As we all know, to learn Chinese language is the potential trend in the world. So learning Chinese culture and festivals well is also important. For example, the Dragon Boat Festival, the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, has had a history of more than 2,000 years. It is usually in June in the Gregorian calendar. The day happened on May fifth in the Chinese lunar calendar.

Zongzi, as the traditional food for the Dragon Boat Festival is a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves to give it a special flavor, varies greatly across China.

It is a very popular practice to drink this kind of Chinese liquor seasoned with realgar at the Dragon Boat Festival. Ancient Chinese believed realgar was an antidote for all poisons, and therefore most effective to drive away evil spirits and kill insects. So everyone would drink some realgar wine during the Dragon Boat Festival, and children would have the Chinese character for "King” written on their foreheads with realgar wine. This is for protection from evil and disease for the rest of the year.

On Dragon Boat Festival, parents also need to dress their children up with a perfume pouch. They first sew little bags with colorful silk cloth, then fill the bags with perfumes or herbal medicines, and finally string them with silk threads. The perfume pouch will be hung around the neck or tied to the front of a garment as an ornament. They are said to be able to ward off evil.

Dragon boat racing is an indispensable part of the festival, held all over the country. As the gun is fired, people will see racers in dragon-shaped canoes pulling the oars harmoniously and hurriedly, accompanied by rapid drums, speeding toward their destination. Folk tales say the game originates from the activities of seeking Qu Yuan’s body, but experts, after painstaking and meticulous research, conclude that dragon boat racing is a semi-religious, semi-entertaining program from the Warring States Period (475-221 BC).

Would you like to learn Chinese festivals more? I recommend you to take some Chinese lessons online to know about Chinese culture. Many foreigners think that successfully knowing culture is as hard as learning Chinese.

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