Dragon Boat Festival
An Ancient Celebration That Is More Popular Than Ever

By Toni Dabbs

Washington D.C. Dragon Boat Festival

One of today’s most colorful and widespread festivals was born of legend more than 2,000 years ago. The Dragon Boat Festival originated in China but now is celebrated in such disparate places as: Bergen, Norway; Prague, Czech Republic; Berlin, Germany; Rome, Italy; Auckland, New Zealand; Melbourne, Australia; and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Festival elements vary from place to place and might include entertainment, a marketplace, specialty food vendors, art exhibitions and demonstrations, and even a parade. But the highlight is always the Dragon Boat Race. 

Heavenly Dragon

Unlike its European counterpart, the Asian dragon is a benevolent creature and is the most revered sign of the Chinese zodiac. Traditionally, it is the god of water, said to rule the rivers and seas and to control the clouds and rains.

Dragon Boat Racing began along the life sustaining rivers in the valleys of southern China as a fertility rite, performed to ensure plentiful crops. Races, intended to simulate dragon battles, were staged to awaken the hibernating Heavenly Dragon and to encourage the rains needed for prosperity.

The boats were long canoes decorated to resemble dragons, with open mouthed heads projecting from their bows and scaly tails on their sterns. Each could hold a team of 20 or more rowers plus a drummer, a hand clapper and as many as four singers. Smaller boats carrying food and wine for the competitors might accompany them.

Festivities were held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month of the Chinese calendar, a date that corresponds to the summer solstice, and included sacrifices to the water deity. Usually, the sacrifices were foods, but sometimes they were animals or even humans. If rowers fell into the water, they received no help because it was considered wrong to interfere with the will of the gods.

For many centuries, Dragon Boat Races were violent naval battles. Crews of competing boats would throw stones and strike at one another with sticks, while people on the riverbanks cheered their favorite teams and pelted opposing boats with rocks or other objects. And, perhaps a throwback to the ancient human sacrifices to the Heavenly Dragon, it was believed to be unlucky if there wasn’t at least one drowning.

Qu Yuan

At some point, the story of Qu Yuan came to be associated with the Dragon Boat Festival. Qu Yuan was a patriot and poet who lived in the Zhou Kingdom from 340 to 278 BCE. That era of Chinese history is known as the Warring States Period, a time of shifting alliances and treachery.

A wise and articulate man, Qu Yuan served as minister to the Zhou emperor. He fought against the rampant corruption that plagued the court, earning the admiration of the common people but the anger of the dishonest officials. Therefore, when he urged the emperor to avoid conflict with the Qin Kingdom, those officials pressured the emperor to banish him.

In exile, Qu Yuan wrote poetry expressing love of his homeland and concern for its future. When he learned that Zhou and been defeated by Qin, he leaped into the Mi Lo River to drown himself. The people rushed in their fishing boats to rescue him, beating drums and splashing water with oars to scare away the fish. When they realized that they were too late to save him, they tossed zong-zi (glutinous rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves) into the river as a sacrifice to his spirit.

At Dragon Boat Festivals in China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, zong-zi still is a part of the celebration. Families will bring or buy enough for themselves and to share with friends and colleagues. Today’s steamed dumplings have fillings that are either savory (meats or peanuts) or sweet (bean paste or lotus seed paste). And they still are thrown into the water to honor the memory of Qu Yuan.

Team Spirit

The special canoes used in Dragon Boat Races apparently have changed little over the centuries. They still are designed to resemble dragons, with ornately carved and brightly colored heads and tails. Before a boat enters competition, a priest must perform a ritual known as “awakening the dragon” by painting its eyes.

Dragon boats generally measure about 40 feet in length. Their crews usually include 20 paddlers, sitting two abreast, with a steersman at the back and a drummer, who sets the rhythm for the paddlers, and a flag catcher at the front. Any number of boats may compete in a race, with the winner being the first team to grab a flag at the end of the course.

After a race, the water is considered “blessed,” and in some places, people traditionally dip their hands or even swim in the “dragon boat water” in the belief that it will bring them health for the rest of the year.

Modern races in many countries focus less on myths and legends and more on what is referred to as the “spirit of the dragon,” the experience of working as a team to reach a common goal. Serious dragon boaters train throughout the year and sometimes travel around the world to compete in more than one annual race.

Dates for some upcoming Dragon Boat Festivals are: June 11, 2005, Hong Kong; June 12, 2005, Boston, Massachusetts; June 17 - 19, 2005, Vancouver, British Columbia; June 25 - 26, 2005, Ottawa, Ontario; July 2 - 3, 2005, Singapore; July 29 - 31, 2005, Grand Marais, Minnesota; July 30 - 31, 2005, Denver, Colorado; August 13 - 14, 2005, New York, New York; August 27 - 28, 2005, San Francisco, California; September 10, 2005, Cambridge, England; September 17, 2005, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and October 15 - 16, 2005, Miami Beach, Florida.