Zongzi: Rice dumpling with red bean filling

The Duanwu Jie (in Mandarin Chinese pronunciation) or Tuen Ng Jit (in Cantonese Chinese pronunciation) is a Chinese traditional and statutory holiday. It is a public holiday in mainland China^[1][2] as of 2008, a holiday in Taiwan as the "Duanwu Jie" and a public holiday in Hong Kong and Macau as the "Tuen Ng Jit". In English it is referred to as "Dragon Boat Festival", after one of the traditional activities for the holiday. However, note that the literal translation of "dragon boat festival" is "long zhou jie". A much more authentic - and accurate - approach to naming the festival in the english language would be "Solar Maximus Festival", as explained below under etymology. Traditional Chinese characters refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of the contemporary Chinese written language. ... Map of eastern China and Taiwan, showing the historic distribution of Mandarin Chinese in light brown. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Min (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; POJ: Bân hong-giân; BUC: Mìng huŏng-ngiòng) is a general term for a group of dialects of the Chinese language spoken in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian as well as by migrants from this province in Guangdong (around Chaozhou-Swatou... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... This article is about all of the Cantonese (Yue) dialects. ... Jyutping (sometimes spelled Jyutpin) is a romanization system for Standard Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK) in 1993. ... Traditional Chinese characters refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Simplified Chinese character (Simplified Chinese: or ; traditional Chinese: or ; pinyin: or ) is one of two standard sets of Chinese characters of the contemporary Chinese written language. ... Map of eastern China and Taiwan, showing the historic distribution of Mandarin Chinese in light brown. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Min (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; POJ: Bân hong-giân; BUC: Mìng huŏng-ngiòng) is a general term for a group of dialects of the Chinese language spoken in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian as well as by migrants from this province in Guangdong (around Chaozhou-Swatou... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... This article is about all of the Cantonese (Yue) dialects. ... Jyutping (sometimes spelled Jyutpin) is a romanization system for Standard Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK) in 1993. ... Download high resolution version (1024x768, 125 KB)Rice Dumpling Zongzi; Taken March 10, 2005 by Allen Timothy Chang File links The following pages link to this file: Zongzi Categories: GFDL images ... Download high resolution version (1024x768, 125 KB)Rice Dumpling Zongzi; Taken March 10, 2005 by Allen Timothy Chang File links The following pages link to this file: Zongzi Categories: GFDL images ... Zong Traditional Chinese: Simplified Chinese: Zong, zongzi, or Chinese rice dumplings are a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. ... Vacation redirects here. ... ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

The Duanwu Festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, giving rise to the alternative name of Double Fifth ^[3]. In 2008, this falls on 8 June. The focus of the celebrations includes eating zongzi, which are large rice wraps, drinking realgar wine, and racing dragon boats. The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. ... is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Zong Traditional Chinese: Simplified Chinese: Zong, zongzi, or Chinese rice dumplings are a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. ... Orpiment and Realgar Realgar is an arsenic sulfide mineral with formula: As4S4. ... For other uses, see Wine (disambiguation). ... A dragon boat (traditional Chinese: ; simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: lóngzhōu, lóngchuán) is a very long and narrow human-powered boat used in the team paddling sport or dragon boat racing which originated in China. ...

The Duanwu Festival has also been celebrated in other East Asian nations. For their equivalent or related celebrations, see Dano (Korean festival), Tết Đoan Ngọ (Vietnam), and Kodomo no hi (Japan). This article is about the geographical region. ... For the same festival in other East Asian cultures, see Double Fifth. ...

The etymology and significance of the two terms used to refer to the festival (both double character expressions) "duan wu" and "duan yang" have to be properly understood in order to appreciate the true significance of this annual festival; namely the summer solstice or longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. The character yang means sun, while wu refers to the sun at the meridian or its high point in the sky of the day (high noon). Shangwu and Xiawu correspond to A.M. and P.M. (ante merdian and post meridian, or forenoon and afternoon). Zhongwu is noon or twelve o'clock mid-day. Duan carries the meanings of extremity, upright and proper.

Whereas the actual summer solstice is determined according to Gregorian calendar reckoning (where months have 30, 31, 28 or, in leap years, 29 days), duanwu is reckoned in accordance with calendars based on lunar months consisting of 29 or 30 days. So, like Christian Easter, duan wu - the fifth day of the fifth moon or double fifth - drifts from year to year on the western calendar. Leap months are inserted periodically to keep the "year" based on 12 or 13 lunar months of 29 or 30 days in synchrony with the "year" based on 12 months of 28 - 31 days. (Chinese New Year and other traditional holidays also drift, with the exception of Qing Ming which is always at the beginning of April. Some Chinese also observe the Double Eighth and the Double Tenth, however the 10th day of the 10th month / October has political significance for some and is pegged to the Gregorian rather than luni-solar calendar.)

The sun is considered to be at its most powerful around the time of summer solstice ("mid-summer" in China, but "beginning" of summer elsewhere) when the daylight in the northern hemisphere is the longest. Yang (sun), like long (mythical chinese dragon), is considered to be male, whereas yue (moon), like feng huang (mythical chinese phoenix bird), is considered to be female. Summer solstice is male whereas winter solstice (longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere) is female. So it is natural to venerate the male dragon at the time that the sun is at its maximal strength, that is, at duan wu. This gender-related aspects corresponds to the fact that in Japan, the Double Fifth was traditionally referred to as "boys day", although this was changed to "children's day" around 50 years ago.

The very familiar Yin-Yang (shadow-light) Taiji symbol similarly reflects the traditional Chinese world view of the duality of forces and are part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory. The use of herbs and plants, realgar wine, mugwort, etc. to ward off evils during the height of the summer heat around the time of dragon boat races and duan wu reflects TCM concepts as well, which are founded on Daoist traditions of "alchemy".

History

Origins

The Duanwu Festival originated in ancient China. There are a number of theories about its origins. Today, the most commonly accepted version relates to the death of poet Qu Yuan in 278 BC despite a number of competing theories. Qu Yuan (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) (ca. ... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC - 270s BC - 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC 220s BC 283 BC 282 BC 281 BC 280 BC 279 BC - 278 BC - 277 BC 276 BC 275...

Qu Yuan

The best-known traditional story holds that the festival commemorates the death of poet Qu Yuan (c. 340 BC - 278 BC) of the ancient state of Chu, in the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty.^[4] A descendant of the Chu royal house, Qu served in high offices. However, when the king decided to ally with the increasingly powerful state of Qin, Qu was banished for opposing the alliance. Qu Yuan was accused of treason.^[4] During his exile, Qu Yuan wrote a great deal of poetry, for which he is now remembered. Twenty-eight years later, Qin conquered the Chu capital. In despair, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth month. Qu Yuan (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) (ca. ... State of Chu (small seal script, 220 BC) Chu (楚) was a kingdom in what is now southern China during the Spring and Autumn period (722-481 BCE) and Warring States Period (481-212 BCE). ... Warring States redirects here. ... This article is about the ancient Chinese dynasty. ... Qin or Chin (Wade-Giles) (秦), pronounced something like Shin, (778 BC-207 BC) was a state during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of China. ... For other uses, see Treason (disambiguation) or Traitor (disambiguation). ... Miluo River (汨罗江) is a river in Hunan province, China. ...

It is said that the local people, who admired him, threw food into the river to feed the fish so that they would not eat Qu Yuan's body.^[4] This is said to be the origin of zongzi. The local people were also said to have paddled out on boats, either to scare the fish away or to retrieve his body. This is said to be the origin of dragon boat racing. Zong Traditional Chinese: Simplified Chinese: Zong, zongzi, or Chinese rice dumplings are a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. ... Dragon boat racing is a team paddling sport which utilises the dragon boat. ...

Wu Zixu

Despite the modern popularity of the Qu Yuan origin theory, in the former territory of the state of Wu the festival commemorated Wu Zixu (526 BC - 484 BC). Like Qu Yuan, Wu Zixu was a loyal advisor whose advice was ignored by the king to the detriment of the kingdom. Wu Zixu was forced to commit suicide by the king Fuchai, with his body thrown into the river on the fifth day of the fifth month. After his death, Wu Zixu was revered as a river god. In places such as Suzhou, in Jiangsu province, Wu Zixu is remembered during the Duanwu Festival to this day. This article is about the Spring and Autumn state. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... This article is about the city in Jiangsu. ... Jiangsu (Simplified Chinese: 江苏; Traditional Chinese: 江蘇; pinyin: Jiāngsū; Wade-Giles: Chiang-su; Postal System Pinyin: Kiangsu) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. ...

Indeed, many folkloric figures in Chinese literature and tradition drowned, both male and female, which is a type of ritual suicide in the same sense that hara kiri in Japanese traditional culture is a manner of ritualistic suicide.

Pre-existing holiday

Modern researchers have theorized that the commemoration of Qu Yuan or Wu Zixu were superimposed onto an existing holiday tradition, but has subsequently overtaken the original significance. This has to do with the position of Confucian scholars wanting to legitimize and strengthen their eminence at the time in Chinese history when Buddhism was being introduced to China and is related to the Records of the Grand Historian of that era.

One theory points to the traditional rituals of the Duanwu Festival, which mostly relate to avoiding diseases. Thus, it is said, Duanwu Festival originates from rituals designed to avoid disease during the mid-summer months (corresponding to the fifth month of the Chinese calendar). The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. ...

Another theory, advocated by Wen Yiduo, is that the Duanwu Festival had its origins in dragon worship. Support is drawn from two key traditions of the festival: the zongzi and dragon boat racing. Throwing food (zongzi) into the river is said to represent offerings to the dragon king, while dragon boat racing comes from the worship of the dragon, combined with the tradition of visiting friends and family on boats. Wen Yiduo (real name: Wen Jiahua) (1899-1946) was a Chinese poet and scholar. ... Japanese name Hiragana: KyÅ«jitai: Shinjitai: Korean name Hangul: Hanja: Vietnamese name Quốc ngữ: Hán tá»±: The Chinese dragon is visualized as a long, scaled, snake-like creature with five claws. ... Zong Traditional Chinese: Simplified Chinese: Zong, zongzi, or Chinese rice dumplings are a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. ... Dragon boat racing is a team paddling sport which utilises the dragon boat. ... The four Dragon Kings (龍王; pinyin: L ng W ng) are, in Chinese mythology, the divine rulers of the four seas (each sea corresponds to one of the cardinal directions). ...

One view is that the festival is a celebration that is characteristic of ancient Chinese agrarian society: the celebration of the harvest of winter wheat. Offerings would be made to gods and spirits on this date: in the ancient Yue, dragon kings; in the ancient Chu, Qu Yuan; in the ancient Wu, Wu Zixu (as a river god); in ancient Korea, mountain gods (see Dano (Korean festival)). As interactions between different regions increased, these similar festivals were eventually merged under the same name. Winter wheat is a cereal. ... Yue was a state in China which existed during the Spring and Autumn Period. ... The four Dragon Kings (龍王; pinyin: L ng W ng) are, in Chinese mythology, the divine rulers of the four seas (each sea corresponds to one of the cardinal directions). ... State of Chu (small seal script, 220 BC) Chu (楚) was a kingdom in what is now southern China during the Spring and Autumn period (722-481 BCE) and Warring States Period (481-212 BCE). ... Qu Yuan (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) (ca. ... This article is about the Spring and Autumn state. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... This article is about the Korean civilization. ...

However, an even better explanation of the agrarian nature of the observance is that dragon boats were traditionally built and raced only in the regions of China (southern-central) corresponding to areas where rice is grown. Wheat and millet are associated more with the north, whereas rice crops are associated with the Yangtze watershed and other regions where water is plentiful enough to sustain rice paddy cultivation. Celestial dragons were thought to control rain and live among the clouds. So it is natural for early people to want to venerate the dragon to secure adequate rain thus ensuring an excellent rice harvest. The monsoons from the China Sea bring rain to the south central part of the country around the time of duan wu even today.

In the early years of the Republic of China, Duan Wu was also celebrated as "Poets' Day," due to Qu Yuan's status as China's first poet of personal renown. During the initial Republican period following the unseating of the last dynastic rulers (the Qing dynasty), there was a rise in nationalistic fervor and patriotism among the intelligentsia. Honoring and celebrating Qu Yuan as a faithful "patrior" of the warring states era was consistent with the growing pride in Chinese self-determination. In the 1950s, under the Chinese Communist Party, Qu Yuan was similarly venerated as a "patriotic poet", consistent with the emergence of the modern Chinese state. See also Guo Moruo. For the Chinese civilization, see China. ... Guo Moruo (Chinese: 郭沫若; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kuo Mo-jo, courtesy name Dǐng Táng 鼎堂) (November 16, 1892 - June 12, 1978) was a Chinese author, poet, historian, archaeologist, and government official. ...

Public holiday

The festival was long marked by a public holiday in cultural China. However, the People's Republic of China government, established in 1949, for a long time excluded traditional holidays such as Duanwu from its list of public holidays. From 2005, the government began to plan for the adoption of three traditional holidays, including Duanwu, as a public holiday.^[5] In 2008, Duanwu was celebrated in mainland China as a public holiday for the first time.^[6] Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and Republic of China (Taiwan) For other meanings, see China (disambiguation). ...

Activities

The three most widespread activities for the Duanwu Festival are eating (and preparing) zongzi, an angular rice ball wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves; drinking realgar wine, and racing dragon boats. Zong Traditional Chinese: Simplified Chinese: Zong, zongzi, or Chinese rice dumplings are a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. ... Orpiment and Realgar Realgar is an arsenic sulfide mineral with formula: As4S4. ... For other uses, see Wine (disambiguation). ... A dragon boat (traditional Chinese: ; simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: lóngzhōu, lóngchuán) is a very long and narrow human-powered boat used in the team paddling sport or dragon boat racing which originated in China. ...

Other common activities include hanging up icons of Zhong Kui (a mythic guardian figure), hanging up mugwort and calamus, taking long walks, and wearing perfumed medicine bags. Other traditional activities including a game of making an egg stand at noon, and writing spells. All of these activities, together with the drinking of realgar wine, are designed to ward off disease or evil. An image of Zhong Kui painted sometime before 1304 A.D. by Gong Kai. ... Binomial name Artemisia vulgaris L. Mugwort or Common Wormwood (Artemisia vulgaris) is a species from the daisy family Asteraceae. ... Calamus may mean: Sweet flag Acorus calamus, an herb Calamus (palm genus), a genus of rattan palms Calamus (fish genus), a genus of porgies (Sparidae) Calamus, Iowa Calamus, Wisconsin Calamus, a DTP application This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the... The Sorceress by John William Waterhouse Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events, objects, people, and physical phenomena) through mystical, paranormal or supernatural means. ...

References

2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 160th day of the year (161st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 160th day of the year (161st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Era (or Anno Domini), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 160th day of the year (161st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• See original pictures of Qu Yuan's hometown (now submerged by waters of three gorges dam project) and his country capital
• Dragon Boat Net, about the dragon boat sport and its tradition
• More pictures on Hong Kong official tourism website about Dragon Boat Festival
• More pictures of Dragon Boat Festival
• Dragon Boat World Int. - the worlds dragon boat magazine
• Official website of the world federation for dragonboat racing