There comes one of Chinese important traditional festivals -dragon boat festival.Do you know it?Let me tell you!

Dragon Boat Festival of 2016 falls on June 9. The holiday in China starts from June 9 to 11, 2016. Welcome to China and explore the traditional folk customs of this interesting festival! Its schedule in recent years is offered in the following table.

Introduction
Falling on the 5th day of the 5th month according to Chinese lunar calendar, the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival, is one of great significance. It has been held annually for more than 2,000 years and is notable for its educational influence. The festival commemorates the patriotic poet Qu Yuan (340-278 BC), and also acts as a chance for Chinese people to build their bodies and dispel diseases. Many legends circulate around the festival but the most popular is the legend of Qu Yuan.

Legend of Qu Yuan

The story best known in modern China holds that the festival commemorates the death of the poet and minister 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.

Customs
Many traditional customs and activities are held on the specified day by people in China and even by some people in neighbouring countries. Among these customs are dragon boat racing, eating zongzi, wearing a perfume pouch, tying five-colour silk thread and hanging mugwort leaves and calamus.

Dragon Boat Racing

Zongzi