DRAGON
BOAT FESTIVAL
NYCHINATOWN
com
|
The Dragon Boat Festival, or the Duan Wu Festival, is a major festival in the
Chinese calendar. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month the patriotic poet
Qu Yuan is commemorated with rice dumplings and dragon boat races.
The Poet
Qu
Yuan (340-278 BC) was a high ranking official in the southern Kingdom of Chu
during the tumultuous Warring States period (475-221 BC). His rivals in the Chu
court were jealous of his ability and were against the reforms he championed.
Eventually, they influenced the weak-minded king to dismiss Qu.
Qu spent the next 20 years in exile from the court. He traveled extensively
within the Kingdom of Chu and composed many poems about the things he saw and
his feelings toward his home state.
The poet was crushed when he realized that the powerful Kingdom of Qin was
overrunning his home state. Overwhelmed by misery, he drowned himself in the Mi
Luo River (in present day Hunan province) on the fifth day of the fifth lunar
month.
Boats and Dumplings
Upon
hearing about Qu Yuan's suicide, fishermen along the banks of the Mi Luo River
set off in their boats in search of his body. Their furious paddling has evolved
into the dragon boat races now performed during the Dragon Boat Festival.
Despite the search, Qu's body could not be found. Afraid that the dragons in the
river would feed on his body, the fishermen threw bamboo stuffed with rice into
the river in the hope that the dragons might feed on the rice instead of Qu's
body. This practice has evolved into the custom of eating rice dumplings wrapped
in bamboo leaves.
Dumplings became official festive delicacies during the Jin Dynasty (265-420
AD). They were popular in most of China but their shape depended on where they
were made. Since bamboo was more abundant the South and reed leaves were more
prolific in the North, the wrappers for these dumplings were quite different -
it even changed their taste. These days nearly all dumplings are made with
bamboo leaves. The stuffing is usually glutinous rice with meat, beans, salted
egg yolk, mushrooms and anything else the cook wants to add.
Scented
Sachets
In
ancient China, people carried scented sachets during festive seasons. They had
multiple uses - good luck charms and insect repellants. The poet Qu Yuan was big
on hygiene and he often carried small potpourris with him to keep himself
smelling fresh. For him it was also a metaphor for his moral integrity.
To make scented sachets for the Dragon Boat Festival, pieces of cloth are cut
into the shape of fish, birds or other animals. They are sewn together and
stuffed with cotton wool powdered with realgar or sandalwood. The pungent yet
pleasant smell Lasts up to several weeks.
The Races
The
Chinese custom of holding dragon boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival has
been around for a very long time. Today dragon boat races have become a major
sporting event.
A dragon boat is made of wood and measures about 12 meters (40 ft.) in length.
The bow and stern of a dragon boat are decorated with the head and tail of a
dragon. During the race, a drummer sits in the bow and beats a drum. Forty
rowers, seated in two rows along the length of the boat, paddle to the rhythm of
the drumbeat.
All dragon boats in a regatta are flagged off at the same time. The boat that
crosses the finish line first wins the race. After the race is over, all the
rowers and drummers jump into the water because they believe that bathing in the
"dragon boat water" will bring them good luck.
The participants of the dragon boat race are usually men - women take part in
their own phoenix boat race. In Chinese tradition, the dragon and the phoenix
are symbols of masculinity and femininity respectively. The rules of the phoenix
boat race are similar to those of the dragon boat race. The only difference
between the two races is the decoration of the boats.
The dragon boat has even gone on to grace foreign shores. In the United Kingdom,
for example, the British Dragonboat Association (BDA) has been organizing annual
races since 1987.
Poets'
Festival
In
Taiwan, the Dragon Boat Festival is also known as Poets' Festival (Shih Jen
Chieh) in honor of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. It is still an important day for
modern poets.
The Poets' Festival originated during the Second World War. Writers and poets
taking refuge in Chungking (present day Chongqing), China's wartime capital,
wanted to promote patriotism among the people, and so they designated the Dragon
Boat Festival as the Poets' Festival. In 1939, the first Poets' Conference was
held and many poets presented and recited their works at the conference.
Today, the literary circles in Taiwan still organize activities like poetry recitals to celebrate the Poets' Festival that gives a breath of literary flair to the Dragon Boat Festival.
FEDI-TEC
INC. All right reserved
is an independent source of
information and