Dragon Boat Festival, The Duanwu Festival (端午節)

May of 2010 has passed and that of Chinese lunar calendar is just about to come. For most Chinese, what they expect for most in June may be the grand traditional festival - Dragon Boat Festival.

The actuall event of this Chinese Festival was actually called as Duanwu Festival (simplified Chinese: 端午节; traditional Chinese: 端午節; pinyin: Duānwǔ Jié), but it is famously known to the world as the Dragon Boat Festival (simplified Chinese: 龙船节; traditional Chinese: 龍船節; pinyin: Lóngchuán Jié), it is a traditional and statutory holiday associated with Chinese and other East Asian and Southeast Asian societies as well. It is a public holiday in mainland China (since 2008), where it is known by the Mandarin name Duānwǔ Jié, and in Taiwan, as well as in Hong Kong and Macau, where it is known by the Cantonese name Tuen Ng Jit. The festival is also celebrated in countries with significant Chinese populations, such as in Singapore and Malaysia. Equivalent and related festivals outside Chinese-speaking societies include the Kodomo no hi in Japan, Dano in Korea, and Tết Đoan Ngọ in Vietnam.
(In the Republic of China , Duanwu was also celebrated as "Poets' Day," due to Qu Yuan's status as China's first poet of well renown. In modern Taiwan, zongzi are no longer thrown into rivers, but people still eat them as a holiday tradition and testament to Qu Yuan's self-determination.)

The festival occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar on which the Chinese calendar is based. This is the source of the alternative name of Double Fifth. In 2011 this falls on June 6. The focus of the celebrations includes eating the rice dumpling zongzi (Chinese: 粽子; pinyin: Zòngzi), drinking realgar wine xionghuangjiu (Chinese: 雄黃酒; pinyin: Xiónghuángjiǔ), and racing dragon boats.

Chinese traditional festivals, Dragon Boat Festival positions in the list of the most important traditional festivals in China as well as Spring Festival (Chinese Lunar New Year), Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Festival) and Mid-autumn Day (Mooncake Festival). According to Chinese lunar calendar, Dragon Boat Festival always falls on the fifth day of the fifth month (May) every year. Therefore, it is also called Double Fifth Festival.

The Origin of The Duanwu Festival is believed to have originated in ancient China. A number of theories exist about its origins as a number of folk traditions and explanatory myths are connected to its observance. Today the best known of these relates to the suicide in 278 BCE of Qu Yuan, poet and statesman of the Chu kingdom during the Warring States period.

For more than 2000 years, Chinese people have been celebrating this festival by holding various activities, e.g. wrapping Zongzi (rice dumpling wrapped in reed leaves), Dragon Boat race, drinking realgar wine, girding calamus, folium artemisiae argyi, wormwood and some other leaves which are considered to be good for health on the basis of traditional Chinese medical theory.

For many foreigners, they may hear of this festival no more than Zongzi and Dragon Boat Race. As a matter of fact, people celebrate it in memory of Qu Yuan, who was a loyal minister of Chu Kingdom during the Spring and Autumn Period (770 B.C. – 476 B.C.) in China. In the light of the great historic recording work "Shi Ji" written by the famous historian and litterateur Sima Qian (135 B.C. – 86 B.C.), Minister Qu Yuan advised the King to appoint those who were of talent and moral quality to administer the country so that the country could get strong enough to withstand the super power Qin Empire. However, his proposal was strongly opposed by the noble of Chu Kingdom and he was dismissed and exiled. In the duration of the exile, he produced some great patriotic poems such as "Li Sao" and "A Request to God". In 278 B.C., the defense line of Chu Kingdom was broken through by Qin Empire. Knowing that his motherland was invaded, Qu Yuan felt torn with grief. He wrote his last poem "Huai Sha" on the fifth day (Chinese lunar calendar) of May and then drowned himself in the Miluo River to show his loyalty to his country. After his death, the common people of Chu Kingdom were very sad and tried to salvage him, but they failed finally. Without finding Qu Yuan's body, people thought out all kinds of ideas to keep his body being destroyed in the water – throwing rice balls and eggs into the river to feeding fishes and shellfishes so that they were full enough and wound not bite the body, and pouring realgar wine in to the river to put dragons in the water in a coma. Afterwards, to avoid dragons eating the rice balls, people wrapped the rice balls with leaves and coloured ribbons. Gradually, it developed into Zongzi. Hereafter, to commemorate Qu Yuan, people hold Dragon Boat Race, wrapping Zongzi, girding medical leaves every year and it consequently became a national custom.

Zongzi They are known in Japanese as chimaki. Laotians, Thais, and Cambodians (known as Nom Asom) also have similar traditional dishes. In the Western world, they are also known as rice dumplings or Chinese tamales. In Indonesia, they are known as bakcang or bacang (Chinese: 肉粽; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bah-chàng), a loanword from Hokkien, a Chinese dialect that is commonly used among Indonesian-Chinese besides Mandarin. Along the same lines, zongzi are more popularly known as machang in the among the Chinese Filipinos.



Like all other traditional festivals, Duanwu is reckoned in accordance with the lunar calendar consisting of 29 or 30 days. For this reason Duanwu—the fifth day of the fifth moon, or double fifth—drifts from year to year on the Gregorian (solar) calendar.

The moon is considered to be at its strongest around the time of summer solstice ("mid-summer" in traditional Japan, but "beginning" of summer elsewhere) when the daylight in the northern hemisphere is the longest. The sun (yang), like the dragon (long), traditionally represents masculine energy, whereas the moon (yue), like the phoenix (or firebird, fenghuang), traditionally represents feminine energy. Summer solstice is considered the peak annual moment of male energy while the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, represents the peak annual moment of feminine energy. The masculine image of the dragon is thus naturally associated with Duanwu.

History & Origins of this festival came with so many debate, but the most accepted theory base on the story of Qu Yuan, here is the full history & origin of this festival :

The Duanwu Festival is believed to have originated in ancient China. A number of theories exist about its origins as a number of folk traditions and explanatory myths are connected to its observance. Today the best known of these relates to the suicide in 278 BCE of Qu Yuan, poet and statesman of the Chu kingdom during the Warring States period.

Qu Yuan
The best-known traditional story holds that the festival commemorates the death of poet Qu Yuan (Chinese: 屈原) (c. 340 BCE – 278 BCE) of the ancient state of Chu, in the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty.[5] A descendant of the Chu royal house, Qu served in high offices. However, when the king decided to ally with the increasingly powerful state of Qin, Qu was banished for opposing the alliance. Qu Yuan was accused of treason. During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote a great deal of poetry, for which he is now remembered. Twenty-eight years later, Qin conquered the capital of Chu. 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 the local people, who admired him, threw lumps of rice into the river to feed the fish so that they would not eat Qu Yuan's body. This is said to be the origin of zongzi. The local people were also said to have paddled out on boats, either to scare the fish away or to retrieve his body. This is said to be the origin of dragon boat racing.

Wu Zixu
Despite the modern popularity of the Qu Yuan origin theory, in the former territory of the state of Wu the festival commemorated Wu Zixu (526 BCE* – 484 BCE). Wu Zixu was a loyal advisor whose advice was ignored by the king to the detriment of the kingdom. Wu Zixu was forced to commit suicide by the king Fuchai, with his body thrown into the river on the fifth day of the fifth month. After his death, in places such as Suzhou, Wu Zixu is remembered during the Duanwu Festival to this day.

It seems that, here, Wu Zixu's birth year is false because Wu Zixu designed and built the city of Suzhou in 514 BCE. Thus, if he were born in 526 BCE, he must be just 12 years old at the time of the construction of Suzhou, which is totally impossible. Actually, the birth year of Wu Zixu is unknown.

Cao E
Although the Qu Yuan origin theory is the most popular, much of Northeastern Zhejiang (Shaoxing, Ningbo and Zhoushan) commemorates Cao E (曹娥) (130 CE - 143 CE) rather than Qu Yuan. Cao E's father Cao Xu (曹盱) was a shaman who presided over local ceremonies in Shangyu in Zhejiang province. In the year 143 CE, while presiding over a ceremony commemorating Wu Zixu during the Duanwu Festival, Cao Xu accidentally falls into the river. Cao E, in an act of filial piety, decided to find her father in the river, searching for three days trying to find him. After five days, she and her father were both found dead at the river, which they died from drowning. Eight years later, in 151 CE, a temple was built in Shangyu dedicated to the memory of Cao E and her sacrifice for filial piety. To this day, a tributary of the Qiantang River is named after Cao E.

Pre-existing holiday

Some modern researchers suggest that the stories of Qu Yuan or Wu Zixu were superimposed on a pre-existing holiday tradition. The promotion of these stories over the earlier lore of the holiday seems to have been encouraged by Confucian scholars seeking to legitimize and strengthen their influence at a time when Buddhism, a foreign belief system, was gaining influence in China. The Records of the Grand Historian of that era relate to this.[clarification needed]

Many traditional rituals of the Duanwu Festival emphasize the avoidance of disease. The desire to prevent health hazards associated with the mid-summer months may have been the primary original motive behind the holiday.

Another theory, advanced by Wen Yiduo, is that the Duanwu Festival had its origins in dragon worship. Support is drawn from two key traditions of the festival: the tradition of zongzi, or throwing food into the river, and dragon boat racing. The food may have originally represented an offering to the dragon king, while dragon boat racing naturally reflects reverence of the dragon and the active yang energy associated with it. This combines with the tradition of visiting friends and family on boats.

Another suggestion is that the festival celebrates a widespread feature of east Asian agrarian societies: the harvest of winter wheat. Offerings were regularly made to deities and spirits at such times: in the ancient Yue, dragon kings; in the ancient Chu, Qu Yuan; in the ancient Wu, Wu Zixu (as a river god); in ancient Korea, mountain gods (see Dano (Korean festival)). As interactions between different regions increased, these similar festivals eventually merged into one holiday.