| The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is a | | | | and excitement of the race attracts thousands |
| significant holiday celebrated in China, and | | | | of spectators, who watch from the river bank |
| the one with the longest history. The Dragon | | | | cheering on their favorite team. |
| Boat Festival is celebrated by boat races in | | | | |
| the shape of Dragons. Competing teams row | | | | Dragon Boat Festival is highlighted by the |
| their boats forward to a drumbeat racing to | | | | dragon boat races, in which competing teams |
| reach the finish end first. | | | | drive their boats forward rowing to the |
| | | | rhythm of pounding drums. This lively and |
| The boat races during the Dragon Boat | | | | colorful tradition has continued unbroken for |
| Festival are traditional customs to attempts | | | | centuries to the present day. |
| to rescue the patriotic poet Chu Yuan. Chu | | | | |
| Yuan drowned on the fifth day of the fifth | | | | The celebration's is a time for protection |
| lunar month in 277 B.C. Chinese citizens now | | | | from evil and disease for the rest of the |
| throw bamboo leaves filled with cooked rice | | | | year. It is done so by different practices |
| into the water. Therefore the fish could eat | | | | such as hanging healthy herbs on the front |
| the rice rather than the hero poet. This | | | | door, drinking nutritious concoctions, and |
| later on turned into the custom of eating | | | | displaying portraits of evil's nemesis, Chung |
| tzungtzu and rice dumplings. | | | | Kuei. If one manages to stand an egg on it's |
| | | | end at exactly 12:00 noon, the following year |
| When the race begins, all one can see is the | | | | will be a lucky one. |
| rowers of each team driving their boats | | | | |
| forward in unison to the beat of drums. The | | | | The most popular dish during Dragon Boat |
| winning team is the one that first grabs the | | | | Festival is tzung tzu, originally eaten in |
| flag at the end of the river course and the | | | | memory of the patriot Chu Yuan, but gradually |
| difference between victory and defeat may be | | | | evolving into a snack eaten during normal |
| only a few fractions of a second. The energy | | | | occasions as well. |