During the Dragon Boat Festival, people go to get medicinal herbs to treat illnesses.

(Baonghean.vn) - In Giai Xuan commune, Tan Ky district, every year during the Dragon Boat Festival (Tet Doan Ngo)(5th day of the 5th lunar month)The Tho ethnic people often go into the forest together to gather medicinal leaves to bathe and drink, hoping to ward off all diseases for their family members.

People in Giai Xuan go to collect medicinal herbs on the Dragon Boat Festival.

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Precisely at noon on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, the exact time of the "Ngọ" hour (midday), people begin to gather medicinal herbs in the forest with their tools. They usually go in groups to find plants they consider very valuable and capable of curing many illnesses. And it's no coincidence that the locals choose the hottest time of day to go into the forest.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thoa, a resident of Giai Xuan commune, said: "Going there at noon is considered the time when fairies descend to earth, so everything is good and precious, emitting a very distinctive fragrance." And according to Ms. Bui Thi Mo, a long-time traditional medicine practitioner living in Tre village, group 3, Xuan Tien hamlet, the first medicinal plant to be gathered on the Dragon Boat Festival is the poong poai plant (mugwort), followed by other medicinal plants.

People also gather bamboo leaves from the forest to use as medicine.

Climbing over many hills, they gathered numerous medicinal plants with strange names such as poong pao, nanh (also called cardamom), lau, mat doi, hach ​​cun, hach ​​lon, dan xe, tach, xia leaves, forest bamboo leaves, luoi tien leaves... There were some plants that the locals only knew as "medicinal plants" and their uses, but didn't know their names. Ms. Bui Thi Mo also said: "To gather medicine, you have to collect it from both the hills and the water." Many types of medicine can be collected, but it must contain both ingredients from land and water to be effective. Those who don't know can go with traditional healers.

Medicinal leaves used during the Dragon Boat Festival are only effective when harvested both from hills and from water.

Traditional Vietnamese herbal medicine products for the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.

With traditional beliefs and wishes, the Tho ethnic people in Tan Ky believe that gathering medicinal herbs on the Dragon Boat Festival (Tet Doan Ngo) can cure many diseases, such as measles, colds, chickenpox, bone pain, headaches, and stomach aches. Once the herbs are brought home, people usually boil them to make bathwater, hair wash, and also drink the decoction. When steaming with medicinal herbs, it is absolutely forbidden to lie on blankets or mattresses; only mats should be used. This is a cultural tradition of the Tho ethnic people during the Dragon Boat Festival and is maintained annually.

Thai An