Editor's note: The following article was originally published on GoKunming in June 2013. It has been edited and updated for this year.
People across China and around the world celebrate Dragon Boat Festival on June 7 this year. Recognized as an official holiday by the Chinese government in 2008, the annual event means three days off of work or out of school for tens of millions of people, culminating in celebrations and dragon boat races where access to water permits.
The origins of Dragon Boat Festival — or Duanwu Jie (端午节) in Chinese — are shrouded like so much else in the murky depths of China's ancient history. Depending on who is telling the story, the festival began as a way to commemorate the suicide of a court official more than 2,000 years ago.
Who that official was is still an unsettled question. The most popular version of the story centers around a man named Qu Yuan (屈原). Qu was a court official and accomplished poet in the Kingdom of Chu (楚國) during China's Warring States period (战国时代).
Accounts differ, but Qu somehow ran afoul of either jealous mandarins or the king himself. Regardless, Qu managed to get himself banished and began to roam the countryside composing poetry. Years later, upon hearing that the Kingdom of Qu had suffered defeat at the hands of its rival the Kingdom of Qin (秦国), the poet carried a rock into a river and drowned himself. Villagers who respected Qu for his poetry raced out in boats to try and recover his body.
Again, here the tale has two alternate tellings. One says the villagers paddled furiously in their boats to keep evil spirits at bay and also threw rice wrapped in paper into the river in an attempt to keep fish from devouring Qu's body.
The other version says that after he died, Qu visited villagers in their dreams. He requested that people wrap rice in silk, paddle out onto the river and drop the packets into the water as a way to nourish Qu's soul.
A similar story involving a man named Wu Zixu (伍子胥) is also attributed to the creation of Dragon Boat Festival. Wu was a general during China's Spring and Autumn era (春秋时代). After years of loyal service and a decorated military career, Wu was forced by his king to commit suicide after the two had a disagreement. After disemboweling himself, Wu's body was thrown into a river.
No matter which story is to be believed, both men committed suicide on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Thus, Dragon Boat Festival – also known as Double Fifth — is commemorated every year on or near this day.
Anthropologists tell an entirely different story, one based much more on scholarly research than on ancient folklore. Dragon Boat Festival normally falls very close to the summer solstice, which in southern China is typically hot, humid and beset by disease-spreading mosquitoes.
Before people understood disease prevention they would hold purification rituals to ward off ill health. Anthropologists now say Dragon Boat Festival originated in such rituals conducted to frighten away evil spirits. Water splashed by paddles and the rhythmic pounding of drums were ways to traditionally ward off disease-causing spirits.
In addition to these activities, families would eat lunch together and drink xionghuangjiu (雄黄酒). This alcoholic delight is a mixture of Chinese baijiu and the not-so-tasty sounding arsenic sulfide. Traditionally this is drunk and also rubbed on earlobes and foreheads to protect people from mosquitoes, evil spirits and the gaseous humors that were once believed to cause disease.
Folklore and anthropology aside, traditionally people eat zongzi (粽子) — glutinous rice often cooked with sweet or savory fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves — and while the brave drink the aforementioned xionghuangjiu. Conjuring up the powers of another semi-poisonous material, many people head to local wet markets and buy stalks of wormwood. Upon returning home, the stems are hung on either side of the home's front door, again to protect from evil spirits.
Perhaps the most well-known part of the festival is the boat races that are held around China and now across the world. Crews can range from five to more than thirty people depending on size of their vessels. Rowing is normally accompanied by a drummer pounding out a beat to which the crew rhythmically rows its brightly festooned craft through the water.
In Kunming, Dragon Boat Races used to be held during the holiday at the Yunnan Nationalities Village. However, when we called to double check this year, we were informed no races are scheduled. For those in Xishuangbanna, check local media for information about races on the Mekong River. GoKunming would like to wish everyone, regardless of their proximity to water or a boat, a happy Dragon Boat Festival. Enjoy your drink of xionghuangjiu.
Top image: Twitter
Bells image: Canalblog
Qu Yuan image: Museum of Fine Arts
Zongzi image: Patrick Scally
Wu Zixu image: JSChina
Xionghuangjiu and Wu Zixu images: Epoch Times
Comments
Bit sad that no one in Kunming can put on any sort of cultural boat-related activities despite lakes and rivers and minorities.
The festival has little if anything to do with 'minorities'.
True, but as so many minority festivals are (rightly) celebrated in Yunnan, it's a pity that Dragon Boat Festival doesn't garner much enthusiasm. Although there were some half-hearted attempts in the Horticultural Exposition Park this morning.
You just want that a show be created, right? If the tourist bureau doesn't come through (and there's a good chance they will - cf. the Minorities Park thing), try the Disney organization.
I am not sure that dragon boat events were ever held in the Minorities Village. This could be a hang over from erroneous remark in an article on dragon boat festivals a year or two ago.
The only dragon boat events I know of, in the last 10 years, were held on the northern half of Haigeng Dam (Daba). These now fall on the calendar of the international dragon boat racing events.
Didn't mean to indicate that there have been dragon boat events in the Minorities Park, but merely that places like that are willing to host things that may lack reality outside them (if you've seen a bit of Yunnan and also the Minorities Park you'll know what I mean) - they're like phony museums. .
This ongoing tradition honors a patriotic poet who killed himself by jumping into a river when Qin seized Chu. Zongzi was placed into the river to feed the water dwellers.
From the article "...In Kunming, Dragon Boat Races used to be held during the holiday at the Yunnan Nationalities Village. " This seems unambiguous, but I think erroneous.
@tigertiger there's a link to the Yunnan Nationalities Village website about dragon boat races in last year's gokunming article, doesn't seem erroneous
I am pretty sure last years article was incorrect. I contacted GoKunming at the time.
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