On the Dragon Boat Festival, folk custom holds that hanging or wearing mugwort and eating mugwort foods will “ward off evil and dispel pestilent qi.” The customs of “hanging mugwort figures, wearing mugwort-tiger charms, drinking mugwort wine, and eating mugwort cakes” remain popular in the countryside.

Pictured customs: hanging mugwort figures • wearing the mugwort tiger • drinking mugwort wine • eating mugwort cakes • eating mugwort leaves • mugwort foot bath • mugwort pillow • mugwort-fiber cushion • storing dried mugwort • mugwort sachet

Qichun County has long observed the custom of mugwort bathing. When a baby is born, mugwort decoction is used to bathe the infant — the “Third-Day Wash” — believed to protect the child from evil influences. On a wedding day, the bride bathes in mugwort decoction, the “Hundred-Year Bath.” At the end of life, the deceased receives a final wash in mugwort decoction, the “Nirvana Bath.” Together these are known as “life’s three great baths.”

Related customs: burning mugwort smoke • hanging the mugwort tiger • hanging mugwort leaves • drinking mugwort wine • drinking mugwort decoction • eating mugwort eggs • eating mugwort cakes • burning mugwort leaves.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, households traditionally insert mugwort and hang calamus (sweet flag) at the door, believed to drive off insects and pathogens and prevent disease. A folk rhyme goes: “On the fifth day of the fifth month, Dragon Boat Festival arrives — the Celestial Master rides his mugwort tiger; the calamus sword’s sharp blade cuts down a hundred evils, and ghosts and plague-demons flee into the tiger’s mouth.” (In Daoist tradition, the calamus leaf represents a sword and mugwort a tiger; the Celestial Master Zhang Daoling rides the mugwort tiger and wields the calamus sword to vanquish evil spirits.)

The belief that mugwort “wards off evil” has long been widely accepted in Chinese folk culture, and mugwort has been put to extensive folk use accordingly. A common saying is still heard across much of China today: “A household with three years’ worth of stored mugwort need never call for the doctor” — testament to enduring folk confidence in mugwort’s healing power.