Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Festival)

China's traditional festival Duanwu falls on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar. It is a major folk festival featuring deity worshiping, ancestor commemora- tion, praying for happiness, exorcising evil spirits, celebration, entertainment, and gourmet food.

Ancient Chinese's worship of nature and celestial motions have cradled the Dragon Boat Festival, and the customs of the festival derived from "offering sacrifices to the dragon" in prehistory times, which is why dragon and dragon boats have always been the icons for the festival. Besides the most impor- tant customs - dragon boat races and eating Zongzi (Chinese rice dumplings), there are also other customs like picking herbs, hanging wormwood, drinking xionghuang (realgar) wine, wearing five-colored silk threads and sachets and so on, which are gestures to help expel evil spirits and pray for happiness.

Duanwu Festival (Dragon Boat Festival) is celebrated in the Sinographic Sphere and by all those of Chinese nation, home and abroad. Dragon boat races are also influential in European countries and the U.S. In 2009, the Dragon Boat Fes- tival was selected into the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

端午節

農歷五月初五是中國傳統節日端午節，是拜神祭祖、祈福辟邪、歡慶娛樂和飲食的民俗大節。

端午節源于中國古人對自然天象的崇拜，由上古時期“祭龍”習俗演變而來，龍和龍舟文化貫穿端午節的歷史傳承。賽龍舟、吃粽子是端午節最重要的習俗，此外，還有采草藥、掛艾草、飲雄黃酒、拴五色絲線、佩香囊等習俗，以期辟邪除災、祈福納祥。

端午節是流傳于漢字文化圈和華人華僑中的傳統節日，而龍舟賽事在歐美地區也頗具影響力。2009年，“端午節”列入聯合國教科文組織人類非物質文化遺產代表作名錄。