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Chinese Dragon Boat Festival
For all the Chinese people, the traditional Dragon Boat Festival (duān wǔ jié 端午节) is coming on May 28th this year. The Dragon Boat Festival has been one of the most important traditional festivals in China. During the festival, people celebrated it in various ways, even in modern China. After this traditional festival&s added to the schedule of national holidays by the government in 2008, people have much more time to celebrate it with their families, friends, and experience the cultural meaning of this festival.
&Why Dragon Boat Festival?
The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Double Fifth day, falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, usually comes at the beginning of summer. During the festival, there would be a long, canoe style boat with decorative Chinese dragon head and tail used in the dragon boat racing. Dragon boat races are traditionally held as part of the annual Duanwu observance in China. Dragon boat festival racing, like Duanwu, is observed and celebrated in many areas of east Asia with significant populations of ethnic Chinese living there. Since the dragon boat racing is the most popular and well-know celebrating program held during the festival, it got the name of the dragon boat festival.
&0rigin of the Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival is believed to have originated in ancient China. There are different versions of the origin of the dragon boat festival. Today the most widely known legend relates to the poignant saga of a Chinese court official named Qu Yuan (qū yuán 屈原).
It is said that Qu lived in the pre-imperial Warring State period (475-221 BC). Qu Yuan is popularly regarded as a minister in one of the Warring State governments, the southern state of Chu (present day Hunan and Hubei provinces), a champion of political loyalty and integrity, and eager to maintain the Chu state's autonomy and hegemony. Formerly, it was believed that the Chu king fell under the influence of other corrupt, jealous ministers who slandered Qu Yuan as 'a sting in flesh', and therefore the fooled king banished Qu.
Being worried about his beloved country and hopeless for the corrupted government, Qu committed suicide by drowning himself into the river on the fifth day of the fifth month.
The common people, upon learning the news of his suicidal, hurried to the river in hope of saving this loyal person, but found nothing. They beat drums and splashed water with their paddles in order to keep the fish from his body. Some people just scattered a kind of rice into the river so that the fish would not eat Qu&s body, it&s believed as the origin of The Dragon Boat Festival is believed to have originated in ancient China.
Food for the Dragon Boat Festival:
Zongzi (zòng zi 粽子) , also known as rice dumpling, is a traditional Chinese food eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival. Zongzi is made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. They are cooked by steaming or boiling. The shape of Zongzi ranges from relatively tetrahedral to cylindrical.
Chinese families used to make Zongzi themselves, and also gave friends as a gift. Many families would prepare the materials needed for making Zongzi a few weeks before the festival. Reed leaves are the wrapping of Zongzi, they are freshly green with special plant smell. Inside the wrapping are the glutinous rice (also called the sticky rice or sweet rice) with fillings like jujube, red-cooked pork, salted duck eggs and so on. Zongzi needed to be steamed or boiled for several hours depending on the rice and fillings. Once cooked, Zongzi can be frozen for later consumption. Nowadays, the frozen Zongzi are available for sale in many Chinese supermarkets at any time as you want.
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Activities:
Three of the most wide spread activities for the Dragon Boat Festival are racing dragon boat, eating Zongzi, and drinking Realgar Wine.
Dragon Boat Race
Dragon Boat Race (sài lóng zhōu 赛龙舟) is the most important activity during the Dragon Boat Festival. It is quite popular in the South part of China. The Dragon Boat Race which originated in China over 2ooo years ago is a traditional Chinese water sports entertainment. Size of the dragon boat varies from place to place. Competition is within the specified distance, competitors start at the same time, and decide who wins according to their finish time. All ethnic groups in China is slightly different from the dragon boat race. Han multi-annual &Dragon Boat Festival& held on 20-30 meters for the master general, each of about 30 sailors on board。Competing teams drive their colorful dragon boats forward to the rhythm of beating drums.
Eating Zongzi and Drinking Realgar Wine
A very popular dish during the Dragon Boat Festival is Zongzi. This tasty food consists of rice dumplings with jujube, meat and other fillings wrapped with reed leaves or bamboos. Every Chinese family eat Zongzi during the festival, and give their friends zongzi made by themselves, it&s considered as the most important and well known activity for the festival, which is still popular among Chinese people now.
Many Chinese consider this time of year an especially dangerous time when extra efforts must be made to protect their family from illness. The drinking of Realgar Wine(xiónghuáng jiǔ 雄黄酒) is thought to remove poisons from the body. It can protect people from getting ill. When the festival is coming, some Chinese people would prepare this kind of wine for their families to avoid illness and evil spirits.
Other common activities include hanging up icons of Zhong Kui(zhōng kuí 钟馗), hanging up mugwort and calamus and wearing perfumed medicine bags. All of these activities, together with the drinking of Realgar Wine, are designed to ward off disease or evil.
The Dragon Boat Festival in Modern China
Ever since 2008, the Dragon Boat Festival has become a Chinese statutory holiday,there are 3 days holiday for this festival.Chinese people keep those traditional activities like preparing and eating Zongzi, dragon boat racing, and also have much more time to go traveling or get back hometown and be together with thier families.This festival with a long long history gives mordern Chinese people a chance to fully appreciate the culture meaning of the festival.By the way, for many young Chinee people,they prefer to going shopping and driving to the surbub of the city to spend this Dragon Boat Festival.
Happy Dragon Boat Festival!
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Dragon Boat Festival
Dragon boat racing is the most popular activity in the Dragon Boat Festival.
Dragon Boat
Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival, is a traditional and important
celebration in China. Dragon Boat Festival 2017 falls on May 30 (Tuesday). China will have 3 days of holiday from Sunday (May 28) to Tuesday (May 30), and we will be back at work on Wednesday, June 4.
Dragon Boat Festival Facts.
Chinese: 端午节
Duānwǔ Jié /dwann-woo
jyeah/ 'start [of
the] fifth traditional solar month [June 6 to July 6] festival'
Date: month 5 day 5 of the Chinese lunar calendar
History: over 2,000 years
Celebrations: dragon boat racing, health-related customs, honoring
Qu Yuan and others
Popular festival food: sticky rice dumplings (zongzi)
Learn more
When is the Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival date is based on the lunar calendar, therefore the date varies from year to year on the Gregorian calendar.
Dragon Boat Festival Dates ()
What Is China's Dragon Boat Festival?
Colorfully-painted dragon boats
It's a folk festival full of traditions and superstitions, maybe originating an event on t and a day of remembrance/worship for Qu Yuan, Wu Zixu, and Cao E.
The festival has long been a traditional holiday in China. On May 20th 2006 it was selected into the first batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage items. In 2008 it was first celebrated as a public holiday in China. And on October 30th 2009 it was added to the UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
Dragon Boat Racing — from legend to sporting event!
boat racing is said to originate from the legend of people paddling out on
boats to seek the body of patriotic poet Qu Yuan (343–278 BC), who drowned
himself in the Miluo River.
Video about the Dragon Boat Festival…&
boat racing is the most important
activity during the Dragon Boat Festival. The wooden boats are shaped and decorated
in the form of a . The boat size varies by region. Generally it is about 20–35 meters
in length and needs 30–60 people to paddle it.
During the races, dragon boat teams paddle
harmoniously and hurriedly, accompanied by the sound of beating drums. It is
said that the winning team will have good luck and a happy life in the
following year.
Dragon boat races are a major sporting
event in many places, which competitors train hard for.
Where to See Dragon Boat Racing
With two thousand years' continuous development, dragon boat racing has become an important competitive sport. Many places in China hold dragon boat races during the festival. Here we recommend the four most ceremonious places.
A dragon boat in the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival.
The Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival: Victoria Harbor, Kowloon,
Yueyang International Dragon Boat
River International Dragon Boat Race Center, Yueyang Prefecture, Hunan Province
Guizhou Dragon Canoe Festival of the
Miao Ethnic People:
Qingshui River, Taijiang County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong
Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province
Hangzhou Dragon Boat Festival:
Xixi National Wetland Park,
Tianmushan Road, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province
Read more about .
What Customs Do Chinese Observe for Duanwu?
Duanwu Festival is
a folk festival celebrated for over 2,000 years, when Chinese people practice various customs
thought to dispel disease, and invoke good health.
During the
festival, many activities and customs are practiced by people in China and even
in nearby countries. Some of the most traditional ones include dragon boat
racing, eating sticky rice dumplings (zongzi),
hanging Chinese mugwort and calumus, drinking realgar wine, and wearing perfume
Now many of the customs are disappearing, or
no longer observed. You are more likely to find them practiced in rural areas.
Eating Sticky Rice Dumplings
Zongzi (粽子zòngzi /dzong-dzuh/) is the most
traditional Dragon Boat Festival food. It is related to Qu Yuan commemoration,
as the legend says that lumps of rice were thrown into the river to stop fish
eating his drowned body.
They are a kind
of sticky rice dumpling made of glutinous rice filled with meats, beans,
and other fillings, wrapped in triangle or rectangle shapes in bamboo or reed leaves,
and tied with soaked stalks or colorful silky cords. The flavors of zongzi are usually different from one region
to another across China. Read more on .
Drinking Realgar Wine
There is an old
saying: 'Drinking realgar wine drives diseases and evils away!' Realgar wine is
a Chinese alcoholic drink consisting of fermented
cereals and powdered realgar.
ancient times, people believed that realgar
was an antidote for all poisons, and effective for killing insects and driving
away evil spirits. So everyone would drink some realgar wine during Duanwu Festival.
Learn more about .
Wearing Perfume Pouches
Perfume Pouches
Before Dragon Boat
Festival arrives, parents usually prepare perfume pouches for their children.
They sew little bags with colorful silk cloth, fill the bags with perfumes or
herbal medicines, and then string them with silk threads. During Dragon Boat
Festival perfume pouches are hung around kids' necks or tied to the front of a
garment as an ornament. The perfume pouches are said to protect them from evil.
Hanging Chinese Mugwort and
The Dragon Boat Festival is held at the start of summer,
when diseases are more prevalent. Mugwort leaves are used medicinally in China.
Their fragrance is very pleasant, deterring flies and mosquitoes. Calamus an aquatic
plant that has similar effects.
On the fifth day of the fifth month, people usually
clean their houses, courtyards, and hang mugwort and calamus on doors lintels
to discourage diseases. It is also said hanging mugwort and calamus can bring
good luck to the family.
Learn more about .
How Did Dragon Boat Festival Start?
Competitors are paddling hard in a dragon boat race.
There are many
legends about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. The most popular one is
in commemoration of Qu Yuan.
Yuan (340–278 BC) was a patriotic poet and exiled official during
the Warring
States Period of ancient China. He drowned himself in the Miluo River on the
5th day of the 5th Chinese lunar month, when his beloved Chu State fell to the
State of Qin.
Local people desperately tried to save Qu Yuan or
recover his body, to no avail. In order to commemorate Qu Yuan, every fifth day
of the fifth lunar month people beat drums and paddle out in boats on the river
as they once did to keep fish and evil spirits away from his body.
Learn more about .
Visiting China at the Dragon Boat Festival
Our customers taking a bamboo raft to see the beautiful scenery of the Li River in Guilin
Chinese people will make use of the 3-day holiday to go traveling. Therefore,
during the Dragon Festival, most attractions will be crowded, cheap public
transport (like buses and trains) may be sold out, and accommodation may be
slightly more expensive.
and we can help you avoid the hassles, and
have a China experience that includes the best of the Dragon Boat Festival.
See below the most popular China tours for inspiration:
Related Reading
You Might Like
Your email address will only be used for a thank you email from the author.2017 Chinese Dragon Boat Festival - Races, History, Customs & Traditions
The web, reviewed by humans since 1999.
<font size=2 color="#17 Dragon Boat Festival
The sounds, the color and excitement happen every year.
Entire regattas of sleek dragon boats race for glory as
the swiftest and most agile -- with rowing teams keeping in time with drummers pounding out furious rhythms.
In terms of spectacle, even
modern Navy fleets (with all their electronic wizardry)
trail far behind the pageantry of the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival!
In China, the festival will be officially observed on Sunday, May 28 and will continue until Tuesday, May 30,&2017.
The Dragon Boat Festival is also known as the Duanwu Festival
and has been observed in China as a national holiday since 2008.
Due to its
wide popularity, however, .
Dragon Boat Festival History and Traditions
Color and competitive sportsmanship are the main attractions of the modern event, but the
Chinese Dragon Boat Festival
has a rich history dating back thousands of years.
Qu Yuan, an honest man.
The origins of the race can be traced to the popular Chinese poet and patriot,
who in the 3rd century threw himself into the Mi Lo River in a personal protest against a corrupt government.
hearing the news, local people frantically mounted an epic rescue operation. As they raced out in boats to save Qu Yuan, they
threw rice into the river and pounded drums to scare away any fish who might want to eat him. Sadly, they arrived too late.
To commemorate the event, dragon boat competitions were soon being held between different clans or villages,
and winners were awarded money prizes, festive food, or wine.
the reenactment of the rescue operation continues with furious
drumbeats and
throwing fire crackers and ceremonial
rice over the bow in a symbolic search for an honest man.
Dragon Boat Festival Fun Facts
• Superstitions associated with the Dragon Boat Festival include protection against
illnesses caused by moist, warm weather. During the festival,
xiangbao (fragrant pouches of herbs) are traditionally tied around the necks of children during the festival. Meanwhile,
adults successfully ward-off of summer illness by imbibing a healthy dose of , a special rice wine.
Holiday foods served during the Dragon Boat Festival include rice dumplings or
to symbolize the rice offerings on behalf of Qu Yuan.
dragon boats were large enough to accommodate many rowers at a
time. and measured anywhere from fifty to
one hundred feet long!
Today, dragon boats are smaller in size but
continue to be decorated with the traditional wooden dragon head at the bow, and a dragon
tail at the stern.
• The largest dragon boat festival in North America is the Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival in Vancouver, British Columbia which takes place every year in June. In the US, some of the largest dragon boat festivals include the Houston Dragon Boat Festival in Texas and the San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival in California.
<font color="#FF Chinese
Dragon Boat Festival Races in the USA
A traditional dragon boat race takes place on the River Danube in Hungary.
More about the Chinese Dragon Boast Festival around the Web
- Take in an encyclopedic collection of facts, history, culture and customs including dragon boat racing
information, its practice as a modern sport, related links to racing schedules in the U.S. & Canada, from Wikipedia..
- Good intro with pictures of the customs & traditions surrounding the festival.
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