Home > Terms > English, UK (UE) > Dragon Boat Festival
Dragon Boat Festival
Celebrated in China, as well as other Southeast Asian countries, Dragon Boat Festival is on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. On this day, people eat sticky rice dumplings (zongzi/粽子) and participate in or watch dragon boats races.
The origins of this holiday is not known, but the most popular theory relates to the suicide of Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet of the Chu kingdom in 278 BC (the Warring States period of the Zhou Dynasty). Qu was a respected poet and statesman. When he learned that the king was planning an alliance with the Qin state, Qu was vocal about his opposition. His opposition, considered an act of treason, caused him to be exiled. It was during this time that he wrote many of the poems he is remembered for. When the state of Qin won victory of Chu years later, Qu Yuan committed suicide out of despair.
It is said that those that found his body in the river threw in handfuls of rice so the fish would not feed on his body, which is where the tradition of eating sticky rice dumplings 粽子 is considered to originate from.
- Part of Speech: proper noun
- Synonym(s):
- Blossary:
- Industry/Domain: Holiday
- Category: Festivals
- Company:
- Product:
- Acronym-Abbreviation:
Other Languages:
Member comments
Terms in the News
Featured Terms
Lake of Canet Saint Nazaire
The lake of Canet Saint Nazaire is a salty lake that has more than 200 species of both migrant and non-migrant birds, which make it to be unique and a ...
Contributor
Featured blossaries
marija.horvat
0
Terms
21
Blossaries
2
Followers
Essential English Idioms - Intermediate
Tatevik888
0
Terms
5
Blossaries
0
Followers
Idioms from English Literature
Browers Terms By Category
- Capacitors(290)
- Resistors(152)
- Switches(102)
- LCD Panels(47)
- Power sources(7)
- Connectors(7)
Electronic components(619) Terms
- Nightclub terms(32)
- Bar terms(31)
Bars & nightclubs(63) Terms
- Bread(293)
- Cookies(91)
- Pastries(81)
- Cakes(69)
Baked goods(534) Terms
- Cardboard boxes(1)
- Wrapping paper(1)
Paper packaging(2) Terms
- Organic chemistry(2762)
- Toxicology(1415)
- General chemistry(1367)
- Inorganic chemistry(1014)
- Atmospheric chemistry(558)
- Analytical chemistry(530)