Holidays and Related Calendars
Dragon Boat Festival 端午節 takes place June 10, 2024, of the Gregorian or solar calendar year which is also the 5th day of the 5th month in the Chinese traditional calendar or “agricultural calendar 農曆” in modern-day terminology.
What does this mean exactly? Let’s first take a deeper look into the lunar calendar and what it means to countries in Asia.
I will start by saying calendars in Asia can be confusing to the newcomer.
Countries throughout Asia have largely adopted the Gregorian calendar as the day-to-day calendar of use. Whereas cycles of planting or harvesting crops, national holidays or cultural events, birthdays, birth years zodiac signs etc. are still largely based on traditional calendars. Many of these calendar variations are based around lunar cycles rather than solar cycles. Most have heard of Yin and Yang and recognize a circular symbol divided by a sinuous line. One side is white, and one side is black with a dot of the opposite color in each.
In Chinese the dark portion is known as Yin 陰 (yin) or moon and the light portion is known as 陽 (yang) or sun.
These represent many things in traditions and culture, but they also refer to the two main basis of calendars.
To attempt to keep this simple, most Asian traditional holidays are based on the Lunar or Yin calendar, whereas Western holidays are based on the Solar or Yang calendar. As these two systems do not align with each other, Gregorian dates for Asian holidays vary each year.
This year, Dragon Boat festival is on June 10th of the Gregorian calendar year.
What is Dragon Boat Festival?
It is old. This is the one fact all can agree with surety. There are origin stories, one of which is the most common.
It is often shared that this festival has its roots in the life and death story of Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet and statesman from the Warring States period of China. China was divided into rival kingdoms two of which were the state of Chu and the powerful state of Qin.
Qu Yuan served as minister in the state of Chu and was later exiled after voicing opposition to an alliance with the state of Qin. During his exile, at a time of great despair, he wrote a poem then drowned himself in the Miluo River.
Modern-Day Dragon Boat Festival Traditions
The Dragon Boat Festival is marked by two distinct traditions that are both found in the history of Qu Yuan.
First, is the eating of sticky-rice leaf-wrapped steamed dumplings (粽子)。These come with a range of fillings and can be quite delicious. They are notably different from a typical “Chinese style dumpling” in that the filling is surrounded by sticky rice, then everything is wrapped in a large leaf and tied up with a string. They are then steamed before eating.
The filling can be of a savory variety with meat or salted egg yolks, or it can be of a sweet variety with red or green bean paste.
Second, are the dragon boat races. Dragon boats are decorated with bright colors and as might be obvious from the name, dragons. They are manned by a team of rowers who compete against other teams.
This year for Dragon boat festival I am in Hong Kong. As the actual day of the festival is a Monday. Hong Kong decided to host it’s primary Dragon Boat race, a two-day event, on the following weekend or the 15th and 16th of June. I decided to stick around Hong Kong for the event.
Unlike most key holidays in Asia, the family obligations are generally not as stringent for the Dragon Boat festival. Therefore, it tends to be a casual, relaxing day off work with good food and fun events.
So, grab your boat, pull out your oars and get to the racing. Or if you’re like me, find a shady spot watch some races and gorge yourself on delicious sticky rice dumplings.
公休日及相關日曆
端午節 Dragon Boat Festival 於公曆或陽曆的2024年6月10日舉行。這也是中國傳統曆法中，農曆，的五月初五。
這究竟意味著什麼？讓我們先首先更深入地瞭解農曆及其對亞洲國家的意義。
我先要說的是，亞洲的日曆可能會讓新來者感到困惑。
亞洲各國基本上採用公曆作爲日常使用日曆。而種植或收穫莊稼的週期，國定假日，文化活動， 生日，出生年份，十二生肖等仍然主要基於傳統日曆。這些日曆是基於月球周期而不是太陽周期。大多數人都聽説過陰陽，並認出一個由蜿蜒的線分隔的圓形符號。一面是白色的，一面是黑色的，每面都有一個相反顔色的點。
在中文中，黑暗部分被稱爲陰(Yin) 或月亮， 而光明部分被稱爲陽(Yang)或太陽。這些代表了傳統和文化中的許多東西包括日曆兩個主要基礎。
爲了保持簡單，大多數亞洲傳統節日都是基於農曆或陰曆，而西方假日則基於公曆或陽曆。由於這兩個系統彼此不一致，因此亞洲假期的公曆日期都不同。
今年的端午節是公曆的6月10日。
什麽是端午節？
它很舊。這是所有人都可以同意保證的一個事實。有起源故事，其中最常見的一個就如下：
人們經常分享說，這個節日起源於中國戰國時期的愛國詩人和政治家屈原的生死故事。中國被劃分為敵對的王國，其中兩個是楚國和强大的秦國。
屈原曾在楚國擔任大臣，後來因爲反對與秦國結盟就被流放。在流亡期間，在極度絕望的時候，他寫了一首詩，然後淹死在汨羅江裏。
這個事發生在五月初五。
當地百姓對屈原懷有深深的敬意，他們以最快的速度乘船試圖救他。當知道來不及救他時，他們試圖通過將粽子扔進河裏來保護他的屍體免受饑餓的魚的傷害。
現代端午節傳統
端午節以兩種截然不同的傳統為標志，這兩種傳統在屈原歷史上都有發現。
首先，是吃葉包的糯米蒸餃子（Sticky Rice Dumplings）. 這些帶有一系列餡料，非常美味。它們與典型的“中式餃子“ 明顯不同，因爲餡料被糯米包圍，然後用大葉子包裏所有東西並用繩綁起來。食用前將其蒸熟。
餡料可以是帶有肉或鹹蛋黃的鹹味品種，或者它可以是帶有紅色或綠色豆沙的甜味品種。
第二，是龍舟比賽。龍舟裝飾著鮮豔的色彩和（從名字能明顯看出）一個龍頭。他們有一隊賽船運動員組成，他們與其他團隊競爭。
今年端午節我人在香港。由於節日的實際日期是星期一，香港決定在下一個周末（6月15，16）舉辦爲期兩天的龍舟賽。我決定留在香港參加這個活動。
與亞洲大多數重要節日不同，端午節的家庭義務通常沒有那麽嚴格，因此，它往往是一個休閒，輕鬆的休息日，有美食和有趣的活動。
所以抓住你的船，拉出你的槳，開始比賽。或者，如果你像我一樣，找一個陰涼的地方，觀看一些比賽，然後大快朵頤吃美味的粽子。