How Do People Celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival?

Dragon Boat Festival customs can be roughly divided into two categories. One is to worship the god of dragon and heroes, such as Qu Yuan. The activities include dragon boat races and eating glutinous rice dumplings.

Another category aims to fend off evils and keep people healthy. The activities include bathing in herbal concoctions, hanging wormwood and calamus, and drinking realgar wine.

1. Eating Sticky Rice Dumplings

Zongzi are the most traditional Dragon Boat Festival food. Related to Qu Yuan commemoration, the legend says that lumps of rice (not unlike zongzi) were thrown into the river to stop fish eating his drowned body.

In the past, every family would make sticky rice dumplings and pass them out as gifts, receive them, and eat them. Today only a few of the more traditional older family members will bother to cook their own, while the majority are purchased from restaurants and bakers.

Zongzi are made of glutinous rice filled with meats, beans, and other fillings. They are wrapped in triangle or rectangle shapes within bamboo or reed leaves and tied with soaked stalks or colorful silky cords. The flavors of zongzi are usually different from one region to another across China. Read more on Zongzi.

2. 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.

The most famous dragon boat races can be found in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou.

3. Hanging Chinese Mugwort and Calamus

The Dragon Boat Festival is held at the start of summer when diseases are more prevalent. Mugwort leaves are used medicinally in China to combat such diseases. Their fragrance deters flies and mosquitoes. Calamus is an aquatic plant that has similar effects.

On the fifth day of the fifth month, people usually clean their houses, courtyards, and hang mugwort and calamus on doors lintels to discourage diseases. It is also said hanging mugwort and calamus can bring good luck to the family.

4. Drinking Realgar Wine

There is an old saying: 'Drinking realgar wine drives diseases and evils away!' Realgar wine is a Chinese alcoholic drink consisting of fermented cereals and powdered realgar (ruby-like arsenic sulphide).

In ancient times, people believed that realgar was an antidote for all poisons, and effective for killing insects and driving away evil spirits. So, everyone would drink some realgar wine during the Dragon Boat Festival.

5. Wearing Perfume Pouches

Before Dragon Boat Festival arrives, parents usually prepare perfume pouches for their children. They sew little bags with colorful silk cloth, fill the bags with perfumes or herbal medicines, and then string them shut with silk threads.

During Dragon Boat Festival perfume pouches are hung around kids' necks or tied to the front of a garment as an ornament. The perfume pouches are said to protect them from evil.