Edited and translated by Ye Xin, People's Daily Online
The Dragon Boat Festival, also called Duanwu Festival and the Double Fifth, is atraditional and statutory holiday originating in China. It is celebrated on the fifth day ofthe fifth month according to the Chinese calendar.
The Dragon Boat Festival is together with Chinese Lunar New Year and Mid-AutumnFestival forms one of the three major Chinese holidays.
Since the summer is a time when diseases most easily spread, the Dragon BoatFestival began as an occasion for driving off evil spirits and pestilence and for findingpeace in one's life. The festival was later enriched by the legend of the patriot QuYuan.
There are numerous versions of the festival’s origin, among which three legends arethe most widely circulated, and they are respectively in memory of Qu Yuan, a famouspatriotic poet, in memory of Wu Zixu, a famous Chinese scholar and military generalduring the Spring and Autumn Period and in memory of a filial dutiful daughter-Cao E.
Three of the most widespread activities for the Dragon Boat Festival are making andeating zongzi, drinking realgar wine, and racing dragon boats.
Other common activities include hanging up icons of Zhong Kui, a mythic guardianfigure, hanging mugwort and calamus, taking long walks, and wearing perfumedmedicine bags. Other traditional activities include a game of making an egg stand atnoon, and this "game" is one that if you stand at exactly 12.00 noon you will have luckfor the next year, and writing spells.
All of these activities, together with the drinking of realgar wine, were regarded by theancients as effective in preventing disease or evil and promoting health and well-being.
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