What is Dragon Boat
Festival?
Dragon Boat
Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival, is one of the main family holidays in
Taiwan. Most of people in Taiwan spend the holiday with families eating,
drinking, and watching dragon boat races. Some may participate in the spiritual
practices or folk traditions. The festival has a history over 2000 years and is
well celebrated in the Chinese-descent communities all over the world. It is on
the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar every year,
which usually falls into some day in June.
We strongly recommend
you to join the celebration if you plan to visit Taiwan in June. There are activities
everywhere around the island. Among those, Lukang Dragon Boat Festival in the central
west of Taiwan is probably the largest and the most well-known among the
tourists. Scroll down for more details.
The Legend
The holiday
commemorates Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet, patriot and minister in the state of Chu
during China’s Warring States Period (475-221 BCE). When the state of Qin conquered Chu, the poet
drowned himself in despair. Legend has it that a crowd beat the river with
paddles and threw food in the river to keep fish from eating Qu’s body. Today’s
dragon boat races and Zongzi (a.k.a sticky rice dumplings) originated from that
legend.
The Traditions in Taiwan
Zongzi (a.k.a sticky rice dumplings):
Zong is filling-stuffed,
steamed sticky rice wrapped in bamboo, reed, or other large flat leaves. It
usually comes in a triangle shape in Taiwan but other shapes can be seen
sometimes. It is available year round but especially featured during the
holiday. We will have a more in-depth coverage about Zong in another post.
Realgar Wine:
“Realgar wine
or xionghuang wine is a Chinese alcoholic drink that consists of Chinese cereal
wine (huangjiu, "yellow wine") dosed with powdered realgar, a
yellow-orange arsenic sulfide mineral (As4S4). “ -
Wiki . It is usually
consumed during the festival. But nowadays people in Taiwan often drink modern alcohols
such as beer, wine or other liquors instead.
Spiritual practices:
In Taoism,
the day (the 5th day of 5th month in the lunar calendar) has
the most Yang energy of the year, strongest during 11 am to 1 pm of the day.
Therefore, it is also a holiday that people do spiritual practices in Taiwan to
dispel insects and bad spirits and get good luck. If you would like to experience spell-writing ceremonies,
the magic yang hour (i.e. 11 am to 1 pm) would be your best to catch these
events. The following spiritual practices are most common in Taiwan during
the festival.
1. Going to a temple. Some people would like to
get the amulet blessed during the magic hour of the day in a temple.
2. Preparing
offerings to the deities.
3. Wearing small
perfumed Chinese medicine sachets
4. Hanging banyan leaves, mugwort leaves,
lemongrass and Calamus by the door. It
is believed that the aroma from these plants can ward off insects and bad
spirits.
5. Playing a
game of making an egg
stand at noon. If you make the egg stand at exactly noon, you will have luck
for the next year. This is more of a game for kids in the festival.
Dragon Boat Race:
Dragon boat racing
is a team paddling sport. Originated 2000 years ago in China, it has become an
international sport since the 70s. You can watch or participate in a dragon
boat race anywhere in Taiwan during the festival. We suggest you to plan
at least 2 days to join the international race festival in Lukang, one of the
oldest towns in Taiwan with many historical remains. With more than 35 years of
history, the 3-day festival features the race, culture traditions, and a market
with traditional food and entertainments. Google the festival in May to get the
details before you go. And don’t forget about your sun blocks and hats.
Mixing festival fun during your trip in Taiwan is always an exciting way to
explore the local culture. Have you joined the Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan? Tell us how it was. Please contact
us for any questions or assistance. You can find the best hotel deals below,
