Chinese Festivals - The Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival (Duan Wu Jie - 端午节) is probably the most well know Chinese festival by the westerns, thanks to the dragon boat races around the world. But few knows the real cause of this festival. The Dragon Boat Festival is on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month in Chinese calendar.

The History of this festival goes way back to 278 BC. A famous poet named Qu Yuan (屈原) was wrongly accused for betrayal to his country. In order to show his innocence, Qu Yuan jumped into a river and commited suicide. The patriotic action really touched the countrymen and threw sounds of rice dumplins into the river in order to prevent Qu Yuan's body being eaten by the fish. Ever since then, on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, pyramid-shaped glutinous rice dumplings are made for the commemorating of the patriotic poet. It has become the popular food for every family at the festival. Dragon Boat Races are also hold on rivers to show the respect to the great poet.

In the festival celebration, Chinese people also hang mugwort leaves or calamus on the door. It's believed to purify the air and prevent the epidemics prevailing during the time. Some people burn those herbs to smoke out the poisonous insects. For children's health, people make special bags with the herbs and hang them on children's clothes. In addition, Chinese people spray realgar wine on children's forehead to ward off poisonous creatures. Realgar wine is the main disinfectant for insects in summer during ancient times. In some places people have a custom of taking a bath with herb water.