China Learn

China is a land of many festivals and popular celebrations. Among these, one of the most exciting and spectacular is Duan Wu or the Dragon Boat Festival. It is also called Duan Wu Jie in Chinese because in the Chinese diction, ‘Jie’ meaning festival. The festival is celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese lunar calendar and usually falls on the first week of June. It is a significant holiday celebrated in China, and also carries a very long tradition.

The history of Duan Wu goes back a long time. Regarding its origin, the most popular theory suggests that it was derived from the commemorative activities of a great poet of China, Qu Yuan. However, it is also suggested that the festival may be associated with the legendary dragon because two of the most significant activities of the festival, the Dragon Boat Racing and the eating of ‘zongzi’, are related to this fabled creature.

The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated by exciting boat races where many enthusiastic participants row boats that are made out in the shape of dragons (and hence the name) in a frenzied race for the first position. Competing teams row their boats forward to a drumbeat, racing to reach the finish line first. It’s a sheer spectacle that will keep the onlooker simply awed. The dragon boats are really amazing to look at. As they row towards victory, the participants try to scare the fishes away by the thundering sound of drums aboard the boat and the fierce looking dragon-head in the front of the boat.

This aspect of the Dragon Boat Festival has a meaning. The boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival are traditional customs that attempt to rescue the patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan is believed to have drowned on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 277 B.C. The locals, in a commemorative gesture, throw bamboo leaves filled with cooked rice into the water. However, this culinary tribute is meant for the hero poet, rather than the fishes in the water. The act of scaring the fishes away with loud drumbeats is to make sure that the food reaches the person it is intended for. This later on turned into the custom of eating Zongzi and rice dumplings which now forms an integral part of the celebrations.

The celebrations during Duan Wu have a deeper significance like most other traditional festivals. It is a means to ward off evil and protect one’s loved ones from diseases for the rest of the year. This is achieved by different practices such as hanging herbs associated with good health on the front door, drinking nutritious concoctions and displaying portraits of Evil’s nemesis, Chung Kuei. Other interesting practices include trying to make an egg stand on its end at exactly 12:00 noon. The successful person will have a year of luck.

“Gung Hay Fat Choy!” The next time you hear this, be ready for some major festivities. For this is the traditional Chinese greeting for the New Year. Chinese New Year celebrations are not limited to China only. Every major city in the world has a Chinatown of its own where one can witness Chinese New Year celebrations without having to travel to China. Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the New Year, and ends on the full moon 15 days later. The 15th day of the New Year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

The Chinese calendar is determined by lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle comprises 29.5 days. In order to maintain parity with the solar calendar, the Chinese add an extra month once every few years. A parallel can be drawn with adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.

Chinese New Year celebrations are primarily a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. It is interesting to remember that the celebrations were traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the popular Gods of the household and the family ancestors. The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.

The ancestors are remembered with veneration on New Year’s Eve with a dinner arranged in their honor at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, along with the living members of the family, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast is called “surrounding the stove” and it symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.

In China, New Year is the most important holiday, and it is observed by Chinese all over the world. Did you know that the holiday is all the more significant because every Chinese celebrates his/her birthday on New Year, regardless of the month in which he or she was actually born?

If you’ve ever been witness to Chinese New Year celebrations, you are already familiar with the unabashed merrymaking that they register. The streets are flooded with people in colorful parades, carrying those unmistakable lanterns and some rather exotic ones, lighting spectacular fireworks to drive away the evil spirits and accompanied by massive Dragon puppets swaying and dancing in a veritable riot of colors. Large crowds gather in the narrow streets of Chinatown in New York, San Francisco and other cities where Chinese have settled. And if you feel kind of dizzy and try to seek refuge from the merry mayhem all around you, just remember the closing lines from the Roman Polanski film ‘Chinatown’, “Forget it… it’s Chinatown!”