Dragon Boat Festival

      Dragon Boat Festival is highlighted by the dragon boat races, in which competing teams drive their boats forward rowing to the rhythm of pounding drums. This lively and colorful tradition has continued unbroken for centuries to the present day.

      The festival's significance as a time for warding off evil and disease is symbolized by a number of customary practices such as hanging calamus and moxa on the front door, and pasting up pictures of Chung Kuei (a nemesis of evil spirits). Adults drink hsiung huang wine and children are given fragrant sachets, both of which are said to possess qualities for preventing evil and bringing peace. Another custom practiced in Taiwan is "fetching noon water," in which people draw well water on the afternoon of the festival in the belief that it will cure illness. And if you can successfully stand an egg on its end exactly at 12:00 noon, then the coming year will be a lucky one.

      The most popular dish during Dragon Boat Festival is tzung tzu, originally eaten in memory of the patriot Chu Yuan, but gradually evolving into a snack eaten during normal occasions as well.

      Of all the major holidays celebrated in China, Dragon Boat Festival has the longest history. Occurring at the beginning of summer when insects thrives, the festival was distinguished from other occasions in earlier days as a time for reminding family members to take care of their health. The Chinese continue to heed this wisdom, however, by replacing the traditional customs of hanging calamus and moxa, drinking hsiung huang wine, and giving sachets, with more advanced methods for protecting one's health.

Dragon Boat Racing

      Before a dragon boat may enter competition, it must first undergo a ceremony to "bring" it "to life"." Local leaders officiate over the ceremony, held on the first day of the fifth lunar month, offering prayer to the Daffodil Noble King and the eyes of the dragon painted on the boat, to bring him. On the fifth day of the month, the boats are carried to the shore amidst the clamor of gongs and drums and a ceremony is held involving incense, prayers, and the lighting of fireworks. Finally, after thorough inspection, the boats enter the water for the competition.

      When the race begins, all one can see is the rowers of each team driving their boats forward in unison to the beat of drums. The winning team is the one that first grabs the flag at the end of the river course and the difference between victory and defeat may be only a few fractions of a second. The energy and excitement of the race attracts thousands of spectators, who watch from the river bank cheering on their favorite team.

      Unlike so many other traditions that are gradually falling victim to the march of time, dragon boat rowing has retained its vibrancy in modern society, becoming increasingly popular with each passing year both as a sport for physical training and as a favorite spectacle enjoyed by the whole family.

      For more information about dragon boat racing worldwide, check out the dragon boat site maintained by Alvin Wang!

The Lighter Side of Chu Yuan--A Brief History of Dragon Boating

      Lying on the ground at a scarily early time in the morning, grunting and grimacing while my teammates happily race each other through their last twenty push-ups, the thought "What am I doing here?" tends to spring to mind pretty easily. I used to blame it on an overdeveloped masochist gland, or on my parents for not getting me a teddy bear when I was three years old, but have found out that neither me, my parents, or even Freud are to blame, because it all goes back much further than that.

      It's all down to the fact that an ancient Chinese poet decided that he'd had enough and so was going to shuffle himself off this mortal coil. Honest. His name was Chu Yuan, and though I can't actually say I've read any of his stuff, it was either racy or politically sensitive enough to upset the Emperor who packed him off to live somewhere not very nice in China (as Emperors have a tendency to do) just to keep him out of the way.

      Despite being the world's first protest poet, Chu Yuan wasn't exactly a happy poet, not being able to write racy poetry with his mates and all, and so (as protest poets have a tendency to do) he decided to chuck himself into a lake, and then it was his mates turn to get upset. They must have been a pretty strange bunch, mind you, because their chief worry was that the fish would eat Chu Yuan. The thought that lying at the bottom of a lake isn't exactly good for one's complexion obviously hadn't crossed their minds. Anyway, they came up with the inspirational idea that if the fish were full, then they wouldn't want to eat Chu Yuan. Pure genius. So they decided to stuff the fish full of zongzi (rice wrapped in leaves). I don't know if your average fish is really a big fan of zongzi, but given the choice between that and moist poet flesh, I know which I would choose and I guess Chu Yuan's friends were banking on the fish having pretty similar culinary tastes.

      Anyway, the story so far is that we've got lots of people rowing boats around a lake chucking lumps of rice at hopefully very fat fish. How did this end up being dragon boat racing? At this point, no one is quite sure, but it must have been something like this: Mr. Wang (say) is getting a wee bit bored rowing around a lake all day lobbing lumps of rice at fish and thinks to himself, "I bet I can do this faster than my neighbor Mr. Chang (say). Mr Chang got mad and started rowing after Mr. Wang. The other poets saw what was going on and started doing it too. Then the villagers on the shore stared watching and cheering them on (mind you this was before television). How dragons got pulled into the races is not clear, but since they are considered pretty cool in China, they are usually included. Chu Yuan's mates may have had some strange ideas about fish, but they weren't crazy enough to paint the boat to resemble a hamster. I for one certainly would not crawl down to the Dan Shui River at 6:30 in the morning for the honor of being on the Hamster Boat team.

      So there you have it, in a nutshell, that's why we have dragon boat racing. I'm prepared to ignore the fact that Chu Yuan almost certainly didn't throw himself into the Dan Shui, and even if he did, the fish are the least of his problems.

      After finishing an exhausting day of rowing, I almost wish Mr. Wang had simply said, "Hey, Mr. Chang! I bet I can throw zongzi further than you!"

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