Dragon Boat Festival, An Event Like No Other

The Dragon Boat Festival, known traditionally as the Duanwu Festival

, is a popularly celebrated event in the regions of China and other Asian nations. Various names are used to denote the festival in the different countries, but the theme of the festival is similar. In China the festival is also known as the Double Fifth, as it falls on the fifth day of the fifth month in the lunar-based Chinese calendar. The traditional festivities associated with the occasion include the consumption of rice dumplings known as zongzi, partaking of realgar wine and dragon boat racing.

Qu Yuan is the principal legendary figure behind the festival in ancient Chinese tradition. According to legend, Qu Yuan was a poet who served with utmost loyalty as a court official to the king, who favoured Qu Yuan for his wisdom and trustworthiness. This caused jealousy among the other court ministers who conspired to make false allegations of conspiracy against Qu Yuan, due to which he was expelled from the court by the monarch. In his exile Qu Yuan wrote many poems to express his sorrow and anger at his unjust fate.

Eventually Qu Yuan resolved to take his own life and leapt into the Milo River grasping a heavy stone. The people of the area who esteemed Qu Yuan as a heroic figure searched the waters frantically in their boats in an attempt to rescue him, but were unsuccessful. The Dragon Boat Festival is considered to be held in commemoration of this significant event. However, dragon boating is conducted in parts of China where this legend is not recounted.

Today, dragon boating is a recognized sport, with a crew that varies according to the region, some areas featuring up to 80 paddlers. Paddlers sit facing the direction of travel while a caller or drummer beats a special drum to regulate the paddling strokes.

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by: Pushpitha Wijesinghe

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