ISP News
Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival is coming soon. ISP will celebrate the festival in the last week of Term 2. It is often known as Duanwu in Mandarin, which is a traditional Chinese festival that commemorates Qu Yuan, an ancient Chinese poet. However, China is not the only country where you can enjoy such a festival, many countries in Asia, traditions and customs are carried on in different ways.
China-Duan Wu
Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese festival commemorating an ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan. It’s also to pray for a bumper harvest, good weather and a healthy body. Eating Zongzi, a kind of rice dumpling, is another common custom. Besides, people hang calamus and wormwood on their doors to drive mosquitoes and flies away and purify the air, and kids wear perfume satchel and five-colored silk thread in red, yellow, blue, white, and black. Taiwan and Hong Kong also have other different customs and activities.
South Korea - Dano
In South Korea, the festival ’s known as “Gangneung Danoje Festival.” It is celebrated in the town of Gangneung on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and usually lasts for a month. During Gangneung Danoje, there will be activities with local characteristics such as throwing pots, wrestling, swinging, taekwondo competitions, college football matches and so on. The Gangneung Danoje is a large-scale folk activity for citizens to pray for good harvest and well-being.
Vietnam - as grand as the Spring Festival
Vietnam also has the Dragon Boat Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which is only as grand for them as the Spring Festival. Their main celebrations are to eat zongzi and expel parasites. Vietnamese people believe that eating zongzi can get good wind and rain, and abundant grain all the round year.
Japan
The main Dragon Boat Festival celebrations for Japanese people are eating zongzi and drinking calamus wine in order to fend off evil influences. Since the “calamus” and “advocate strength” in the Japanese language are homophonic, the Dragon Boat Festival has gradually become a festival for boys. To wish the boys grow in strength and health, people will also hang a carp banner at the door, which means high hopes for their boys.
Malaysia
In Malaysia, people eat zongzi on this day. The zongzi-making contest is held almost every year. There are many people of all ages participating in the competition. The dragon race is also an annual event.
Singapore
In Singapore, it is a festival to exorcise evil spirits and pray for peace. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, they will always remember to eat zongzi and hold dragon boat races. There are a special kind of zongzi called flower zongzi. The flower zongzi is made from the light green rice powder dyed by with flower juice. They are wrapped in a multi-angled shape the size of an egg.
Tell us more if you know that who else celebrates the day!