Sometimes, we are too busy to remember some of important holiday for our country, and how they originated. In Taiwan, the 3 major holidays are Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Dragon Boat Festival will be coming soon. It is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. It is actually on Sunday June 8th this year. In Chinese, the holiday is called Duan Wu Jie.
There are many legends about the origin of the Festival. The famous one is to commemorate the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. The legend says that Qu Yuan 屈原 was disappointed with the emperor and his country, so he drowned himself in the Miluo River. The people loved him and tried to save him so they used long boats to go looking for him. They beat drums to scare away the fish. They also threw Zhong zi (rice dumplings) in to the river to feed the fish, because they were afraid the fish might eat Qu Yuan’s 屈原 body.
The traditional food eaten during Dragon Boat Festival is rice dumplings (Zhong zi). The normal dumplings are usually wrapped in bamboo leaves and filled with egg yolk, meat, peanut, chestnuts, mushrooms, etc. But there are many different flavors of Zhong zi that you can choose from.
Dragon boat racing is obviously the most important activity of the Festival. The races are held in the rivers or on lakes with colorful boats, beating drums and cheering crowds get people excited. Each boat usually has 22 people, including 20 paddlers, a drummer and a flag-catcher. The first team to reach the flag wins the race. It is very interesting, and many people go to watch the race although it is very hot. I prefer to stay home and watch it on TV with my family.
Standing an egg is also a popular activity. If you can successfully stand an egg on its end exactly 12:00 noon, then the upcoming year will be a lucky one for you.
I have tried it before, but I have never succeeded. I hope I can do it then I will be the lucky one. ^__^…..
Another reason we enjoy the holiday, is a day off of work. This year, the holiday is on Sunday, so we will not receive a day off of work like usually. There’s always next year 