Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu)
Honoring the loyal minister and poet Qu Yuan, a celebration of patriotism and virtue.
The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar, usually in late May or June.
When Is Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu)?
The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar, usually in late May or June.
Because the Gregorian date changes from year to year, check a calendar published by the tradition or your local community for this year's date.
Why It Matters
The Dragon Boat Festival honors the memory of Qu Yuan, a loyal minister and poet of ancient China who, according to tradition, drowned himself in the Miluo River in 278 BCE in despair after his state of Chu fell to Qin and its court turned from him. According to legend, the people threw rice into the river to prevent fish from eating his body, the origin of zongzi dumplings and dragon boat racing.
How It Is Observed
Dragon boat races, eating zongzi (sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves), wearing aromatic herbs (moxa, calamus), drinking realgar wine, reciting Qu Yuan's poetry, hanging calamus and mugwort at doorways to ward off evil.