Dragon Boat Festival Welcomes Summer

June 1, 2022—Mandarin Chinese classes at Winsor celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival at school this week. A traditional Chinese holiday falling on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month (typically late May or June on the Gregorian calendar), students learned that it is observed in China as a national holiday where people have the day off from work and school.

“The Dragon Boat Festival is one of the four main traditional Chinese festivals, along with the Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, and Mid-Autumn Festival,” shared World Languages Faculty and Lower School Mandarin teacher Baoying Qiu.

The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated to commemorate the death of Qu Yuan (343–278 BC), a famous Chinese poet, and minister known for his patriotism and contributions to classical poetry. There are many legends surrounding the Dragon Boat Festival. The most renowned is that Qu Yuan, when faced with serving a new leader and a new nation, drowned himself in a river out of devotion to his former nation. In search of Qu Yuan's body, people paddled out in boats and threw lumps of rice in an attempt to keep fish from eating his body. To this day, eating rice and dragon boat racing are an important part of the celebration.

At Winsor, Mandarin Chinese classes made and ate zongzi (粽子zòngzi /dzong-dzuh/)—rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves—a traditional Dragon Boat Festival food (pictured) and also learned about dragon boat racing. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the dragon boat race in Boston on the Charles River, read more about the June 12 race.