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"Duan Wu Jie" (Dragon Boat Festival)

It's a festival to memory the great patriot---"Qu Yuan" who lived in Yuan Dynasty (about 1271-1368 AD) the story is that Qu Yuan is a officer in Yuan Dynasty's government. He reckons enemy gonna come and surround the whole city, by then people may have nothing to eat and wait for death in side the city. So he talked to his boss---the mayor, but the mayor doesn't believe him and kick him out of the government. So Qu Yuan use up all his life saving, bought lots of Chinese cake to hide under the brick of the road. Later enemy come, and everyone is starving and Qu Yuan told people to open the brick on the road, so people did and find all the Chinese cake and no longer hungry, but enemy finally defeat the city. Qu Yuan, as a patriot, decided to suicide so he jumped into the river.

People in that city love Qu Yuan and they think if the feed the fish in that river, fish won't eat Qu Yuan's body. So lots of people put rice into bamboo leaves, and throw into the river to feed the fish. Later it became a tradition that on that day, people will make Zong Zi [glutinous rice dumpling; dumplings made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves] to eat. Also people will have dragon boating competition. for me, it's kind of similar to the Easter.

-- Edith