COLLECTING NOON WATER

If we turn on the tap at noon today and bathed or washed ourselves with that water, then we will become more beautiful and remain youthful. Seriously, I am not joking. According to my mum and Aunt May, this is because the water at this hour is known as "Noon Water" or "Dragon Boat Water" and is purported to be imbued with the power to bestow youth and beauty to all those who endeavour to go through the ritual of bathing or washing at this time and on this particular day, that is, the day of the Double Fifth. You can also turn on the tap and store this water using a container and use it for bathing later in the day. I am also told that in ancient times, the ladies also used this water to make "bedak sejuk" or "rice powder". I have known about this ritual since I was a child and have been making use of this "powerful beauty secret" to stay beautiful and younger for a long, long time. Heh! Heh!

In Taiwan the people there "fetch noon water" instead of turning on the tap. There the people draw well water on the afternoon of the festival in the belief that it will cure illness. Read the article below to know more about how they do it there.

Fetching Noon Water
At noontime on Dragon Boat Festival, throngs of people will make a pilgrimage to the Sword Well on Mt. Tiechen in Tachia, Taichung County to "fetch noon water."

This custom is said to have started when the Ming loyalist Koxinga led his troops to Taiwan in the mid-seventeenth century. As the story goes, Koxinga was unable to find water on the island and thus drove his sword into the ground hoping for water to gush forth from the ground. Miraculously, it did. Since the miracle occurred at noon on Dragon Boat Festival, people have incorporated this legend into the day's festivities by climbing mountains to "fetch noon water."

Source: http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/festival_c/dragon_e/html/water.htm