Duan Wu Festival

Duan wu Festival
  Duan wu Festival ，also called “Double Fifth Day” “Duan Yang”   “Tian Zhong Jie” “Xia Jie” “Dragon Boat Festival” and so on, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. It is said to have more than 20 lores of Duan wu Festival. Our forefathers tended to take days which have the same number with the month as festivals. In addition to January the first, February the second、 March the third、June the sixth、July the seventh、 September the ninth are also festivals. However, of all the festivals, Duan wu Festival draws even more attention of people.

  People have always been arguing about the origin of Duan wu Festival throughout ages and have given their own explanations. As is concluded by scholars, not less than 10 folklores about Duan wu Festival are spreading. And the most influential one is said to commemorate Qu Yuan.

  Qu Yuan was a great poet of the state of Chu during the Warring States Period (475 BC-221BC). Early in Qu Yuan’s life, he won the confidence of King Huai of Chu and was appointed as san lu da fu (a very high and important position of that time). However, King Huai was surrounded by treacherous court officials later and believed their slanderous talk about Qu Yuan. These evil governors dissuaded King Huai from taking Qu Yuan’s advice of making alliance with the neighboring Qi state as a way to fight against the Qin state. As a result, King Huai was cheated to go to the Qin state and died there. To people’s disappointment, the successor, King Xiang, still distrusted Qu Yuan and thought little of re-energizing the country. Then Qu Yuan was deposed and exiled by the King, and had roamed about the catchments areas of Xiang River and Ruan River for a long time. Finally, Ying, capital of Chu, was conquered by the Qin army and Qu Yuan’s ambition of saving his beloved country turned out to be impossible. In great pain, the patriotic poet committed suicide by drowning himself in Milo River on the fifth day of the fifth...