Legend and superstitious – 10 interesting facts about Dragon Boat Race:

•Dragon Boat Race defined by the Chinese lunar calendar, and s place on the 5th day of 5th lunar month. This year that is on the 14th Jun 2021.

•On October 30th 2009 Dragon Boat Race was added to the UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

•The Dragon Boat Race commemorate a famous poet of China, Qu Yuan, who sacrificed himself on the fifth day of May in the lunar calendar.

•There are other names for Dragon Boat Festival, such us Chinese Dragon Festival, Zongzi Festival, Rice Dumpling Festival, Duan Wu Festival or simply Duanwu.

•Zongzi, also known as sticky rice dumplings, is the most important food of the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. Legend says zongzi become popular when people threw it into the Miluo River to protect Qu Yuan’s body from being gnawed by fish. Nowadays, Zongzi comes in great variety in terms of shapes and flavors.

•Dragon boat racing is the most important activity during the Dragon Boat Festival. The wooden boats are shaped and decorated in the form of a Chinese dragon. The boat size varies by region. Generally, it is about 20–35 meters in length and needs 30–60 people to paddle it.

•Before Dragon Boat Festival arrives, parents usually prepare perfume pouches for their children. The perfume pouches are said to protect them from evil.

•Drinking realgar wine during the festival day is an old custom, and kids’ cheek and forehead will also be rubbed with the liquid. In fact, there are tiny toxins in the wine, so it is not proper to over drink or drink after it is heated.

•According to the superstition, the water in a well is poisonous on that day, so people should prepare enough water in advance and avoid drawing water from a well in Duanwu Festival.

•On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, people have hung Chinese mugwort and calamus on their doors or walls for generations in the belief that they drive away evil and diseases. They are also believed to bring good luck. It is an old practice that is still used in many of China’s rural areas, but is not common in cities nowadays.