Duan Wu
Duanwu Festival, also known as Dragon Boat Festival, or Double Fifth Festival, is celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. The day is observed everywhere in China and a number of associated East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, including Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
- Chinese Name: 端午节
- English Name: Duanwu Festival, Dragon Boat Festival or Double Fifth Festival
- Date: 5th day of the 5th lunar month
- Customs: eating zongzi (sticky rice wraps), dragon boat racing, drinking xionghuangjiu
Origins
This unique and traditional holiday originates in China, and a number of legends explain its origins. Today the best known of the legends relates to commemorating the death of Qu Yuan in 278 BCE, a patriotic court official of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period (475–221BC).
Qu was a minister of the State of Chu, upright, loyal, and highly esteemed for his wise counsel. He served in high offices and played an important role in bringing peace and prosperity to the state. However, when the king decided to ally with the increasingly powerful State of Qin, Qu failed in convincing the king that Qin was not allying with Chu but seizing the country. Instead Qu was banished for opposing the alliance. During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote a great deal of poetry, for which he is now remembered. Twenty-eight years later, the State of Chu was annexed by the State of Qin. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.
It is said that at the news of Qu's death, local people raced out on boats in an effort to find his body. They beat the water with their oars to scare the fish away, and dropped sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves into the Miluo River, in the hope that fish in the river would eat the rice dumplings instead of the body of the deceased poet. This is said to be the origin of dragon boat racing and eating Zongzi on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year.
Customs
Following the tradition, the most widespread customs on Duanwu Festival are racing dragon boats and eating zongzi (rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves). The festival is celebrated all over China, including in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.