端(duān)午(wǔ)节(jié)

Today is one of Chinese traditional holidays which is called 端(duān)午(wǔ)节(jié)(Duanwu Festival, also known as Dragon Boat Festival). The festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar on which the Chinese calendar is based. This is the source of the alternative name of Double Fifth. The focus of the celebrations includes eating the rice dumpling 粽(zòng)子(zǐ), drinking realgar wine 雄(xióng)黄(huáng)酒(jiǔ), and racing dragon boats.

端(duān)午(wǔ)节(jié) (Duanwu Festival) commemorates the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar 屈(qū)原(yuán)(Qu Yuan). He was a loyal minister serving the King of 楚(chǔ)(Chu) during the Warring States Period in the third century BC. Initially his sovereign favored 屈(qū)原(yuán)(Qu Yuan), but over time, his wisdom and erudite ways antagonized other court officials. As a result 屈(qū)原(yuán)(Qu Yuan) was accused of trumped-up charges of conspiracy and ejected by his sovereign. During his exile, 屈(qū)原(yuán)(Qu Yuan) composed many poems to express his anger and sorrow towards his sovereign and people.


In the year 278 B.C., at the age of 37, 屈(qū)原(yuán)(Qu Yuan) drowned himself in the 汨(mì)罗(luó)江(jiāng)(Milo River). He clasped a heavy stone to his chest and leaped into the water. Knowing that 屈(qū)原(yuán)(Qu Yuan) was a righteous man, the people of Chu rushed to the river to try to save him. The people desperately searched the waters in their boats looking for 屈(qū)原(yuán)(Qu Yuan) but were unsuccessful in their attempt to rescue him. Every year the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated to commemorate this attempt at rescuing 屈(qū)原(yuán)(Qu Yuan).

When it was known that 屈(qū)原(yuán)(Qu Yuan) had been lost forever, the local people began the tradition of throwing sacrificial cooked rice into the river for their lost hero. However, a local fisherman had a dream that 屈(qū)原(yuán)(Qu Yuan) did not get any of the cooked rice that was thrown into the river in his honour. Instead the fish in the river were eating the rice. Thus, the locals decided to make 粽(zòng)子(zǐ)(zongzi) to sink into the river in the hopes that it would reach Qu Yuan's body. The following year, the tradition of wrapping the rice in bamboo leaves to make 粽(zòng)子(zǐ)(zongzi)began. 

 端(duān)午(wǔ)节(jié)快(kuài)乐(lè)

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