Dragon Boat Festival Or ‘端午节’ Is More Than Just Eating Dumplings Come this time of year, Singaporeans will notice colourful dragon boats sailing along our shores. Wet markets across the country will also begin hawking sticky rice dumplings wrapped snugly in bamboo leaves. We call this event the “Dragon Boat Festival”, but it is somewhat of a misnomer. Let’s find out why. Dragon Boat or Duan Wu Festival? The true meaning behind the festival belies its original Chinese name, 端午节 (duan wu jie), which refers to the summer solstice. To be precise, the Chinese commemorate the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which signifies the longest day of the year. Where do dumplings come in? Like in all good Chinese festivals, delectable food will be usually be involved. However, everyone’s favourite glutinous rice dumplings have rather tragic origins. Beloved poet and outspoken statesman Qu Yuan, was falsely accused of treason after speaking out against corruption. He decided to drown himself in the Mi Luo River on this very day. Rice dumplings were wrapped in leaves were thrown into the river by villagers who loved the poet and wished to prevent fish from consuming his corpse. They also tied their offerings […]
6 years ago
