The Dragon Boat Festival ,also called the Duanwu Festival ,is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese calendar.People always eat rice dumplings and watch dragon boat races to celebrate it.
The festival is best known for its dragon-boat races,especially in the southern places where there are many rivers and lakes. Ití?so very popular.
The rice dumpling is made of glutinous rice,meat and so on. You can eat different kinds of rice dumplings.They are very delicious.
And Dragon Boat Festival is for Qu Yuan. He is an honest minister who is said to have committed suicide by drowning himself in a river.
Overall, the Dragon Boat Festival is very interesting!
Ancient folk medicines(民间药物) such as realgar(雄黄酒)are added to the food eaten on the Festival day. This is believed to prevent disease and to promote a healthy digestive system(消化器官). The drinking of realgar in wine supposedly relieves(解除) the effects of poisons accumulated in human bodies.
饮雄黄酒：雄黄本属矿物， 含有三硫化砷成分，与酒混合。即成雄黄酒，用以驱虫解五毒，小儿涂于头额。耳鼻，手足心。 并洒墙壁问， 以法诸毒。流传民间之《白蛇传》故事，即是以雄黄酒解蛇虺诸毒，而现白蛇原形。此种习佰，在长江流域地区的人家很盛行。
A Chinese holiday is gaining worldwide popularity
Some holidays are so much fun that they catch on outside of their culture。The most obvious example is probably Christmas， which is celebrated around theworld by people who aren't even Christian。 Similarly， in recent years， theDragon Boat Festival has moved beyond China to bee an international holidaycelebrated by people who may know little about the holiday's origins。
The Dragon Boat Festival is one of three major Chinese holidays， along withthe Spring and Moon Festivals。 Of the three， it is possibly the oldest， datingback to the Warring States Period in 227 B。C。 The festival memorates Qu Yuan， aminister in the service of the Chu Emperor。 Despairing over corruption at court，Qu threw himself into a river。 Townspeople jumped into their boats and tried invain to save him。 Then， hoping to distract hungry fish from his body， the peoplescattered rice on the water。
Over the years， the story of Qu's demise transformed into the traditions ofracing dragon boats and eating zongzi – a kind of rice wrapped in bamboo leaves。The races have certainly captured the imagination of people from all over theworld。 Every spring there are nearly 60 dragon boat races held outside of Chinain cities from Vancouver to Sydney， from Gdańsk， Poland to Cape Town， SouthAfrica。 Canada alone has nearly 50 dragon boat teams and Germany has nearly30。
So what is it about the Dragon Boat Festival that appeals to foreigners?“It's an unusual sport，” says one racer from Germany。 “It's not like everybody'sdoing it。 That's one of the reasons that there's such great team spirit in adragon boat team – everybody feels like we're doing something special。” And whatabout the zongzi? “Ehhh， they're not bad， I guess，” he says。 “Something of anacquired taste。 I just haven't really acquired it yet。”