Dragon Boat Festival.doc

Dragon Boat FestivalThe Dragon Boat Festival， also called Double Fifth Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth moon of the lunar calendar. It is one of the most important Chinese festivals, the other two being the Autumn Moon Festival and Chinese New Year. The origin of this summer festival centers around a scholarly government official named Chu Yuan. He was a good and respected man, but because of the misdeeds of jealous rivals he eventually fell into disfavor in the emperors court. Unable to regain the respect of the emperor, in his sorrow Chu Yuan threw himself into the Mi Low river. Because of their admiration for Chu Yuan, the local people living adjacent to the Mi Lo River rushed into their boats to search for him while throwing rice into the waters to appease the river dragons. Although they were unable to find Chu Yuan, their efforts are still commemorated today during the Dragon Boat Festival. There are many activities on this day，here are listed as followed：Dragon Boat race Traditions At the center of this festival are the dragon boat races. Competing teams drive their colorful dragon boats forward to the rhythm of beating drums. These exciting races were inspired by the villagers valiant attempts to rescue Chu Yuan from the Mi Lo river. This tradition has remained unbroken for centuries. Another activity of the Festival is the making and eating of a kind of dumpling called Tzungtzu . When it became known that Chu Yuan was gone forever, the people, living along the river, threw cooked rice into the water as a sacrifice to their dead hero. They wrapped rice in bamboo leave , and stuffed it with ham, beans, bean paste , salted egg yokes, sausages, nuts, and/or vegetables. To the Chinese the fifth lunar moon is more than just the Dragon Boat Festival. Since antiquity , they have believed that this month is a pestilential and danger-fraught period. Children born in this month are said to be difficult to raise ,and people tend to concentrate their efforts during this time attempting to protect their families from ills and misfortune. The day of the Dragon Boat Festival is customarily the time when cleaning and sanitation are stressed . Most families hang calamus and Artemisia above their doors, both as a decoration and as a preventive against pestilence. Ancient folk medicines such as realgar are added to the food eaten on the Festival day. This is believed to prevent disease and to promote a healthy digestive system. The drinking of realgar in wine supposedly relieves the effects of poisons accumulated in human bodies. The Dragon Boat Festi