boatfestival

practising for the boatfestival (Duanwu Festival )

 

The festival occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar
The Duanwu Festival is believed to have originated in ancient China.
A number of theories exist about its origins.
The best-known traditional story holds that the festival commemorates the death of poet Qu Yuan of the ancient state of Chu
Qu served in high offices.
However, when the king decided to ally with the increasingly powerful state of Qin, Qu was banished for opposing the alliance; he was accused of treason.
Twenty-eight years later, Qin captured Ying. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.
 
It is said that the local people, who admired him, dropped sticky rice triangles wrapped in bamboo leaves into the river to feed the fish.
The rice was wrapped so that fish would not eat Qu Yuan's body and eat the rice instead.
The local people paddled out on boats, either to scare the fish away or to retrieve his body. This is said to be the origin of dragon boat racing.