The Dragon Boat Festival

On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month is the Duanwu Festival, or the Dragon Boat Festival. It is celebrated everywhere in China. The dragon boat race originated in Yueyang city, Hunan and is very popular in the province.

The festival dates back 2,000 years ago with a number of legends explaining its origin. The best-known story is about a great patriotic poet named Qu Yuan. The customs vary in different areas of the country. On that day, most families hang a picture of Zhong Kui (a ghost that can exorcise) in their houses and insert folium artemisiae argyi and bundles of calamus in their front doors. People have dragon boat races, eat zongzi (a dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves) and carry a spice bag around with them.

The dragon boat teams participating in the dragon boat race represent different clans and the boat heads are beautifully decorated into dragons, roosters or carps. During the dragon boat race, walking on land boats in Qiaotouhe and Yangjiatan is quite special.