CDBF_Brochure A4_Digital

INTERESTING DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL CUSTOMS ACROSS CHINA

Hunan

Hong Kong

In Hunan, rich families with pregnant women throw auspicious coins into a jar of wine and then put the jar on the head of a dragon boat and pray for the successful birth of an heir, while, those families who >Ài ˜œÌ >à >vyÕi˜Ì ܜՏ` «Ài«>Ài V ˆVŽi˜ >˜` ܈˜i ˆ˜ÃÌi>` >à Ã>VÀˆwVi° *iœ«i >Ãœ “>Ži ÃÌÀ>Ü Lœ>Ìà >˜` iÌ Ì i“ yœ>Ì >Ü>Þ >à > ÃޓLœ œv iÝ«iˆ˜} God of Plague.

During the annual Dragon Boat Festival, the famous />ˆ " À>}œ˜ œ>Ì 7>ÌiÀ *>À>`i ˆÃ i`° / Àii wà iÀ“i˜ >ÃÜVˆ>̈œ˜Ã ˆ˜ />ˆ "] Ì i ÌÀ>˜µÕˆ wà ˆ˜} ۈ>}i ˆ˜ west Lantou, organise a religious activity known as a “Deities Parade”. On the day, the deity statues are put on sacred sampans towed by the dragon boats of the associations to parade through Tai O and to pacify the wandering water ghosts. Residents of the stilt houses along the water-course burn paper offerings as the dragon boats pass by. The deity statues are then returned to the respective temples after the ritual.

Taiwan

Sichuan

In Taiwan, Duanwu is also called Wuri (Meaning Fifth Day) Festival. People believe that if you can balance a raw egg on its end at exactly noon on the day, you will be lucky for the rest of the year. Another custom practiced in Taiwan is “fetching noon water”, in which people draw well water on the afternoon of the festival in the belief that it will cure all illness.

In Sichuan, a province in South West of China, four people work as a group and use two bamboo poles to carry a big square desk covered with a red carpet. On that carpet sits a bamboo-made statue of a Taoist riding a tiger. The sound of gongs and drums accompany these people as they march in the street.