The Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival is known as one of the four most important and grandest traditional Chinese festivals. It has more than 2000 year’s history. Since 2008, Chinese people have enjoyed the annual public holiday of the Dragon Boat Festival. Do you know how we celebrate this holiday, let’s find out together!
The Dragon Boat Festival, celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth LUNAR month, is a traditional Chinese festival.
There are many legends about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, the most popular and influential of which is to commemorate Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan was an eminent statesman and poet of the state of Chu during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). Domestically he advocated promoting able men and upholding judicial justice; externally he suggested the country fight with the State of Qi against the State of Qin. However due to slanders against him, he was demoted and exiled to the Yuan and Xiang River basin, during which he wrote many immortal poems about his country and people.
In 278 BC, the Qin army conquered the capital of the State of Chu. Sorrowful and
angry, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River with a rock in arms to die for his country.
It is said that on hearing the death of Qu Yuan, people of Chu were heart-broken. Some expressed their condolences to their beloved poet by the river, some on the boat tried to bring the body up from the water, while a fisherman threw food into the river as feed so that fish and prawn would not eat Qu Yuan's body, and then people followed suit. Finally these foods turned into the special food in the Dragon Boat Festival-Zongzi (a sticky rice dumpling wrapped in reed leaves).
During this holiday, we have various customs, for example
There are many legends about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, the most popular and influential of which is to commemorate Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan was an eminent statesman and poet of the state of Chu during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC). Domestically he advocated promoting able men and upholding judicial justice; externally he suggested the country fight with the State of Qi against the State of Qin. However due to slanders against him, he was demoted and exiled to the Yuan and Xiang River basin, during which he wrote many immortal poems about his country and people.
In 278 BC, the Qin army conquered the capital of the State of Chu. Sorrowful and
angry, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River with a rock in arms to die for his country.
It is said that on hearing the death of Qu Yuan, people of Chu were heart-broken. Some expressed their condolences to their beloved poet by the river, some on the boat tried to bring the body up from the water, while a fisherman threw food into the river as feed so that fish and prawn would not eat Qu Yuan's body, and then people followed suit. Finally these foods turned into the special food in the Dragon Boat Festival-Zongzi (a sticky rice dumpling wrapped in reed leaves).
During this holiday, we have various customs, for example
- Dragon boat racing
- Eating Zongzi, I like to eat the sweet one and some people they like to eat the one with meat.
- Hanging Chinese mugwort leaf 悬艾叶， when I was a child, my grandmother she liked to do it.
- Wearing perfume satchels to drive out evil spirits.
Nowadays, Chinese regard the Dragon Boat Festival less as only a traditional festival than as a time to show patriotism. The world is profoundly influenced by the Dragon Boat Festival and its culture is very influential because it is widely celebrated in many countries and areas of the world.
In 2006, the Dragon Boat Festival was listed by the Chinese State Council in the first batch of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the country.
In 2009 the Dragon Boat Festival was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List and hence becomes the first Chinese festival in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
