Winged serpent Boat Celebration is a conventional Chinese occasion which falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which is in late May or June on the Gregorian schedule. In 2022, Winged serpent Boat Celebration falls on June 3 (Friday). China will have 3 days of public occasion from Friday (June 3) to Sunday (June 5).

Winged serpent Boat Celebration is one of the four top conventional Chinese celebrations, alongside the Spring Celebration, Burial place Clearing Day, and Mid-Fall Celebration.

Notwithstanding Chinese central area, numerous other Asian nations and locales additionally commend this celebration. In Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Taiwan, China, it is known as Bak Chang Celebration (‘Dumpling Celebration’).

Names of Dragon Boat Festival

Winged serpent Boat Celebration has in excess of twenty names and each has its own significance and beginnings. It is called Duanwu Jie in Mandarin and Tuen Ng in Cantonese, and is otherwise called ‘Dumpling Celebration’ and ‘Twofold Fifth Celebration’.

Dragon Boat Festival

It is called Mythical beast Boat Celebration, or Longzhou Jie (龙舟节) in Chinese, due to its nearby relationship with winged serpent boats. Chinese individuals join extraordinary social importance to winged serpents. The two fundamental exercises during the celebration are eating zongzi (rice dumplings) and boat races, and both are connected with winged serpents.

Zongzi have for quite some time been tossed into waterways as contributions and penances to the Mythical beast God on lunar month multi day 5, while winged serpent boats are utilized in races customarily hung on this day. Thus, it is additionally called the Winged serpent Boat Celebration.

Duanwu Jie

The Winged serpent Boat Celebration is called Duanwu Jie (端午节) in Mandarin Chinese. Duan (端) signifies ‘start’, while wu (午) signifies ‘early afternoon’, yet in addition ‘the fifth sun based month’ in the customary Chinese schedule (roughly June 6 – July 6), revolved around the mid year solstice. ‘The long stretch of early afternoon’ denotes the center of summer. Subsequently, Duanwu Jie signifies ‘the start of mid-summer celebration’.

Likewise, 端五 is a variation of Duanwu utilizing wu (五), the Chinese person signifying ‘five’. So ‘Duanwu’ can likewise imply ‘Beginning of the Fifth Sun based Month’.

Double Fifth Festival

Mythical serpent Boat Celebration is commended on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar schedule, consequently it is likewise called “Twofold Fifth Celebration” (Chongwu Jie 重五节 in Chinese).

Why Is Dragon Boat Festival So Important?

Many accept that Winged serpent Boat Celebration is commended to recognize the passing of Qu Yuan, a renowned Chinese writer, and priest known for his enthusiasm and commitments to traditional verse, who ultimately turned into a public legend.

Nonetheless, it is confirmed that the Mythical beast Boat Celebration really preceded the demise of Qu Yuan. Its earliest beginning is connected with the fifth lunar month which was referred to people of old as the ‘long stretch of toxic substance’. During the early warm long stretches of summer, individuals would handily become sick and pestilences spread. This caused the month to appear to be malicious, so individuals in old times viewed it as a significant opportunity to forestall sicknesses and fend underhanded spirits off.

Thusly, Winged serpent Boat Celebration was initially viewed as a conventional clinical and wellbeing celebration. It is generally a celebration for individuals to (ritualistically) come against illnesses and harmful bugs. As the Covid pandemic go on across the world, the current year’s Mythical beast Boat Celebration has a reestablished center around wellbeing.

The Origins of the Dragon Boat Festival

There are numerous legends about the beginning of the Mythical beast Boat Celebration. The most famous ones are as per the following.

The Death of Qu Yuan

The most famous one is in remembrance of Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan (340-278 BC) was an enthusiastic writer and banished official during the Fighting States Time of old China. He suffocated himself in the Miluo Waterway on the fifth day of the fifth Chinese lunar month, when his cherished Chu State tumbled to the Territory of Qin. Neighborhood individuals frantically attempted to save Qu Yuan or recuperate his body, without any result.

To recognize Qu Yuan, each fifth day of the fifth lunar month individuals beat drums and oar out in boats on the stream as they once did to get fish and detestable spirits far from his body.

The Unlucky Fifth Month

Another possible explanation for the origins of the festival relates to the calendar placement of the occasion.

Since ancient times, the fifth lunar month has been considered an unlucky month, and is known to some as the ‘month of poison’, because the dreaded ‘five poisonous creatures’ (五毒wǔdú) begin to emerge in this month. Traditionally, the five creatures refer to centipedes, scorpions, snakes, toads, and spiders. Poisonous creatures, brought out by the warming weather and seasonal fluctuations, as well as natural disasters and illnesses are common in the fifth month.

The fifth day of the fifth month (“double five”) was believed to be a very inauspicious day. On this day, people would put wormwood and calamus on the door and wore fragrant mugwort pouches (香包). Since the shape of calamus leaves is like that of a sword and due to the strong smell of the herb, it is believed that calamus can keep pests as well as evil spirits away. So, Dragon Boat Festival is also called “Calamus Festival” (菖蒲节 Chāngpú Jié).

How Do People Celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival?

Winged serpent Boat Celebration customs can be generally partitioned into two classes. One is to love the divine force of mythical beast and legends, like Qu Yuan. The exercises incorporate mythical beast boat races and eating glutinous rice dumplings.

Another classification means to fight off wrongs and keep individuals sound. The exercises remember washing for home grown blends, hanging wormwood and calamus, and drinking realgar wine.

Eating Sticky Rice Dumplings

Winged serpent Boat Celebration food. Connected with Qu Yuan remembrance, the legend says that pieces of rice (similar to zongzi) were tossed into the stream to stop fish eating his suffocated body.

Previously, every family would make tacky rice dumplings and pass them out as presents, get them, and eat them. Today a couple of the more conventional more established relatives will try to cook their own, while the larger part are bought from eateries and pastry specialists.

Zongzi are made of glutinous rice loaded up with meats, beans, and different fillings. They are enveloped by triangle or square shape shapes inside bamboo or reed leaves and attached with drenched stalks or bright sleek lines. The kinds of zongzi are generally not the same as one district to one more across China.

Participating In or Attending Dragon Boat Races

Dragon boat racing is the most important activity of the Dragon Boat Festival. It is said to originate from the legend of people paddling out on boats to seek the body of patriotic poet Qu Yuan (343–278 BC), who drowned himself in a River.

There is another explanation. It is believed that dragon boat racing can be traced back to over 2,000 years ago, when it was a way to worship the Dragon God or Water God.

The wooden boats are shaped and decorated in the form of a Chinese dragon. The boats’ size varies by region and usually need 30–60 people to paddle them. During the races, dragon boat teams paddle harmoniously and hurriedly, accompanied by the sound of beating drums. It is said that the winning team will have good luck and a happy life in the following year.

Hanging Chinese Mugwort and Calamus

The Mythical serpent Boat Celebration is held toward the beginning of summer when infections are more pervasive. Mugwort leaves are utilized therapeutically in China to battle such sicknesses. Their aroma deflects flies and mosquitoes. Calamus is an amphibian plant that makes comparable impacts.

On the fifth day of the fifth month, individuals normally clean their homes, patios, and hang mugwort and calamus on entryways lintels to beat illnesses down. It is likewise said hanging mugwort and calamus can carry best of luck to the family.

Drinking Realgar Wine

There is a familiar axiom: ‘Drinking realgar wine drives illnesses and wrongs away!’ Realgar wine is a Chinese cocktail comprising of matured cereals and powdered realgar (ruby-like arsenic sulfide).

In old times, individuals accepted that realgar was a counteractant for all toxic substances, and compelling for killing bugs and heading out abhorrent spirits. In this way, everybody would drink some realgar wine during the Winged serpent Boat Celebration.

Wearing Perfume Pouches