Monday, June 21, 2010

Dragon Boat Festival aka Rice Dumpling Festival

Rice dumpling is glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo/pandan leaves.
Rice Dumpling Festival or Dragon Boat Festival falls on the 16th June 2010 this year and it's celebrated amongst the Chinese world wide. During this festive season, some families gather everyone to make rice dumplings and some uses rice dumplings as offerings to their ancestors. There is no strict rules on what you must do as this is not a religious event.
Some buy their dumplings, some make them (if you have the skills and time) and they exchange or give the dumplings to relatives & friends and watch the dragon boat race if there's one near your place.
These are dumplings I got from a friend and it's a vegetarian version. The dumplings are nicely wrapped and steamed. It has shitake mushroom, nuts and dried soy in it. It's so delicious! Thanks Rita!

A short version of the Dragon Boat Festival story:
In ancient China, there was an important minister called Qu Yuan. He is known for his loyalty to the emperor and he loved his country greatly. However, the emperor did not listen to Qu Yuan and was finally captured by their enemies, which then lead to his death. 
Sad and angry at the corrupted dying kingdom, Qu Yuan threw himself into the river. The people then make rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves and threw them into the river. They believe if they do so, the fishes will eat the rice dumplings instead of Qu Yuan's body. Some would row their boat down stream, beating drums to scare the fishes away and this was how the name of the festival came about.
Since then, the 5th day of the 5th month in the Chinese calendar has been set as Duan Wu Festival to remember the incident. Although there were versions of legends and stories that indicate Duan Wu has existed way before Qu Yuan's death, the tradition still carries on.

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