Dragon Boat Festival

Proper noun

the Dragon Boat Festival

1. A Chinese holiday on Duanwu, the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar
   • Behind the Dragon Boat Festival is the tragically heroic story of a famous Chinese poet and statesman of ancient times, Chu Yuan, who ended his life by jumping into a river. His reason: he was not able to save his country, which he saw heading toward destruction.1977 June 19, T. K. Yang, “Dragon Boat Festival Honors famed statesman-poet”, in Free China Weekly, volume XVIII, number 24, Taipei, page 2
   • In the folk tradition, rites, festivals, and myths began an early accretion around an apotheosized Ch'ü Yuan. The most famous of these, the Dragon Boat Festival (Tuan-wu chieh), takes place on the summer solstice, the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, ostensibly to search for Ch'ü Yuan's body.1988, Lyman P. Van Slyke, Yangtze: Nature, History and the River, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 137

   Synonyms:

   Double Fifth, Double Fifth Festival, Duanwu, Duanwu Festival, Dumpling Festival, Tuen Ng Festival