五月初五是端午，端午送你五個五：祝你收穫多多，五穀豐登;收入多多，五花八門;朋友多多，五湖四海;快樂多多，五彩繽紛;幸福多多，五福臨門!
do you know who is "qu yuan"? what type of "zongzi" do you like most? have you ever joined a dragon boat competition? all these are related to the dragon boat festival.
do you know the origin of this festival? read the following essay and you will have a clear picture of the dragon boat festival.
the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar year is an important day for the chinese people. the day is called duan wu festival, or dragon boat festival, celebrated everywhere in china.
this festival dates back to about 2,000 years ago with a number of legends explaining its origin. the best-known story centers on a great patriotic poet named qu yuan.
the customs vary a lot in different areas of the country, but most of the families would hang the picture of zhong kui (a ghost that can exorcise), calamus and moxa in their houses. people have dragon boat races, eat zong zi (dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves) and carry a spice bag around with them.
A Chinese holiday is gaining worldwide popularity
Some holidays are so much fun that they catch on outside of their culture. The most obvious example is probably Christmas, which is celebrated around the world by people who aren't even Christian. Similarly, in recent years, the Dragon Boat Festival has moved beyond China to become an international holiday celebrated by people who may know little about the holiday's origins.
The Dragon Boat Festival is one of three major Chinese holidays, along with the Spring and Moon Festivals. Of the three, it is possibly the oldest, dating back to the Warring States Period in 227 B.C. The festival commemorates Qu Yuan, a minister in the service of the Chu Emperor. Despairing over corruption at court, Qu threw himself into a river. Townspeople jumped into their boats and tried in vain to save him. Then, hoping to distract hungry fish from his body, the people scattered rice on the water.
Over the years, the story of Qu's demise transformed into the traditions of racing dragon boats and eating zongzi – a kind of rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. The races have certainly captured the imagination of people from all over the world. Every spring there are nearly 60 dragon boat races held outside of China in cities from Vancouver to Sydney, from Gdańsk, Poland to Cape Town, South Africa. Canada alone has nearly 50 dragon boat teams and Germany has nearly 30.
So what is it about the Dragon Boat Festival that appeals to foreigners? “It's an unusual sport,” says one racer from Germany. “It's not like everybody's doing it. That's one of the reasons that there's such great team spirit in a dragon boat team – everybody feels like we're doing something special.” And what about the zongzi? “Ehhh, they're not bad, I guess,” he says. “Something of an acquired taste. I just haven't really acquired it yet.”
ragon Boat Festival
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中文名： 端午節
外文名： Dragon Boat Festival或Double Fifth Festival
又稱： 端陽節、午日節、五月節等
時間： 農曆五月初五日
端午節為每年農曆五月初五，又稱端陽節、午日節、五月節等。端午節是中國漢族人民紀念屈原的傳統節日，以圍繞才華橫溢、遺世獨立的楚國大夫屈原而展開，傳播至華夏各地，民俗文化共享，屈原之名人盡皆知，追懷華夏民族的高潔情懷。但有例外，東吳一帶的端午節歷來不紀念屈原，而是紀念五月五日被投入大江的伍子胥，且吳越地區以龍舟競渡在此日舉行部落圖騰祭祀的.習俗更是早於春秋很久。端午節有吃粽子，賽龍舟，掛菖蒲、蒿草、艾葉，薰蒼朮、白芷，喝雄黃酒的習俗。“端午節”為國家法定節假日之一，並被列入世界非物質文化遺產名錄。
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