The Dragon Boat Festival (端午节/端午節 duān wǔ jié ), is one of the three most important festivals in traditional Chinese culture. It occurs on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in Chinese calendar and for this year it will be on 3 June, 2022.
In modern China, the festival is known to commemorate the death of the poet and patriotic minister Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 BC) of the ancient state of Chu during the Zhou Dynasty. Qu was wrongly accused of treason after being set up by official from the rival Qin State and was sent to exile. Twenty-eight years later, Chu’s capital had been overtaken by the Qin. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River in despair.
Qu was adored by people everywhere and the local people tried to protect him in the afterlife by paddling out in the river on boats to scare the fish away and dropping sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves into the water so that Qu would be well fed in the afterlife. That’s where the customs of rowing dragon boats and eating sticky rice wraps (粽子 – zòng zi) come from.
Watch the video below to learn the Five Interesting Facts about the Dragon Boat Festival.
Finally, check out food blogger Wei Guo‘s recipes on how to make sweet and savoury Zongzi HERE