The Duanwu Festival, also often known as the Dragon Boat Festival, is a traditional holiday originating in China, occurring near the summer solstice. It is also known as Zhongxiao Festival, commemorating fealty and filial piety. The festival now occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional Chinese calendar, which is the source of the festival's alternative name, the Double Fifth Festival.
The person related to Dragon Boat Festival:
The story best known in modern China holds that the festival commemorates the death of the poet and minister Qu Yuan (c. 340–278 BC). During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote a great deal of poetry. Twenty-eight years later, Qin captured Ying, the Chu capital. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River.It is said that the local people, who ad-mired him, raced out in their boats to save him, or at least retrieve his body. This is said to have been the origin of dragon boat races. When his body could not be found, they dropped balls of sticky rice into the river so that the fish would eat them instead of Qu Yuan's body. This is said to be the origin of zongzi.
The activities related to Dragon Boat Festival:
Three of the most widespread activities conducted during the Duanwu Festival are eating (and preparing) zongzi, drinking realgar wine, and racing dragon boats. Now let’s talk about the Zongzi as below:
Zongzi(Rice dumpling)
A notable part of celebrating Duanwu is making and eating zongzi with family members and friends. People traditionally wrap zongzi in leaves of reed, lotus or banana forming a pyramid shape. The leaves also give a special aroma and flavor to the stic-ky rice and fillings. Choices of fillings vary depending on regions. Northern regions in China prefer sweet or dessert-styled zo-ngzi, with bean paste, dates and nuts as fillings. Southern regions in China prefer savory zongzi, with a variety of fillings inclu-ding marinated pork belly, sausage and salted duck eggs.
The reason why the Chinese eat zongzi on this special day is because they are considered as a symbol of luck, as the pronu-nciation of zong is very similar to the pronu-nciation of zhong (中). This character has a positive connotation, used in words such as 中奖 (winning a prize).
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