Dragon Boat Festival

Story of this holiday....


The Dragon Boat Festival is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar, and is therefore often called ‘Double Fifth Festival’. In Chinese, the holiday is called Duan Wu Jie. ( Tone : 1 3 2 )


The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar-statesman Qu Yuan ( 1  2 ), who lived some three centuries before the birth of Christ. Qu Yuan was a loyal minister that served the King of Chu during the Warring States Period. Qu Yuan was a highly respected and trusted advisor to the King of Chu. He fought the corruption of other officials of the court.

Initially, Qu Yuan was favored by his sovereign, but over time, his wisdom and erudite ways antagonized the other court officials. Eventually, the intrigues of his rivals exerted enough ill influence on the King that Qu Yuan soon found himself in disfavor. The King began to not listen to Qu Yuan's suggestions and advice. Not long after, the King banished Qu Yuan from Chu. While in exile, Qu Yuan composed many poems expressing his sorrows and concerns for his country and people. Amongst his most famous poems is "Encountering Sorrow," a poem describing his search for a good sovereign that would listen to good advice regarding government.

In the year 295 B.C., at the age of 37, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Milo River. He clasped a heavy stone to his chest and leaped into the water. Knowing that Qu Yuan was a righteous man, the people of Chu rushed to the river to try to save him. The people desperately searched the waters in their boats looking for Qu Yuan, but they were unsuccessful in their attempt to rescue him. Every year the Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated to commemorate this attempt at rescuing Qu Yuan.

When it was known that Qu Yuan had been lost forever, the local people began the tradition of throwing sacrificial cooked rice into the river for their lost hero. However, a local fisherman had a dream that Qu Yuan did not get any of the cooked rice that was thrown into the river in his honor. Instead, it was the fishes in the river that had eaten the rice. So, the following year, the tradition of wrapping the cooked rice in bamboo leaves was begun. The cooked rice wrapped in bamboo leaves later came to be known as zong zi. ( Tone:4 3 )

There is also another version of the story. When it was known that Qu Yuan had been lost to the river, the local fisherman had a dream that the fishes in the river were eating Qu Yuan’s body. The local people came up with the idea that if the fishes in the river were not hungry, then they would not eat Qu Yuan’s body. So the local people began the tradition of throwing zong zi into the river to feed the fishes in hope that Qu Yuan’s body would be spared.
龍舟節是在農曆的五月五日，在中國也叫做端午節。端午節是要紀念西元前三世紀在中國偉大的愛國詩人屈原。屈原是戰國時代楚國最忠誠的大臣，它是皇帝身邊最 受到敬重和信任的諫言者，也是最受到皇帝寵愛的大臣。他反對朝廷內部的貪污及腐敗，他的正直和智慧得罪了不少王公貴人。最後他們陷害了屈原，使得皇帝在也 不聽信屈原的諫言。不久之後，屈原被驅逐出楚國境內，在流放的時間內，他寫了許多的詩，抒發他的悲憤及愛國憂民之情。其中最有名的一首就是「離騷」，描寫 他在尋找一位肯聽諫言的君王，在他三十七歲那一年，他抱著一顆石頭投入汨羅江中自盡，人們知道屈原的正直，就趕到江邊去救他，他們搭著船努力地在江中尋找 他，但是已經無法發現他的蹤影，每年龍舟賽就是為了紀念當初以船救屈原的一種慶祝方式。

當大家已經知道無法救到屈原時，當地的居民就把煮熟的米飯投至江中給屈原，但是有一天，屈原託夢給一位漁夫，他說河裡的魚吃掉了那些投入江中的米飯，所以第二年，人們就開始將煮熟的米飯以竹葉包起來，就是今日眾所皆知的粽子。

關於粽子的由來，還有另外一種說法。當人們在江中找不到屈原的身體時，而當地的漁夫夢到江中的魚在吃屈原的身體，當地的居民為了不要讓屈原的身體被魚 吃掉，於是想到了一個方法，如果江中的魚不會餓肚子，他們就不會吃屈原的身體了。於是居民就將粽子投入江中餵魚，希望魚兒們不要吃屈原的身體。

http://www.hua.com.tw/tw/act/2003/0530H1_Dragon/dragon_ch.htm