History of the Dragon Boat Festival
Duanwu Jie
The Dragon Boat Festival is known in Chinese as Duanwu Jie. The festival title Duanwu Jie translates to the Double Fifth Festival which is derived from being celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese calender (the lunar calender), commonly known as the Summer Solstice. The alternative Chinese name is Longchuan Jie which literally translates to the Dragon Boat Festival. It is also a national holiday in China.
Why the Dragon?
In Chinese culture, the sun, like the Chinese dragon, traditionally represents masculine energy, whereas the moon, like the phoenix, traditionally represents feminine energy. The summer solstice is considered the annual peak of male energy while the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, represents the annual peak of feminine energy. The masculine image of the dragon was thus naturally associated with Duanwu Jie, thus came about the dragon in the Dragon Boat Festival.
Origin of the Festival
The festival started over 2,300 years ago in southern Mainland China during the Zhou Dynasty. Although there are countless stories about the origin of this holiday, the most popular legend, by far, is that of Qu Yuan - a Confucian sage revered in China for his great works in poetry.
The story starts with Qu Yuan attempting to drown himself in the Miluo River. The villagers carried their dumplings and boats to the middle of the river and desperately tried to save Qu Yuan, but they were too late to do so. However, in order to keep fish and evil spirits away from his body, they beat drums and splashed the water with their paddles, and they also threw rice into the water both as a food offering to Qu Yuan's spirit and also to distract the fish away from his body. However, the legend continues, that late one night, the spirit of Qu Yuan appeared before his friends and told them that he died because he had taken himself under the river. Then, he asked his friends to wrap their rice into three-cornered silk packages to ward off the dragon.
These packages became a traditional food known as zongzi, although the lumps of rice are now wrapped in leaves instead of silk. The act of racing to search for his body in boats gradually became the cultural tradition of dragon boat racing, held on the anniversary of his death every year. Today, people still eat zongzi and participate in dragon boat races to commemorate Qu Yuan's sacrifice.