This week is Dragon Boat Festival a.k.a Duānwǔ Jié and although I don't have any plans for tomorrow's festivities... I am hoping to celebrate somewhere!
Dragon Boat Festival is said to have started in the third century by a man named Qu Yuan (pronounced- Chew You En). In protest of a corrupt government, Qu Yuan threw himself into the Mi Lo River. When people heard about the news they raced through the river in boats to find him. To scare the fish away from eating him they played loud music and threw rice in the river. Sadly, they did not save the man. It is said that boat races and ceremonial sacrifices of rice were performed each year to commemorate the passing of Qu Yuan. Today, people eat zongzi (pronounced- jong zuh), a rice dumpling, to symbolize the rice offerings to Qu Yuan.
The festival is celebrated by boats shaped like dragons racing each other. Rowing teams compete by racing to the finish line to the beat of drums.
Like I said, I don't know what I am doing for festival yet... but I think I may try to find some colorful boats racing? If I can figure out where exactly these boats may be...
Mandarin lesson:
Chuán 船 (boat) Shuǐdào 水稻 (rice) Bǐsài 比赛 (race)
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