Nuns in Buddhist nunneries cut out of colourful thin silk patterns of toads, lizards, spiders, snakes and centipedes and distribute them to their benefactors to be posted on doors and in bedrooms before the Dragon Boat Festival. It is believed that the cutouts can suppress such poisonous vermin. These emblems are thus called the "amulets against the five poisonous pests".
According to The Customs of Qingqi, on Grain Rain Day people painted "amulets against the five poisonous pests" in the shapes of the lizard, the centipede, the poisonous snake, the wasp and the demon, each impaled by a needle. These paintings were duplicated and put up on the doors of the houses in an attempt to drive away all pests and pestilences. In the Wu area this custom is practised during the Dragon Boat Festival.
