Story of China “Dragon Boat Festival”, same term for 端午節, Duanwu Festival

June 08, 2021

Story of dragon boat festival :

Duanwu festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. “Duan” means “beginning” and “wu” is synonymous with the figure 5. It is an important traditional festival of China.

Dragon boat racing has a rich history of ancient ceremonial and ritualistic traditions, which originated in southern central China more than 2500 years ago. The legend starts with the story of Qu Yuan, who was a minister in one of the Warring State governments, Chu. He was slandered by jealous government officials and banished by the king.

Out of disappointment in the Chu monarch, he drowned himself into the Miluo River. The common people rushed to the water and tried to recover his body. In commemoration of Qu Yuan, people hold dragon boat races yearly on the day of his death according to the legend. They also scattered rice into the water to feed the fish, to prevent them from eating Qu Yuan's body, which is one of the origins of zongzi, one Traditional Chinese Rice Dumpling.

What people do to celebrate the dragon boat festival :

The Dragon Boat Race

One important events of the festival is the dragon boat race. Usually in the spring of Southern China, the rainfall is more frequent than in other months, making rivers brim with water. So this month naturally becomes the occasion for dragon boat races. On the day of the festival, dragon boats line up on the wide expanse of a river and begin to race hard against each other. The spectacular sight is full of exciting cheers. The dragon boat race marks the climax of festivities of the day.

Zongzi (Traditional Chinese Rice Dumpling)

A notable part of celebrating Dragon Boat Festival is making and eating zongzi with family and friends. People traditionally wrap zongzi in leaves of reed, palm leaf, bamboo, to wrap rice and filling, forming a pyramid shape. The leaves also give a special fragrant flavor to the sticky rice and fillings.

People drink Realgar wine, a Chinese alcoholic drink that is made from Chinese yellow wine, also known as "rice wine".

Decorating doors by hanging wormwood

Decorating doors by hanging wormwood and calamus plants is an important ritual of the Dragon Boat Festival. People believe that doing so will drive evil spirits and diseases away. After Duanwu festival, the temperature would get higher; mosquitoes start to breed and people are apt to have outbreaks of different diseases.

So they would clean their courtyards during Duanwu festival and hang over the lintels of their doors mugwort or calamus, which are two kinds of Chinese medicinal herbs that can drive mosquitoes away and prevent people from getting ill.