WildChina Education wishes everyone a Happy Dragon Boat Festival!
How much do you know of this festival? What are the traditions that take place? Take a look below to find out more.
Scorpion 蝎子
In ancient times they believed that poisonous animals like the scorpion would start to appear after this day in the year. So, people would create a picture of poisonous animals, like the scorpion, and wrap it around their children’s wrists to protect them from being bitten by them! You can cut this picture out to wrap it around your own wrist.
Dragonboat 龙舟
When a famous poet fell into a river people rushed in their boats to try to save him. This started the tradition of racing Dragon boats on this day.
Dragon 龙
In ancient China, they used to believe in dragon gods. In fact, almost every culture around the world had their own versions of dragons. The ancient Chinese dragon looks like a snake with legs. Some people think that that’s because our ancestors thought dinosaur bones were in fact dragon bones!
Garlic & Calamus Plant 大蒜和菖蒲属植物
They say that there are a lot of evil spirits bringing bad luck during these times. Garlic smells bad and the calamus plant looks like a sword so some people hang these items up above their doors to scare away the evil spirits.
Zongzi 粽子
Zongzi is what people eat during the Dragon Boat Festival. It is made from sticky rice and wrapped in bamboo leaves. Similar food is eaten all around the world for celebrations in places like China, Taiwan, Japan, Mauritius, Malaysia, Philippines & Singapore but they are called different names.
An Egg 鸡蛋
Tradition says that if you can balance an egg on its long point at 12pm exactly on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival you will have good luck for a whole year. Can you make an egg stand up at noon this year?
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