Thanks a lot for your last letter, in which you asked me about the Dragon Boat Festival, a traditional Chinese festival. Here is something about it.
Over a thousand years ago, there was a famous poem called Qu Yuan in China. He cared about the common people as well as the whole country, so he did a lot for them. However, he was not satisfied with the political situation at that time. What’s worse, he was unable to change it. At last, he felt so hopeless that he decided to take his own life (take one’s own life = commit suicide自杀). Finally, he jumped into the Miluo River and drowned ( drown淹死，溺死). In memory of him, people created the Dragon Boat Festival.
The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, so it is also called the Double Fifth Festival. It usually comes in June. In China, it has been a public holiday, so we have 3 days off. On that day, we usually eat zongzi, a kind of traditional Chinese food, which is made of glutinous rice (stuffed with different things). It tastes really delicious. We also drink xionghua wine. It’s said that it can keep us from evil spirits. To celebrate this festival, what’s more, we have many activities. The most popular one is dragon boat races. People usually take active part in them and enjoy themselves a lot during the races.
I’m really glad that you’re interested in our Dragon Boat Festival. If you want to know more about it, I’d like to send you some photos that I took during the festival last year. I hope they will be helpful.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
The exact origins of Duan Wu are unclear, but one traditional view holds that the festival memorializes the Chinese poet Qu Yuan (c. 340 BC-278 BC) of the Warring States Period. He committed suicide by drowning himself in a river because he was disgusted by the
corruption of the Chu government. The local people, knowing him to be a good man, decided to throw food into the river to feed the fish so they would not eat Qus body. They also sat on long, narrow paddle boats called dragon boats, and tried to scare the fish away by the sound of drums aboard the boat and the fierce looking carved dragon head on the boats prow.
In the early years of the Chinese Republic, Duan Wu was also celebrated as "PoetsDay,"due to Qu Yuans status as Chinas first poet of personal renown.
Today, people eat bamboo-wrapped steamed glutinous(粘的) rice dumplings called zongzi (the food originally intended to feed the fish) and race dragon boats in memory of Qus dramatic death.
Qu yuan, who is a poet, minister and statesman in ancient China, played an essential role in Chu country.
His wisdom and knowledge of which King Huai thought highly is blamed for the envy from other officials. In order to keep Qu yuan from disturbing their proposals, they said some gossips to King Huai. The king trusted them, changed his mind to Qu yuan and recalled his position. Having heard this news, Quyuan was exceedingly depressed, screaming into sky and sank himself in Miluo Lake. Villagers were heart-broken when they heard this dreadful thing. For the sake of protecting him from being bitten by fish or dragon, villagers poured Zong zi, eggs even Realgar wine into the river.
Since then, each individual sculls the dragon boat and eats Zong zi for memorizing this great and patriotic poet.
Dragon boat festival, often known as tuen ng festival or duan wu festival, is a traditional chinese festival held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the chinese calendar. it is also known as the double fifth.[citation needed] it has since been celebrated, in various ways, in other parts of east asia as well, most notably korea.
The exact origins of duan wu are unclear, but one traditional view holds that the festival memorializes the chinese poet qu yuan of the warring states period. he committed suicide by drowning himself in a river because he was disgusted by the corruption of the chu government. the local people, knowing him to be a good man, decided to throw food into the river to feed the fishes to prevent them from eating qu's body. they also sat on dragon boats, and tried to scare the fishes away by the thundering sound of drums aboard the boat and the fierce looking dragon-head in the front of the boat.
In the early years of the chinese republic, duan wu was also celebrated as "poets' day", due to qu yuan's status as china's first poet of personal renown.
Today, people eat zongzi (the food originally intended to feed the fishes) and race dragon boats in memory of qu's dramatic death.
the dragon boat festival, also called double fifth festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth moon of the lunar calendar. it is one of the most important chinese festivals, the other two being the autumn moon festival and chinese new year.
the origin of this summer festival centers around a scholarly government official named chu yuan. he was a good and respected man, but because of the misdeeds of jealous rivals he eventually fell into disfavor in the emperors court.
unable to regain the respect of the emperor, in his sorrow chu yuan threw himself into the mi low river. because of their admiration for chu yuan, the local people living adjacent to the mi lo river rushed into their boats to search for him while throwing rice into the waters to appease the river dragons.
although they were unable to find chu yuan, their efforts are still commemorated today during the dragon boat festival.
dragon boat race traditions at the center of this festival are the dragon boat races. competing teams drive their colorful dragon boats forward to the rhythm of beating drums. these exciting races were inspired by the villagers valiant attempts to rescue chu yuan from the mi lo river. this tradition has
remained unbroken for centuries.
tzung tzu a very popular dish during the dragon boat festival is tzung tzu. this tasty dish consists of rice dumplings with meat, peanut, egg yolk, or other fillings wrapped in bamboo leaves. the tradition of tzung tzu is meant to remind us of the village fishermen scattering rice across the water of the mi low river in order to appease the river dragons so that they would not devour chu yuan.
ay taso the time of year of the dragon boat festival, the fifth lunar moon, has more significance than just the story of chu yuan. many chinese consider this time of year an especially dangerous time when extra efforts must be made to protect their family from illness. families will hang various herbs, called ay tsao, on their door for protection. the drinking of realgar wine is thought to remove poisons from the body. hsiang bao are also worn. these sachets contain various fragrant medicinal herbs thought to protect the wearer from illness.