Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival, is a traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. It commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a famous poet and statesman from the Chu kingdom during the Warring States period.

The festival is named after the dragon boat races, where teams paddle a long, slender boat decorated like a dragon to the beat of a drum. This sport originated from the legend of locals racing to save Qu Yuan from drowning in the Miluo River. Nowadays, Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated with boat races, street fairs, and feasting on glutinous rice dumplings called zongzi.

Zongzi are triangular-shaped glutinous rice balls with various fillings such as pork, chicken, or red bean paste wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. They are traditionally made and eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival as a tribute to Qu Yuan and to symbolize family unity and strength.

In addition to dragon boat races and eating zongzi, the festival is also celebrated with traditional Chinese customs such as hanging mugwort leaves and calamus over doors and windows to ward off disease and evil spirits, and drinking realgar wine, a yellow-orange concoction believed to have medicinal properties. Dragon Boat Festival is not only a time for remembrance but also a time for joy and celebration of chinese culture. It is a time for families and friends to gather, eat traditional food, and enjoy the festivities.