Dragon Boat Festival-Origin

    The Dragon Boat Festival is best known for Dragon Boat races and rice tamale wrapping, in memory of Qu Yuan, a poet and a statesman who drowned himself in a river in 299 BC, to try to persuade the King to do something good for the people. In fact, according to early historical records the festival was originally a day to call on all people to drive away epidemics and promote good health. Although it later became a festival for the commemoration of Qu Yuan, it existed long before Qu Yuan was born.

    The Dragon Boat Festival has existed for a long, long time, and has many different stories associated with it. Before the Tang Dynasty, people called the 5th day of every month Duan Wu. Emperor Xuang Zhu of the Tang Dynasty wrote in his poem, 'Duan Wu is the time when mid- summer comes.' Yet it was not until the Sung and the Yuan Dynasties that the Duan Wu became a special day, referring only to the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.