Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, Duanwujie, Chinese Traditional Festival

Dragon Boat Festival, another traditional festival in China, falls on the May 5th in lunar calendar every year, which is celebrated to commemorate an ancient patriotic poet named Qu Yuan. It is a just a reflection of Chinese culture. Customs on this festival are listed as follows:

On the Dragon Boat Festival, people will eat the triangle-shaped rice dumplings, zong zi literally in Chinese, which is made of glutinous rice filled with different kinds of fillings like dates, nuts and beans. Many families made rice dumplings at home by themselves. After the rice with fillings is prepared, people will wrap the rice with reed leaves into triangle-shape and then boil it for 20 minutes. If your China travel falls onto this festival, you should never miss eating Zongzi.

Another important activity on this festival is holding Dragon Boat race in honor of the great poem Qu Yuan. On the dragon boat racing, a competition would be held between the two teams. The one who reach the final destination first is the winner. It was said that the winning team would bring harvest and happiness to the people of their villages.Generally, a team member stands in front of the boat and beats the drum to keep the delightful spirit of other members. In the competition, team work spirit is essentially needed.

What is more, people will hang a special wormwood named Ai on the front door to drive out evil spirits. Moreover, women will make handicrafts with different ships and fill them with special fragrant ingredients. After finished, they will hang the delicate handicraft to the kids' necks to pray for their healthy and happiness.Why not take a China tour to discover this ceremonious festival?