YUMO holiday arrangements for the Dragon Boat Festival

Approved by the State Council, the Dragon Boat Festival holiday arrangements will be announced as follows: June 25, 2020 (Thursday) to June 27, 2020 (Saturday) holiday a total of three days.

The Dragon Boat Festival is a lunar holiday, occurring on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.The Chinese dragon boat festival is a significant holiday celebrated in China, and the one with the longest history.

The origin of this summer festival centers around a scholarly government official named Chu Yuan. He was a good and respected man, but because of the misdeeds of jealous rivals he eventually fell into disfavor in the emperor's court.

Unable to regain the respect of the emperor, in his sorrow Chu Yuan threw himself into the Mi Low river. Because of their admiration for Chu Yuan, the local people living adjacent to the Mi Lo River rushed into their boats to search for him while throwing rice into the waters to appease the river dragons.Although they were unable to find Chu Yuan, their efforts are still commemorated today during the Dragon Boat Festival.

Traditions At the center of this festival are the dragon boat races. Competing teams drive their colorful dragon boats forward to the rhythm of beating drums. These exciting races were inspired by the villager's valiant attempts to rescue Chu Yuan from the Mi Lo river. This tradition has remained unbroken for centuries.

A very popular dish during the Dragon Boat festival is tzung tzu. This tasty dish consists of rice dumplings with meat, peanut, egg yolk, or other fillings wrapped in bamboo leaves. The tradition of zongzi is meant to remind us of the village fishermen scattering rice across the water of the Mi Low river in order to appease the river dragons so that they would not devour Chu Yuan.