婴孩，手腕脚踝再戴上缀铃铛的环，孩子一动，叮铃作响，一屋子的大人便都跟着笑起来。
老一辈说，这样做整个夏天不长痱子、不被虫咬。其实白酒与艾草本有消毒杀菌之效。端午就是东山人代代传下来的全民卫生防御日，只是包裹在仪式的温柔里，让人甘愿遵守。
祭祖与开席
妇女携粽子、水果等供品，先拜神明与灶君，再祭土地公，焚香祈求"年年过端午，岁岁皆安康"。礼毕，大厅桌上摆满主食与菜肴，一家人才正式落座开吃。
东山的端午桌，讲究的不是丰盛，而是齐全：薄饼、荷叶包、碱粽，三样缺一不可，各有来历，各有讲头，缺了哪一样，老人家都会念叨。
薄饼（春卷） 面粉烤成薄如纸的饼皮，先铺面茶底料，再叠豆芽、肉丝、韭菜等馅，抹梅仔酱，轻轻卷起。旧时老辈戏称"杠大杉"，既形象又诙谐。
荷叶包（和合包） 发酵面粉做成荷叶形袋状面食，填入白砂糖、花生碎、芝麻、冬瓜丁、三层肉等，咀嚼时糖粒沙沙作响，香软甜脆，别有意趣。
碱粽 糯米加食用碱，外包新鲜竹叶蒸煮而成。剥开一阵清香，蘸白砂糖食之，又香又甜。世间最美的食物，有时就是这般简素。
麦仔煎 / 炒糖面 大麦粉现磨现烤，麦香醇厚。或直接以蒜蓉炒面浇糖上桌。儿时孩童把吃炒糖面叫"拔大绳"，既具体，又浪漫。
龙舟
吃完午饭，孩子们坐不住了。端阳的东山，还有一件大事——龙舟。
每年竞渡，南门湾畔或西门兜一带，锣鼓喧天、号角阵阵、呐喊如潮。龙舟鼓点响起的那一刻，连海风都像被调快了节奏。船桨翻飞，水花四溅，岸边人声鼎沸，整个水池仿佛都随着鼓声一起跃动起来。
东山的龙舟赛区分散在杏陈镇（大嵼村、前何村、高陈村、礁头村、磁窑村）、前楼镇（岱南村）、樟塘镇（港西村）各镇，赛事连续数日（大部分都是6月19日-6月21日）。赛前祭水仙尊王，礼成开桨，是延续多年的仪序。
龙船歌在岸边飘荡，《铜山志》描述其"语虽鄙俚，亦饶情趣"。那些渔港粗粝的调子，正是讨海人几百年来攒下的斗志，用最直白的语言，唱给海。
节日的底色
端午过后，桃子和红肉李子仍堆在桌上。孩子们吃着水果追逐嬉闹，大人们围坐闲话家常，午后的阳光斜照进厅堂，一切都显得慢悠悠的。
这或许才是端午最真实的模样。它不只是龙舟竞渡的热闹，也不只是榕枝艾草的仪式，而是一家人难得聚在一起，共同完成那些已经延续了几十年、甚至几代人的习惯。
榕枝挂上门楣，碱粽蒸出清香，孩子洗过午时水，祖先受过香火供奉。年复一年，看似寻常，却让人知道自己从哪里来，也知道这个家仍在这里。
或许，这便是东山端午最珍贵的意义。
【五月五 · 倒计时7天】东山龙舟、榕枝护身，千年端午热力来袭！
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#闽南文化 #东山岛 #端阳节 #习俗传统节日 #榕青 #水碱粽 #薄饼 #龙舟竞渡 #民俗文化 #文化传承
Dongshan Island's Festive Timeline | Part 7: When the Banyan Greens Return, So Does Duawu (端午节; Dragon Boat Festival)
Tomorrow is Friday, 19 June 2026, the fifth day of the fifth lunisolar month. Locally in Zhangzhou, this day is known as the "May Festival" (五月节) or "Wu Day Festival" (午日节) . This over 2,000-year-old tradition comes alive in vivid forms across Zhangzhou, nowhere more so than in Dongshan (historically Tongshan) and Kangmei (Khong Bee) Village, where coastal garrison heritage and folk customs run deepest.
The festival's origins, in fact, predate the legend of Qu Yuan's drowning. Rituals of warding off evil and disease on the fifth day of the fifth month are already documented in pre-Qin records — a collective response by our ancestors to the onset of midsummer, when snakes and insects stirred and epidemics spread easily.
Yet in 278 BCE, when Qu Yuan cast himself into the Miluo River, he endowed the festival with a deeper humanistic spirit, elevating it from a seasonal ritual into a shared emotional memory of Chinese civilisation. More than two thousand years later, that memory still flows on, finding its way into every Dongshan doorway adorned with hanging banyan branches.
When the first sprig of mugwort is hung above the lintel, the Dragon Boat Festival is no longer just a date on the calendar.
The Eve
The festival's overture often begins quietly the evening before. Women lay out freshly bought popiah skins, lotus leaf bun wrappers, and bundles of vegetables across the kitchen counter. The mugwort and calamus, still damp with the morning market's dew, rest in a corner. Gradually, the whole house fills with a scent that belongs only to this festival — faintly herbal, gently cool, the kind that settles the heart the moment you breathe it in.
The Day
From first light, the women sweep every inch of the house, inside and out. Then, with a willow branch dipped in realgar water, they sprinkle every corner. Atractylodes and angelica root are burned in the rooms, their pale smoke curling upward — an old Dongshan way of driving out mosquitoes and warding off pestilence, and a quiet, wordless protection laid over the whole family.
"On the fifth day of the fifth month at noon, gift me a sprig of mugwort." The mugwort, having absorbed the fullness of the summer sun, releases a fragrance unique to the Dragon Boat Festival. That herbal scent seems to travel through time itself — one breath is enough to tell you that Duanwu has arrived.
Fifth month, fifth day — celebrate Duanwu, hang banyan greens, eat alkaline zongzi, race dragon boats to thunderous drums!
Dongshan's Doorway Code
Visitors from elsewhere may wonder: why do Dongshan households always hang a few sprigs of vivid green banyan leaves above their doors? The answer lies in a piece of history tied to Koxinga's naval forces.
Dongshan, then known as Tongshan, was once battered by coastal winds so fierce that mugwort and calamus could barely survive — only the banyan tree could hold its ground against everything. According to the 1750 Tongshan Annals, when Koxinga was training his navy here, he ordered banyan trees widely planted, prizing them for trunks that were "hard and supple enough for weapon-making, with foliage broad enough to shade his men." The practice of hanging banyan branches at the Dragon Boat Festival thus passed from military order to village custom, and from village custom to a doorway tradition carried down through generations.
Mugwort, calamus, banyan branches, iron tree leaves, and willow sprigs — loosely bundled together and hung above the main door, Dongshan people call this the "Three Friends of the Yang" (顺阳三友). There is no fixed formula for the combination. What matters is not what is hung, but the heartfelt intention behind hanging it. The person who places the bundle above the door does so with a simple wish: may the family enjoy favourable weather, peace, and good fortune throughout the year.
Noon Water & the Bathing Ritual
At precisely twelve noon, women draw water from the courtyard well — this is called Noon Water (午时水). Dongshan people believe well water drawn at this exact moment holds special cleansing power.
The Noon Water is poured into a large basin, blended with mugwort water that has already been boiling on the stove, and the children are called one by one to step in, wreathed in fragrant steam.
After bathing, each child changes into new summer clothes. A small triangular red pouch is pinned to the chest — filled with fragrant herbs and a blessing charm. Its warm scent, from that moment on, stays close to the body through the whole summer.
For households with an infant, tiny bracelets and anklets hung with little bells are fastened to the baby's wrists and feet. Every movement brings a gentle chime, and the whole room of grown-ups finds themselves smiling along.
Elders say that doing this keeps heat rashes and insect bites away all summer long. In truth, the liquor and mugwort both have real antiseptic properties. The Dragon Boat Festival has always been Dongshan's collective health defense ritual, passed down through generations — only dressed in the gentleness of ceremony, which makes people all the more willing to keep it.
Offerings & the Festival Meal
The women carry zongzi, fruit, and other offerings to pay respects first to the household deities and the Kitchen God, then to the local Earth God, burning incense and praying: "May we celebrate Duanyang year after year, and may each year bring health and peace." With the rites complete, the main table in the hall is laid with food, and the family finally sits down together.
The Dongshan festival table is not about abundance — it is about completeness. Popiah, lotus leaf buns, and alkaline zongzi: all three must be present. Each has its own story, its own significance. Leave one out, and the elders will notice.
Popiah (Savory Spring Roll Pancakes) A paper-thin skin made from wheat flour, first spread with a base layer of ground toasted wheat, then piled with bean sprouts, shredded pork, garlic chives, and other fillings, brushed with sweet-sour plum sauce, and rolled up gently. The older generation used to joke that eating one was like "hoisting a great timber" — vivid and affectionate.
Lotus Leaf Buns (和合包 / Harmony Buns) Leavened dough shaped into a lotus-leaf pocket. Filled with white sugar, crushed peanuts, sesame, candied winter melon, and layered pork. As you chew, the sugar granules give a satisfying crunch. Soft, fragrant, sweet, and crisp all at once — quietly delightful.
Alkaline (Lye Water) Zongzi Glutinous rice mixed with food-grade lye water, wrapped in fresh bamboo leaves and steamed. Unwrap one and a clean fragrance rises instantly. Dipped in white sugar, it is both aromatic and sweet. Sometimes the most beautiful food in the world is exactly this simple.
Barley Pancakes (麦仔煎) / Stir-Fried Sugar Noodles Freshly milled barley flour, toasted to a deep, malty warmth. Or, in some households, fresh noodles stir-fried with garlic oil and finished with a drizzle of sugar. As children, they called eating the sugar noodles "pulling the great rope" — concrete and somehow romantic at the same time.
Dragon Boats
After the midday meal, the children can no longer sit still. In Dongshan on Dragon Boat Day, there is one more thing that must happen — the dragon boat races.
Each year, the waters along South Gate Bay and West Gate Inlet fill with the din of gongs and drums, horn calls, and roaring crowds. Paddles flash through the water, spray flies into the air, and the crowd along the banks erupts in cheers. The entire watercourse seems to pulse with the rhythm of the drums.
Dongshan's race venues are spread across Xingchen, Zhangtang, and Qianlou townships, with competitions running over several consecutive days. Before each race, offerings are made to the Water Immortal, and only after the rites are complete do the paddles enter the water — a ceremony that has continued without interruption for many years.
Dragon boat songs drift along the shore. The Tongshan Annals describes them as "rustic in lyrics, yet rich in charm." Those rough, unpolished rhythms from the fishing ports are the fighting spirit that generations of seafarers have pressed into sound — the most direct language they have, sung to the sea.
The Colour Beneath the Festival
After Duanwu has passed, peaches and red-fleshed plums still sit piled upon the table. Children chase one another while eating fruit, the adults linger over casual conversation, and the afternoon sunlight slants gently across the hall, slowing everything around it.
Perhaps this is the Dragon Boat Festival in its truest form. It is not only the excitement of dragon boat races, nor merely the rituals of banyan branches and mugwort. Rather, it is the rare occasion when a family gathers together to continue customs that have endured for decades, even generations.
Banyan branches are hung above the doorway. Alkaline zongzi steam with fragrance. Children bathe in Noon Water. Incense is offered to the ancestors. Year after year, these acts may seem ordinary, yet they remind us where we come from and affirm that the family remains rooted here still.
Perhaps that is the most precious meaning of the Dragon Boat Festival in Dongshan.
【Fifth Month, Fifth Day · Countdown: 7 Days】Dongshan Dragon Boats, Banyan Charms, and the Fiery Spirit of a Millennia-Old Festival!
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