Dragon Boat History
The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is a significant holiday celebrated in China, and the one with the longest history. The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated by boat races in the shape of dragons. Competing teams row their boats to a drumbeat racing toward the finish line.
The boat races are a traditional custom which attempt to rescue the patriotic poet Chu Yuan. Chu Yuan who, some three centuries before the birth of Christ, served the King of Chu during the Warring States period. As a loyal minister, Chu Yuan at first enjoyed the full confidence and respect of his sovereign. Eventually, through the intrigues of his rivals, he was discredited and found himself in disfavor. During that time, he composed his immortal poem, "Encountering Sorrow", an allegorical description of his search for a prince who would listen to good counsel in government. Chu Yuan was never able to regain the emperor's favor and on the fifth day of the fifth moon in the year 295 B.C., at the age of 37, Chu Yuan clasped a stone to his chest and plunged into the Milo River in the Hunan Province. Chu Yuan drowned on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.
Chinese citizens now throw bamboo leaves filled with cooked rice into the water. Therefore, the fish could eat the rice rather than the hero poet. This later on turned into the custom of eating tzungtzu and rice dumplings.
The celebration is a time for protection from evil and disease for the rest of the year. It is done so by different practices such as hanging healthy herbs on the front door, drinking nutritious concoctions, and displaying portraits of evil's nemesis, Chung Kuei. If one manages to stand an egg on it's end at exactly 12:00 noon, the following year will be a lucky one.
Dragon boat racing is an entertaining and enjoyable event. It gives the observer an opportunity to glimpse into a part of Chinese culture and history.