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The Dragon Boat Festival is also called the Duanwu Festival. Since it is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese Lunar calendar, it earns another name -- Double Fifth Festival. Actually, it has a variety of names in Chinese. It’s a popular and traditional festival celebrated by the Hans, Koreans, Mongolians, Huis, Yis, Bais, Miaos, Zhuangs and others, altogether 27 of the 56 nationalities in China. And now the Asian people, including Japanese, Vietnamese, etc.
There are a great many of legends about the origin of Dragon Boat Festival. The most popular theory of the origin of the festival is that it was derived from the activities commemorating Qu Yuan. The story about Qu Yuan has been deeply rooted in Chinese culture and this festival, so it is definitely a very important factor for the origin of the festival.
Rice Dumpling is a pyramid dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. The people of Chu who mourned the death of Qu Yuan threw rice balls into the river to feed fishes, so the fishes wouldn’t eat his body, every year on the fifth day of the fifth month. But one year, the spirit of Qu Yuan appeared and told the mourners that a huge reptile in the river had stolen the rice. The spirit then advised them to wrap the rice in silk and bind it with five different-colored threads before tossing it into the river.
The dragon-boat races symbolize the many attempts to rescue and recover Qu’s body. A typical dragon boat ranges from 50 - 100 feet in length, with a beam of about 5.5 feet, accommodating two paddlers seated side by side. Today, people hold the race differently from place to place.
Happy Dragon Boat Festival!
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