Dragon Boat Festival In Hong Kong

Do you know the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival and the famous Dragon Boat Race?This Chinese feast was also unknown to us until one of our interns arrived with many stories about one of his favorite travel destinations.

The Dragon Boat Festival, or Festival Tuen Ng, is held every year, on the fifth day of the fifth month (Chinese calendar). It’s celebrated not only in Hong Kong, but also in other places such as Shanghai or Taiwan and in other cities or countries with a significant Chinese population. Nowadays this tradition is followed in more than 60 countries, with over 60 million international participants – still the most famous one is in Hong Kong.

This event is not only a boat race, even if the race is the most popular happening during this day. The Chinese month in which the festival occurs is actually considered an unlucky month, as it coincides with the beginning of the warm weather season and outbreaks of sickness epidemics.

The Dragon Boat Festival is a Chinese traditional and statutory holiday. It is a public holiday in mainland China and in Taiwan (and yes in Singapore as well), where it is known as the “Duanwu Festival”. It is also a public holiday in Hong Kong and Macau, where it is known as Duen Ng Festival. Its alternative name in English is “Dragon Boat Festival”, after one of the traditional activities for the holiday.

The Duanwu Festival is believed to have originated in ancient China. A number of theories exist about its origins as a number of folk traditions and explanatory myths are connected to its observance. Today the best known of these relates to the suicide in 278 BCE of Qu Yuan, poet and statesman of the Chu kingdom during the Warring States period.

There are many findings about the origin of the festival. Legend has it that the patriotic scholar-statesman Chu Yuan committed suicide (by drowning) to protest against the emperor. People respected Chu Yuan and when they heard that he had drowned, they jumped on boats to search for him. As they failed to find him, they started to hit the drums and make a lot of noise to scare the fish so that they won’t eat Chu Yuan. Also they tossed cooked rice in the river so that the fish won’t eat the poor man’s body. They started to wrap the cooked rice in bamboo leaves which evolved in today’s rice dumplings.

During the West Tsin dynasty, it became popular to eat rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival
Today, the rice dumplings can be either salty or sweet. The salty ones are made from rice, fresh meat or ham, while the sweet ones are made from rice, bean paste, dates’ paste and honey.

The highlight of this festival is obviously the Dragon boat race, where gorgeously decorated boats compete ferociously in a thrilling atmosphere. This practice is very old, it stems from the same era as the first Olympic games!

The race is meant to awaken the highly respected dragon god, who is in hibernation. The awakening of the dragon god, master of rivers and seas, maker of clouds and rain, will ensure a bountiful harvest to ward off diseases.

The symbolism behind the race is that after the dragon boats sail in the water, the water is considered blessed and people can then go for a swim or just touch the water, in order to stay healthy all year.
In the past this rite included fighting boats, where the drowning of some participants in the action was seen as a sacrifice, but obviously nowadays it’s just a boat race and has even become a sport.