Sachets from Yunnan highlight Dragon Boat Festival

As the annual Dragon Boat Festival approaches, the embroiderers in Yiheyuan Scenic Area, Mouding county, Chuxiong prefecture, Yunnan province, are getting busy. They make scented sachets by putting wormwood and other medicinal herbs into carefully embroidered pouches and then give them to relatives and friends to express their wishes for happiness and good fortune.

On every Dragon Boat Festival, people in Mouding county would all wear exquisitely scented sachets on their chests. The scented sachets are also called incense pouches because the shape of the pouch resembles lotus flowers or lotus pouches because they have spices inside.

Nowadays, embroiderers in Mouding county have developed scented sachets in the shapes of plum blossom, chrysanthemum, peach, gourd, tiger head, and monkey.

When making a scented sachet, the embroiderer first cuts the cloth into various shapes as needed, and next, embroiders flower and animal patterns on the fabric of various shapes, and then fills it with wormwood, and finally hangs a wearing ribbon on its top and fixes red, green, blue, and purple threads on its bottom. When people wear the scented sachet on the chest, they will find it smelling a light, medicinal fragrance.

In Mouding, people may follow certain rules when wearing scented sachets on the Dragon Boat Festival. Wishing to prevent diseases and keep fit, the elderly people generally wear scented sachets in the shapes of plum blossoms, chrysanthemums, peaches, apples, and lotus flowers. These sachets usually symbolize happiness and well-being. As for children, they would like to wear sachets in the shape of animals, such as tiger heads, leopards, monkeys, and roosters. Their sachets function as both an amulet protecting the owner against evil and diseases, and a piece of decoration on their festive costume.