The Dragon Boat Festival is a festival founded by ancient ancestors to worship the dragon ancestor, pray for good fortune and ward off evil spirits. Legend has it that Qu Yuan, a poet of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), committed suicide by jumping into the Miluo River on May 5. Later, the Dragon Boat Festival is also celebrated to commemorate Qu Yuan.
The Dragon Boat Festival contains profound and rich cultural connotation. In the process of inheritance and development, it combines a variety of folk customs and is rich in festival and custom content. Dragon-boat rowing and eating zongzi are the two customs of the Dragon Boat Festival. These two customs have been inherited in China since ancient times and continue to this day.
To celebrate the festival, some regions will hold dragon boat races .The Dragon Boat races are a very colorful, cheerful, and boisterous experience for spectators, which highlights athleticism and teamwork. The point to point race takes the form of teams of paddlers all paddling furiously to the beat of a drum, with the drummer sitting in the bow of the boat, all of which contribute to an exciting and spectacular event. A typical race is 500 meters in distance and can take 2-3 minutes depending on the quality of the paddlers. Some festivals include races of 200-500 meters and the ultimate “guts and glory” race of about 2000 meters. It is claimed that the winners of the various competitions will enjoy good luck and happiness the following year.
Almost every Chinese festival has a specific food or food related to it, and the Dragon Boat Festival is no exception. During the Dragon Boat Festival, people usually eat zongzi.
Zongzi are pyramid-shaped dumplings made of glutinous rice that have a variety of sweet or salty fillings. Common fillings for sweet zongzi include sweet red bean paste or dates. Salty zongzi may be filled with salted egg yolk, pork or mushrooms. And themselves are wrapped in bamboo leaves, tied with string, or steamed or boiled. There is also a legend that people eat zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival to commemorate the poet Qu Yuan, because people think zongzi is like the food that the villagers threw into the water to stop the fish from eating Qu Yuan's body after he committed suicide.
