Every year, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month marks China's Dragon Boat Festival, a time-honored celebration also known as Duanwu, Double Fifth, or Tianzhong Festival. Rooted in traditions spanning over two millennia, this festival—alongside the Spring Festival, Qingming Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival—forms one of China's four great traditional holidays. It uniquely has fused rituals of ancestral reverence, spiritual blessings, communal joy, and symbolic cuisine into a vibrant tapestry of culture. At its heart lie two enduring themes: epidemic prevention and honoring cultural luminaries. In ancient times, households hang Zhong Kui portraits for protection, adorn doors with aromatic mugwort (艾草) and calamus (菖蒲), race dragon boats, savor sticky rice zongzi, drink realgar wine, and carry fragrant sachets. This year, Nanjing University's Mental Health Education and Research Center and the Institute for International Students coorganized a unique "cultural healing journey" for international students to explore millennia-spanning cultural emblems through delicate sachets and mugwort wreaths, weaving warm connections that bridge hearts and minds.
The cultural immersion began with the process of sachet making. The center prepared a variety of medicinal herbs, including peppermint, peach blossoms, mugwort, and lemongrass, etc. , each offering a unique benefit such as repelling mosquitoes, refreshing spirits, enhancing fragrance, and aiding sleep. Students were invited to sniff and choose from this array of herbs to their liking. Guided by instructors, participants filled a small bag with their selected botanicals, then slipped it into an elegant sachet. Then students could either wear the sachets or engage it into the later handwork.
Then it turned to the second activity: making mugwort rings. Students gathered to learn the procedures of creating such a nicely-shaped object. The procedure involves these following steps:
1. Trim the mugwort
Snip fresh mugwort stems into short segments—about two or three leaf joints per piece—to ensure even length and easier handling.
2. Assemble small bouquets
Take four of these mugwort segments and mix them with other chosen blossoms or foliage (e.g. chrysanthemums, lavender, wildflowers). Bundle them tightly and wrap the stems with a wire. Students would need to make six of these little hand-tied bundles in total.
3. Attach to the vine ring
Starting at the lower left of a circular vine base, secure one bouquet by wrapping its wire stem around the ring. Continue clockwise in this order: lower left, lower right, left middle, right middle, upper left, upper right—spacing each bundle evenly.
4. Hide your wiring
Before fixating each new bouquet, gently tuck the outer leaves of the fresh mugwort over the previous wire wraps. This not only conceals the metal but also creates a seamless, lush look.
5. Add the finishing touches
Once all six bundles are in place, weave a ribbon around the ring or tie on the newly-made little sachet for scent. It is also adoptable to thread beads or other small decorations into the wire for extra flair. Step back, adjust any uneven foliage, and a fragrant, beautifully decorated mugwort wreath is ready to hang or wear! These tiny green wreaths would keep bad luck at bay and wish people good luck.
The mindful process of crafting and personalizing these traditional Chinese handicrafts not only offered a calming break from academic pressures, but drew students deeper into the heritage of the Dragon Boat Festival. In selecting and weaving herbs into sachets and wreaths, participants also experienced the integration of Nature and Humanity. These handicrafts are far more than mere visual decorations; they serve as living emblems of balance, reminding students to honor the natural world that sustains us all.
Photo by: Huang Chenxi, Wang Chenyuan, Han Yinhang
Writer: Wang Ziyan
Editor: Guo Junlin
