| Tuesday, June 10, 2008 |
| Dragon Boat Festival (minus the boats) |
It's not everyday you get to be a part of history. Yesterday we were privileged enough to celebrate, for the first time in China's history, the official holiday of the Dragon Boat Festival (or Duanwu Festival in Chinese). While celebrated as an unofficial holiday for centuries (think St. Patrick's Day), this year it was bumped up to the big leagues and put on the government calendar, meaning we all got to take a day off (even though Monday is my day off anyway - which makes it all rather anticlimactic).
The Dragon Boat Festival has a foggy history (along with most Chinese history) that makes for extremely awkward conversations when you ask people to explain it in large groups. The different theories devolve in arguments over details (which is definitely not harmonious for society).
The basic story goes back to the 3rd century B.C., during China's warring states period before unification (think 1700 U.S.A., except that Massachusetts had a serious beef with Connecticut). A famous poet/political figure (the two went together in ancient China) named Qu Yuan (pronounced "choo yew-ahn" in case you don't want to sound like an ignorant foreigner, as I often do) didn't agree with the decision that his state (Chu, also pronounced "choo") should align itself with their powerful neighboring state (Qin, pronounced "ooga-booga"). Since it's not always a good idea to go against the decisions of the king, Qu was sent into exile, wherein he wrote many of the poems for which he is famous today.
Lone behold, old Qu was right about his misgivings, as the Qin eventually betrayed the Chu and took over their state (originating the phrase, "hate to say I told you so," which sounds much more powerful in Chinese). Qu was so upset he decided to do something entirely melodramatic - throw himself into a river in a display of anguish. Beloved by the locals, they decided to throw their zhongzi (red bean and rice wrapped triangularly in a leaf) into the river so that the fish would not eat his decaying flesh. In his memory, the most common tradition for this festival is to eat zhongzi sometime during the large meal you're having with family and friends.
We were lucky enough to be invited by one our former students to her house to celebrate. This student lives in a classic Beijing hutong that was an experience in itself. The original owner was a distant relative of the emperor, so when the dirty French (and others, like the British) decided to sack the emperor's Summer Palace in 1860, some of the pieces went to this hutong, where they still reside today. All in all, a cool place to celebrate a newly minted official Chinese holiday (but seriously, where are the dragon boats?). |
posted by Aaron @ 5:34 AM  |
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| 3 Comments: |
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You got to go to a hutong? I am sooooo jealous!!!
Mom
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I was reading that story aloud to Jenny and every time I said "Qu" she thought about the guy from James Bond.
Oh...and we love all 3 of you! We wish we could hold your baby!
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So any trips to see any Olympic events...Michael Phelps...USA Basketball REDEEM Team...the nail biting excitement of syncro swimming?
~LeRoy
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You got to go to a hutong? I am sooooo jealous!!!
Mom