The Dragon Boat Festival or Duan Wu Jie (端午节), is also known as Duan Yang Jie (端阳节), which means “Upright Sun” or “Double Fifth” (重午/重五). Falling on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month around the summer solstice which happened to be 10th June 2024 this year. The festival is also commonly referred to as the Fifth Month Festival amongst the Chinese. Its origins can be traced to southern China, and festivities include boat races and eating rice dumplings. The festival had evolved from the practice of revering the river dragon, to the commemoration of Qu Yuan (屈原), a third-century poet and political figure of the state of Chu in ancient China.
Legends and Myths - River Dragon (蛟龙)
The dragon was initially viewed as the benevolent spirit of the waters. It exemplified the masculine principle or yang in the Chinese ideology of harmony. Among common folk, it was believed that the River Dragon (蛟龙) controlled the rain and was thus worshipped during the summer solstice. Requests would be made for a balanced rainfall – sufficient to ensure a good harvest, without over-abundance that would cause destructive flooding.
Legends and Myths - Qu Yuan (屈原)
Primitive worship of the river dragon was often practised during the summer solstice. The Dragon Boat Festival was associated with Qu Yuan’s story only in the second century. Qu Yuan (屈原) was a poet and a statesman for the Chu kingdom (楚国) during the Warring States Period (战国时代). He served in high office and he advocated a policy of aligning with other kingdoms against the dominant Qin. However, political intrigue led Lord Huai to banish Qu Yuan instead. The ministry was left in the hands of corrupt statesmen and Qu Yuan helplessly watched his motherland decline. Depressed, he penned beautiful, patriotic poetry such as Li Sao (离骚) which means Encountering Sorrow, an allegorical poem stating his political aspirations and Jiu Ge (九歌) or Nine Songs, which gained Qu Yuan great renown.
With his top adviser gone, the king fell for the trickery of the Qin and his kingdom was eventually conquered. Upon hearing that his kingdom’s capital had been overtaken by the Qin, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Mi Luo River (汨罗江). As he was adored by people everywhere, the local people did everything in their power to try to either save Qu Yuan, or at the very least, to protect him in the afterlife.
Hereupon the legend varies. Some suggest that fishermen at the scene attempted to save their minister. Having failed, they sought to appease his spirit by throwing rice stuffed in bamboo stems into the river to prevent the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body. Others say that the rice offerings were snatched by a river dragon and the rice had to be bundled in chinaberry leaves instead and tied with five different coloured silk threads in order to be effective. The triangular Rice Dumplings (粽子) thus became entwined with the festivities. Another version tells of farmers rowing out in dragon boats in their attempt to save Qu Yuan. Hence, Dragon Boat Racing (赛龙舟) has been held annually on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, in honour of the memory of Qu Yuan.
Or if reading through a wall of texts is not your cup of tea, here is a pictorial guide to summarize on the history of Qu Yuan (屈原) and how we ended up celebrating Dragon Boat Festival (端午节) with dragon boat racing and rice dumplings on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.
All images are from the internet. Selected text info from here.
