Teacher’s Resource from Legends and Customs Dragon Boat Festival

Qu Yuan gave advice on how to keep the peace to his king during the warring states period (same period that Sun Tzu wrote the Art of War) over 2000 years ago. Unfortunately, he was ignored by his King and became very sad as other officials slandered him. He was removed from office and became very sad as he was banished. He drowned himself on the fifth day of the fifth month on hearing that his country had been conquered after he wrote the famous poem, "Li Sao (On encountering Sorrow)". People raced their boats to save him and beat their drums. To stop the fish and river dragon from eating him, they beat the water with their paddles. But this did not work. So after giving up, the villagers tossed rice into the river to make sure that Qu's spirit would be well fed and the fish would not eat his body.

The water dragon rules the rivers, seas, rain, and direction of the compass. Offerings are made during harvest to make sure the rains happen. In legend, Qu Yuan's spirit 200 years after his death visited some local fishermen telling them that the rice intended for him was being eaten by the fish and by the river dragon. In order to stop this, they should wrap the write in a bamboo leaves and tie it with threads in the imperials colors of red, blue, white, yellow, and black. The combination of the 5 colors would create an amulet so the rice would go to Qu Yuan, as intended.

The local people ran to the banks of the river and beat drums to scare away the fish from eating his body.

Zhong Kui is known as the demon killer and his picture is put up in houses to scare evil spirits away. His picture is put on the front door, since the Fifth Moon, or double fifth is considered the most unlucky day of the Chinese Year. Similar to Friday the 13th. Traditionally this time of year was hot and humid which brought many diseases. Zhong Kui committed suicide since he was unjustly prevented from becoming an advisor to the emperor. Since the emperor gave him a funeral fit for royalty, he swore to protect the emperor and make the world safe from ghosts and demons.

Dragon Boats are painted traditionally green, red, and yellow. Dragons are powerful of full of good luck, so the Dragon boat races spread good luck. Each team races on a fifty foot long teak or fiberglass dragon boat. Traditionally, the eyes are decorated last, and this is done by a Taoist Priest to awaken the boat

Dragon Boat races are held on rivers, lakes, channels, and bays across the world. If there is any movement of paddles once they are put in the water before the start of the race, the team is disqualified.

Dragon Boat festivals are held from February through October. There are over forty Dragon Boat Festivals in the US and Canada, with the largest in Vancouver and Toronto. Each boat usually 20 paddlers, a drummer, and a steer person. The drummer is the heart of the Dragon. The course is 500 to 1300 Meters long.

The winning team will grab a flag at the end of the race.

People gave offering of rice to feed his spirit and make sure that the fish would never feed on his body. To make sure that other animals don't eat the rice, they wrap it in a reed and to scare the animals, tied it with bright imperial colors (red, blue, white, yellow, and black). In another story there is a hungry dragon that is eating all the rice, so the bright colors scare the dragon away. The wrapped stick rice is called joong and you can buy it from Chinese bakeries or order it at a Dim Sum restaurant. Perfumed pouches are also tied around children’s necks to keep away the bad spirits and therefore, avoid illness.

Give Kids the Chinese Advantage! More Learning Chinese Materials at www. Childbook.com