Dragon Boat Festival in China. The Death of a Poet, Mourned for Thousands of Years.
A Romantic Heartbreaking Tale of a Poet from ancient China and a tradition over 2,000 years old. Also known as Double Fifth Festival.
How do traditions change and evolve over time. Not even the most famous western traditions are practiced the same as they were when they first originated.
”Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 BC) of the ancient state of Chu during the Warring States period of the Zhou Dynasty. A cadet member of the Chu royal house, Qu served in high offices. However, when the king decided to ally with the increasingly powerful state of Qin, Qu was banished for opposing the alliance and even accused of treason. During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote a great deal of poetry. Twenty-eight years later, Qin captured Ying, the Chu capital. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River.”
”It is said that the local people, who admired him, raced out in their boats to save him or at least retrieve his body. This is said to have been the origin of dragon boat races. When his body could not be found, they dropped balls of sticky rice into the river so that the fish would eat them instead of Qu Yuan's body. This is said to be the origin of zongzi.”
Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Boat_Festival
Let’s learn Chinese
Easy Right?
It's a 3 days off work in China. So I'm guessing it's going to be a BBQ by the Seaside kind of weekend. Super sunny day and blue skies.
The people never forgot his story he was just too famous and respected. China wasn’t even China then, at least not what it is today. During the ”The Warring States period” China was not a unified country. That was still a few hundred years away with the Qin dynasty. The movie Hero is one of the best depictions of its unification in Chinese history at this time.
The warring states period saw countries battle for supreme dominance. In fighting, back stabbing, treason, broken hearts and lost promises were a common thing as the states rulers often changed hands to the despair of the commoners.
Well, the mourning is long over and the modern traditions include racing boats that look like Dragons, hence the name. I know you probably thought it was dragons on boats racing but that’s just a common misconception.
The designs and artwork have become its own industry these days and companies have sprouted up specializing in Dragon Boats.
The carried down tradition of eating Zong Zi. Personally I don't really like it. I have a tried few different flavours and have to find one I enjoy. lol. I do love Japanese sticky rice balls with salmon. I miss those.
Unfortunately Dalian doesn't celebrate with Dragon Boat races, or at least I couldn't find where one was happening. Most of the locals just relax, go shopping, visit friends and in this case write a Steemit post before heading out for the afternoon.
Image Credits
http://www.absolutechinatours.com/china-travel/dragon-boat-festival.html
http://www.creativechinese.com/category/dragon-boat-festival/
http://dragonboatpaddlers.net/
http://give.cedars.ca/site/TR?fr_id=1120&pg=entry&s_locale=en_CA
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/ca/see-do/events-festivals/highlight-events/dragon-boat-carnival.jsp
Great post! Did you manage to visit one in previous years? I read on Wikipedia that this year the date is the 30th of May. Is it commonly celebrated the weekend before?
I have been to a Dragon Boat race but it was in Toronto Canada. hehe. And it wasn't all Chinese people either.
As for the dates it actually follows the Chinese calendar and on the fifth day of the fifth month (which is why it's other name is Double Five) is the official date which is different than our calendar. The three days off officially starts tomorrow on the 28th and the last day of the break the 30th. I guess they need a couple days to prepare and relax before the big family dinner.
Glad you enjoyed my post.
3 days public holiday!! seriously!! Wow, never knew about that!
As a Chinese descent I know about the story of Qu Yuan, even far from my "ancestral homeland", people here still do observe the Dragon Boat festival. Although Dragon Boat Race isn't common everywhere, it's customary for every Chinese household to at least eat a ZhongZi.
I especially love the Hainanese ZhongZi variety because it's so damn huge and the insides are full of different meats and nuts and mushrooms!!!
It's not easy making those tho. Usually nowadays its sort of commercialized if not outright industrialized. But back in the days families will spend the whole afternoon on the eve of the festival gathering together and make them. Quite a bonding experience.
Does sound like a bonding experience. I heard that Dragon boat festival was celebrated in other nearby countries. Hope you get some good ZongZi this year.
Yep.. so long as there's chinese..
oo i cant wait for next tuesday!!
thanks for sharing, i like
my pleasure. Do they have a celebration like this in Aceh?
I like all the bright colors of the boats. The dragon designs are really neat. I'd never heard of this tradition before. Thanks for the interesting origin story. I hope you have a good holiday and a good BBQ. Shame you don't get to see any boat races though.
I'm happy learned a new tradition about China.
It will be a fun day. I will probably post about it later. ^^
Really cool, informative post. You gained yourself a follower.
Thanks man glad you liked it. You got a new follower too
I honestly don't know enough about Chinese culture. Be the ambassador for me, man.
This is a great share!:)
I live in Taiwan,and most people still celebrate this holiday (by eating "Zong Zi")and " Zong Zi" people call it rice dumplings ,too.And some place raise gragon boat game also.
I don't really like to eat Zong Zi, every place of Taiwan have different flavor,i love the flavor in south of Taiwan more,if you want to travel to Taiwan,you can try the Zong Zi in south of Taiwan!:)
I wonder what the Taiwan Zong zi is like. It's interesting you mention South Taiwan has it's own style. I always figured it was such small country the culture would be same all over the island. Very cool piece of info you just me. ^^ I hope I can visit there some day.
Thanks for reading you got a new follower.
haha it's a very interesting thing in Taiwan,
different city has different kind of food and flavor, even though the accents are a little different.
like in south of Taiwan, food flavor are sweeter.and i love the food in south of taiwan very much.
im looking forward the time to see your post about Taiwan foods! :)
and thanks for following!
It's always intersting to learn about what life is like in China.
Come visit I'll show you all the cool places.
Dear Kus-Knee, I guess you should be as curious about China as my late American husband. There's a long long history in China, no doubt it is interesting to learn about them. but once the bubble of Chinese dream is broken, you'll know about the real China--a poor and closed/totalitarian country with the powerful government. Common Chinese live a poor and harsh life. We have the household registration system like bloody Indian caste system. But Chinese culture is really very beautiful. I only regret that my American husband passed away in China suddenly, having no chance to tell people about a real China in his special prospective. But he told me how he felt about China. At first when he visited a museum of Chinese porcelain, he was extremely excited. he exclaimed "fantastic"! It is always very wonderful to get chance to taste the different culture and system in different countries. All in all, welcome to have a visit China! It is so easy! Internet connects us tightly!
Thanks for the nice explanation and information. I'm so sorry about your husband.
You're welcome! True! very very painful. Maybe it is God's arrangement. If without his tragic death, I can't understand the value of digitalcurrency. It is a brandnew field for me!