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The Dragon Boat Festival: 7 interesting facts

The Dragon Boat Festival: 7 interesting facts
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Kicking off on June 20, the 2015 Dragon Boat Festival is one of China’s most celebrated and fascinating events of the year. With a unique history and many traditional folk customs, let’s delve into the details – here’s all you need to know about the Dragon Boat Festival.

1) The Dragon Boat what?

All across China, racers set sail in dragon-shaped canoes to the sound of pounding drums. While the festival was borne as a tribute to national hero, it has now transformed into an athletic sporting competition which has also become popular in Japan, Vietnam and the UK.

The winning team is said to bring harvest and happiness to their home villages.

2) The festival dates back more than 2,000 years

It’s one of the oldest annual events in China, dating back more than 2,000 years. It holds significant educational importance and since 2008 it has been celebrated as a public holiday. Moreover, in 2009 it was added to the UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

3) It began with a poet

It all goes back to Qu Yuan (340-278 BC) – one of China’s earliest poets and also the minister of the State of Chu. Opposed to the Qin dynasty, Qu Yuan actively encouraged China to strengthen its military in order to defend against the Qin, but was opposed by the nation’s aristocrats and eventually exiled by King Huai.

During this exile period he penned some of China’s most celebrated poems including Li Sao (The Lament), Tian Wen (Asking Questions to the Heaven), and Jiu Ge (Nine Songs). After finishing his final poem, Huai Sha (Embracing the Sand) – considered to be his masterpiece – and upon hearing that China was now conquered by the State of Qin, he drowned himself in the Miluo River.

The premise of the festival comes from the fisherman who sailed their boats up and down the river searching for his body to no avail. The people began to do this every year as a sign of respect, and as the boats resembled dragons in shape, the Dragon Boat Festival was born.

4) In China, it’s known as the Duānwǔ jié

In Chinese this is written 端午节. Duānwǔ jié is pronounced ‘dwann-woo jyeah’.

5) The date is based on the lunar calendar

The festival takes place on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese lunar calendar every year. The ancient calendar is based on a combination of astronomy and geography and dates back to the 21st century BC.

6) Why do people throw food in the water?

When searching for Qu Yuan, the fishermen would throw eggs and bamboo leaves filled with cooked rice into the water so that fish would eat that instead of the hero poet’s body. Over time, this developed into the tradition of eating zongzi (rice dumplings and eggs) during the Dragon Boat Festival.

7) It protects from evil and brings good fortune

Realgar wine is also the traditional drink of the festival; an alcoholic rice liquor which consists of fermented cereals and powdered realgar (a mineral). There’s an old saying in China that “Drinking realgar wine drives diseases and evils away!” and that’s exactly why it’s still drunk today during the festival. It’s said to be an antidote for poisons, effective at killing insects, and chasing away any evil spirits.

Other traditional practices during the festival include hanging healthy herbs on your front door, drinking nutritious drinks and hanging pictures of Zhong Kui – the legendary ‘vanquisher of evil’.

Then there’s the traditional egg balance – if you can manage to balance an egg upright at exactly 12:00 noon, the following year is going to be extremely lucky for you. Better get practising!

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