Dragon Boat Festival

When I arrived in the dorm this evening, I saw these things on my desk.

The chinese item is really cute!!! hihihihi...

Well, our dorm is celebrating the dragonboat festival tomorrow, June 4, 2008.

I checked with Mr. Google and I found this site: http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/DragonBoatFestival.htm

It says that the Dragon Boat Festival for this year will be on June 8, 2008...hmmnn..double 8.

Anyways, let me share with you what is written on the dorm's invitation.....

The Dragon Boat Festival is traditionally celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th month on the lunar calendar and is therefore, often called "Double Fifth Festival". In Chinese, "Duan Wu Jie".

The celebration commemorates the life and death of the Chinese scholar Qu Yuan (340 BC-278 BC or 343-290 B.C.). He was betrayed by the other officials of the court and the king sent him away.

While exiled, Qu Yuan met a fisherman, who never cared about the country.

He felt hopeless and he drowned himself in the Milo river.

Many fishermen tried to rescue him, but his body was never found.

The fishermen worried that the fish would eat his body. So they thought if the fishes were not hungry, they would not eat Qu Yuan's body. The people then threw zong zi, a food made from sticky rice and meat wrapped in bamboo leaves, into the river to feed the fishes.

(hehehe, I had my first zong zi for this year yesterday....hmmnn, I just miss the kakanin, like suman de latik in the Philippines,which tastes better that these sticky rice...hehehe..I still love my own!!!)

They also tried to scare the fishes away by splashing the water with their paddles and beating their drums on a long narrow boat.

Later on, some tales said that a fisherman saw a dragon in the river with one piece of Qu Yuan's clothing found in between its whisker. Thus, came the name, Dragon Boat Festival.

.....with the Dragon Boat race and the beat of the drums....

yep, they are from the Philippines who joined the race here in Taipei last June 19, 2007 and I watched them with my Ga..

That time, my Ga was also able to let an egg stand ....hihihi....

let a chicken egg stand on the floor.

They say since Dragon Boat Day is usually in June, which is a Horse month. Horse hour in astrology is from 11:00 AM to 13:00 PM. It is believed that you will be lucky for the coming year if you can make an egg stand during Horse hour on the Dragon Boat Day.

I guess my Ga has been lucky...