Dragon Boat Festival

Today is Dragon Boat Festival, Duanwu Jie, which is actually the very first holiday I celebrated in China.  Six years ago, I came to China for the first time on a summer trip.  A day or so after arriving, I was handed a zongzi, the traditional food of the festival.  The students showed me how to unwrap the bamboo leaves surrounding the treat, and I proceeded to struggle to eat the entire sticky rice covered wad of red bean paste.  Six years later, I still haven’t acquired a taste for zongzi.

Dragon Boat Festival commemorates a wise and famous scholar of the Warring States Period in the fourth century B.C.  Qu Yuan was a loyal adviser to the King of Chu until he fell out of favor with the court. He proceeded to write passionate poems to the leaders of the nation and people expressing his sadness over the state of affairs.  Eventually, he committed suicide by tying a rock around his neck and jumping in a river.  People took boats into the river to search for him, hence the origin of the name of the holiday.  Legend has it, when they were unable to find his body, people threw food (zongzi) into the river so the fish wouldn’t eat Qu Yuan’s body.

Since 2008, Dragon Boat Festival has once again been made an official holiday in China (hence the Saturday is Monday, Sunday is Tuesday, and Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday is a holiday from school).  People hold dragon boat races, eat zongzi, and give traditional knots and potpourri filled silk bags.

I’m celebrating by packing up my apartment and making final preparations for the summer.  Tomorrow is my last day of teaching/final giving, and almost exactly 48 hours from now I’ll be hopping on a train down to Beijing. My flight back to the States is Saturday evening–I’ll be back just in time for Father’s day!