【双语学习】端午节？粽子节？还有我们不知道的名字？

欢乐的时光总是格外短暂，端午三天小长假一晃就过去了。各位童鞋有没有乖乖在家吃粽子呀？每到端午节，就会有一波甜粽子VS咸粽子的南北之争，肉粽代表队和蜜枣粽代表队总是要争论一番。今天我们不争粽子，看看端午节究竟有几种叫法，它们的由来又是什么。

同一个节日，不同的名字——端阳节、浴兰节、粽子节、瑞阳节、女儿节…等等，这些都是端午节的另一个名字。端午节在2009年被列为世界教科文组织非物质文化遗产，因为它是阴历五月初五，因此又被成为重五节。端午节之所以能被赋予如此多的名字，不仅体现了我们对于先人们的崇敬之情，也体现了我们对于美好生活和健康的向往。

北京大学民俗学教授高兵中认为，由于时代不断变迁，庆祝活动十分多样，由此端午节的内涵也是错综复杂的，而且这种内涵还在不断扩大和外延。高教授表示，人们在端午节举办各种各样的活动，由此可见人们想要驱除厄运，向上天祈福。

至于端午节的由来，就更是有很多个版本了。众所周知的就是战国时期爱国诗人屈原投江自刎。除了屈原外，还有很多著名历史人物和端午有关——春秋战国时期的吴国大夫伍子胥、卧薪尝胆的越王勾践、救父投江的孝女曹娥等等。每到端午节之时，这些名字都会被人们再次想起并怀念。一位民俗研究学者曾在1926年发表过一篇文章，分析端午节赛龙舟的起源。他觉得人们最初是为了身体健康而开展这项活动，至于糯米包成的粽子也具有重要意义，有说法是要喂龙祈福，各地也有各种不同的说法。

每一个节日都蕴含着古往今来的故事，既有先辈前人留下的传说，又有我们每一代人赋予其时代的意义。这正是我们中华民族五千年的文化积淀，也是我们对于美好生活的纯真向往。

【原文出处】CHINA DAILY

【原文】

Different names, same festival. Duanyang Festival, Tianzhong Festival, Yulan Festival, Duanwu Festival and Daughter's Day were all once the commonly used moniker for the Dragon Boat Festival.

Enlisted as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2009, the festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. Consequently, it is also called the Double Fifth Festival.

The multiple names show that the Dragon Boat Festival is not only a festival to pay respect to ancestors, but also a festival to show care for people and protect life and health.

Gao Bingzhong, a folklore professor at Peking University, thinks because of the passage of time and the diversity of festival events, the connotation of the Dragon Boat Festival is complex, and continually developing.

Gao says the festival shows people's intention to ward off evil spirits and avoid misfortune through festive activities.

The origin of the Dragon Boat Festival has many legends — from Qu Yuan, a great patriotic poet in the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) to offering sacrifice to the dragons.

Qu Yuan is not the only legend linked to the proceedings. Wu Zixu, a general of the Wu state in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), Gou Jian, a king also in the Spring and Autumn Period who suffered humiliation before defeating his adversary and Cao E, in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) who was so filial to her drowned father that she threw herself into the river — are also linked to the festival.

Jiang Shaoyuan, a folklore scholar, published an article in 1926, analyzing the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. He believed it was primarily about public health. He thinks boat racing is actually to deal with public health issues mixed with a touch of "magic".

Patriotic poet Wen Yiduo (1899-1946) proposed the theory of offering sacrifice to the dragon. He considered that the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese lunar calendar, Dragon Day, originated from the Wuyue people in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Wen realized that the zongzi, a traditional Dragon Boat Festival treat made of glutinous rice, plays a hugely symbolic role. It is wrapped in reed leaves to be placed in water and "eaten by dragons".