文化之旅 | 別告訴我，端午節你只知道吃粽子...

The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month of the Chinese calandar. Chinese people call this day as Duan-Wu. Duan means beginning. Wu means Horse month in Chinese calandar. The Horse month usually begins on June 5th or June 6th in the Gregorian calendar. That means Dragon Boat Festival should be held in June, unless that year has Leap Month in the Chinese lunar calendar.

龍舟節是農曆五月初五，人稱之為端午。「端」表示開始，「午」在農曆里表示馬月。馬月通常是陽曆6月5日或6日開始。這意味著龍舟節一般在6月，除非農曆多出一個閏月。

In China, the Dragon Boat Festival memorializes the Chinese patriotic poet Qu Yuan (340 B.C.-278 B.C.), who committed suicide by jumping into the river after tying himself with big rock on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.

在，龍舟節是為了紀念詩人屈原（公元前340-278年），五月初五時，屈原將自己和一塊大石頭綁在一起，然後跳江自殺。

It is said that the fishermen threw bamboo-food into the river for Qu Yuan. The fishermen kept the custom on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month every year. Until Late Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.), one outsider came and acclaimed fishermen's behavior, but recommended to wrap the food with leaves and tie with colorful silky rope, which can scare fish away while Qu Yuan can unwrap the leaves to eat the food.

有人說漁夫們為屈原往江里扔了而許多竹筒裝食物。漁夫們每年五月初五都還保留這個習俗。直到漢朝後期（公元25-220年），有一個外來人贊同漁夫們的行為，但卻建議用竹葉把食物包起來，用彩色的絲線系起來，這樣可以把魚嚇跑，而屈原可以剝開葉子吃裡面的食物。

The custom of Dragon Boat Race might begin from the southern China. They selected the 5th lunar day of the 5th lunar month as the totem ceremony. The dragon was the main symbol on the totem, because Chinese people thought they were descendants of the dragon. They also made dragon-like canoes. Later, Chinese connected this custom with Duan-Wu festival. Since this was the event only in the southern China, this might be why Dragon Boat Race doesn't very popular in the entire country today. But we can see yearly Dragon Boat Race events in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

龍舟比賽的習俗可能起源於南方。他們選擇五月初五進行圖騰慶典。圖騰上最主要的象徵就是龍，因為人認為自己是龍的傳人，他們還做了龍舟。後來人將這一習俗與端午節聯繫起來。由於這是唯一一個院子南方的活動，這也許就是為什麼今天龍舟比賽並不是在全都盛行。但是我們每年可以在香港和台灣看到龍舟比賽。