The Dragon Boat Festival: A Journey Through Time 10.06.2024

The Dragon Boat Festival Celebrating Qu Yuan: A Journey Through Time 10.06.2024
The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival or Double Fifth, honors the life and death of the ancient Chinese scholar Qu Yuan. Celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese lunisolar calendar, this festival is a public holiday in China, with schools and businesses closed.
How It's Celebrated
People mark the day by eating rice dumplings (zongzi), drinking realgar wine (xionghuangjiu), and racing dragon boats. They also engage in activities like hanging Zhong Kui icons, wearing perfumed medicine bags, and trying to balance an egg at noon, which are believed to ward off evil and promote health.
In honor of Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in 278 BCE after being exiled, locals traditionally throw rice wrapped in bamboo leaves into rivers, a practice believed to keep fish from eating his body.
Historical Significance
Qu Yuan, a loyal minister of the Chu kingdom, faced false accusations and was exiled. His sorrow and wisdom are immortalized in his poetry. His dramatic death led to the Dragon Boat Festival's creation, symbolizing the attempts to rescue him and the offering of rice to his spirit.
Symbols and Customs
Dragon Boats: These long, brightly decorated boats, sometimes up to 100 feet, with dragon heads and tails, are paddled by up to 80 rowers in races. A ceremony "brings the boat to life" by painting its eyes.
Zongzi: These are glutinous rice balls filled with various ingredients like meat, dates, or beans, wrapped in leaves and steamed.
Protective Traditions: Hanging calamus and moxa, drinking realgar wine, and carrying sachets are believed to prevent evil. In Taiwan, fetching noon water on the festival day is thought to cure illnesses.
The festival, officially recognized as a public holiday in 2008, continues to be a vibrant celebration of culture and history.
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