Dragon Boat Festival - June 19, 2007

There are few sites more spectacular than a fleet of painted dragon boats racing toward the finish line, with a drummer in each boat hammering out the rhythm for the rowers to follow. The Dragon Boat Festival is China's oldest festival. Once practically unknown outside the Chinese community, today you'll find enthusiastic crowds cheering on racers participating in dragon boat festivals everywhere from Rome to Seattle. The Dragon Boat Festival is the third largest festival in the Chinese calendar, following the Spring Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival.

There are several legends surrounding the origin of the dragon boat festival, which is also called the "Festival of the Double Fifth". Traditionally the fifth lunar month is supposed to be fraught with danger, as the forces of ying and yang are out of balance. One theory is that dragon boat racing began as a way of paying homage to the God of Water so that the farmers would have good crops. But bad as the fifth month was, the fifth day of that month was especially inauspicious. It was said that a child born on that day would be extrememly difficult to raise, bringing his parents much grief. Another legend surrounding the origin of the dragon boat festival concerns a man who had the misfortune to be born on this unlucky day. Tian Wen survived murder attempts and banishment by his father to eventually become the Prime Minister of a Chinese state. Determined that no other child should suffer similar mistreatment, he ordered that the fifth day of the fifth month be considered a regular day, as propitious as any other.

Who knows, maybe we'll be able to travel in June (of 2009, if we're lucky!!!!!) and see some Dragon Boat racing.