Hi guys, welcome back to ChinesePod.
I'm Rebecca. And I'm Carly.
And today we're going to be talking about the Dragon Boat Festival!
Which is...
in Chinese.
So Rebecca, we all know that 节 is "holiday" in Chinese, but what about
Is there a specific meaning for that?
Well actually, these two words have nothing to do with the festival itself.
And it just means the beginning of May.
That's right,
and some of you might be wondering why it means the start of May when the festival is actually in June.
Well that is because this festival falls on the fifth of May on the lunar calendar, which is around June every year.
Great, so now that we know that, in this episode we're going to be talking about the origin stories and traditions
of this festival.
And more importantly, we're going to show you a lot of different kinds of
which is...sticky rice dumplings.
That's right, I'm so excited already.
Alright, let's get started.
So Carly, why don't we start by telling everybody about the story behind this festival.
This is about the famous poet,
right?
Yes.
So 屈原 was a poet and politician during the Warring States Period.
He was known for his patriotism and was beloved by the people.
However one day, he heard that the King had been killed and he was extremely saddened by this news
that he decided to throw himself into the Miluo River to end his own life.
And when the people heard about this, they started to wrap those sticky rice dumplings into bamboo leaves
and threw them into the river in the hopes of preventing the fish from eating his body.
Now this is very important, because in Chinese culture it's tradition to keep the bodies in tact
for people to commemorate the deceased.
Yes, and that tradition evolved into today, where people would eat sticky rice dumplings to celebrate this day.
That's right.
Carly, I think this is a very sad story.
I feel like when people first hear about the Dragon Boat Festival, they would think oh, maybe there's some
happy backstory to it.
Yes, but the story did turn out quite touching in the end when everyone wanted to preserve his body.
And another bright note is that now we get to eat sticky rice dumplings.
That's right.
How about we talk a little more about that?
Okay!
And here comes my favorite part, the sticky rice dumplings, which is a crucial part of the festival.
I've got a question for you, why do we use leaves to wrap up the sticky rice?
So leaves are very sustainable, and they actually keep the natural flavors inside the sticky rice.
Yeah, that's right.
And I also noticed that the surface of those leaves are non-stick.
So you can just eat it straight out of the leaves, it's very convenient.
Exactly, so originally there were only two types of dumplings.
The first one is the meat dumplings, which is...
And the vegetarian dumplings...
Now over time, different regions came up with their own versions of
So for example, we have
Yes, and this one, maybe from the name you can tell, it's from Beijing.
This is actually a sweet dumpling, so it's very typical for them to have red bean or dates inside.
Yeah, that sounds very delicious.
And we also have...
By the name, you can probably tell it's pretty spicy.
And this is an interesting one, it's made with numbing spices and cured meat.
Mmm, cool.
So, which one is your favorite kind?
Well, I would have to say, I like the traditional meat dumplings best.
For me, my favorite kind is...
because I have a sweet tooth.
So Rebecca, aside from food, are there any other activities that we can do on this day?
Yeah of course, we can watch...
on TV while eating the rice dumplings at the same time.
Yes, the dragon boat races.
Yeah,
Yes, and this actually became a tradition because when 屈原 killed himself,
the people attempted to find his body in the Miluo River on a boat.
They would head into the river in teams trying to find his body.
But Rebecca, why are the boats in dragon designs and not for example, tigers?
Well I think maybe it's because the dragons look very scary and they were trying to scare the fish away.
So over time, this tradition became the famous "The Dragon Boat Race"
where the teams would follow the leaders to snatch the flags.
So have you watched dragon boat races before?
Maybe once or twice.
Me too.
And what about...are there encouraging phrases we could say to cheer on the team?
Yeah, we can say
which literally means "to add fuel".
But in this case we can use this phrase to motivate the team or cheer somebody up.
So if you get a chance to watch a dragon boat race this year, remember to yell out
for the team.
So stepping away from the origin stories, let's talk a little bit about the month itself
because it actually has a lot of interesting information.
So May used to be called the evil month, and since it's the start of the summer,
it usually brings bugs and diseases.
And in order to avoid these bad lucks, people would often put up woodworms.
to scare away these evil spirits.
Yeah, and nowadays it has evolved into getting rid of the bugs and bringing good luck.
So another common thing that we would see on this day is...
which directly translates to "fragrant bag".
So parents would pack these dried herbs or Chinese medicine into these little bags
and children would carry them around to bring good luck and health.
Yeah, and commercially now, a lot of these
are in the shape of sticky rice dumplings.
Another thing that we often see is that parents would tie colorful silkscreens on the wrists of children
for them to bring good fortune and longevity.
Yeah, and we usually see those colorful decorations on kids because their parents are concerned about
their safety or health.
I remember when I was young, I loved to collect these
because I thought they were so colorful.
Well I collected them because they smelled so good, and I would hide them underneath my pillows.
So another fun activity that we would do on this day
is that we would all gather around and try to make eggs stand up.
And that is...
So everyone's heard about the idea of Yin and Yang in the Chinese culture.
It is said that the Yang energy is the richest on the noon on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival.
And people believe that this Yang energy can bring good luck and good fortune.
So through this activity of 立蛋, people can have good fortune all year round if they succeed.
It's too hard!
I hope everyone has enjoyed this episode on
and thank for you joining us on our
experiment.
We'll try again next year.
If you have any questions or feedback, please leave them down below.
We'll get back to you as soon as possible.
And we hope everyone has a great Dragon Boat Festival.
Alright, I'm Rebecca. And I'm Carly.
We'll see you guys next time, bye!