[:en]MAY: The Dragon Boat Festival in China[:]

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On 30^th may, The Dragon Boat Festival will be held in China. This is a traditional Chinese festival that takes place every year. The festival occurs on the 5^th day of 5^th month by traditional Chinese calendar and counts more than 2000 years. As usual, the holiday lasts for 3 days. It also is known as Tuen Ng, Duanwu or Zhonxiao Festival.

Dragon boat festival is celebrated by boat races which are decorated and painted like a dragon. The festival commemorates the death of the poet and minister Qu Yuan (340-278 B.C). He drowned in the river. According to a legend the local people who admired him, raced out in their boats to save him or least retrieve his body. Their attempts were unsuccessful, his body could not be found. After that, they started dropping balls of sticky rice into the river, so that fish would eat them instead of Qu yuan’s body.This is a reason of the boat races. And the main dish is adhesive rice gums. Before the holiday parents knit small bags for their children and fill them with a various scent of leaves and perfume. Kids use them as jewelry during the festival. Chinese believe that these bags protect them from evil.

Duanwu or Tuen Ng festival will be celebrated this year too. The competition will be held in different cities of china. But the most popular are: Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, Yueyong International Boat Festival, Kauichosus Dragon Festival and Hankachou’s Dragon Boat Festival.

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