A slice of Mandarin

Grade 2 Incursion Photos & 2018 Dragon Boat Festival

NI HAO!!  Our Grade 2 students celebrated the Chinese Children’s Day with a fun Chinese Incursion.  They learned about the history, the culture and music instruments about Lion Dance as well as transformed themselves into Lion Dancers using some kung-Fu movement to performance Lion Dance.  Here are some photos to share with you.    

Immediately following Children’s Day, every Chinese family is getting ready for the famous DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL, which is one of the biggest and most important Chinese holidays!  Here is a short version of the story of how the Dragon Boat Festival came about to share with your family: 

 Over 2,000 years ago, during a time when China was split into lots of small states that all fought with each other, a  wise man and poet named Qu Yuan lived in the state of Chu. He warned his king that the neighbouring state of Qin was about to attack Chu, and that Chu needed to prepare itself. But the king did not listen to him, and sure enough,    Qin attacked and conquered Chu. Qu Yuan was so unhappy that he drowned himself in the river.

The people of Chu honoured him by holding a boat race with the boats decorated as dragons, which is why this festival is called the Dragon Boat Festival. They also threw packs of rice in the river so the fish would not eat Qu Yuan’s body, and that’s the reason Chinese people eat粽子 (zòng zi), sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, for the Dragon Boat Festival.

Qu Yuan’s story is a bit sad so I like to think of the Dragon Boat Festival as a holiday that’s for dragons, like me, and has yummy rice dumplings for kids, like you!