Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan || The Complete Guide 🐉

What is the Dragon Boat Festival? When is it Celebrated? What’s the Story Behind It? Your Questions Answered!

The Dragon Boat Festival is also called the Double Fifth Festival.

It is celebrated on the fifth day of May of the lunar calendar and this day is full of festivities that aren’t to be missed if you’re in Mainland China or Taiwan!

Simplified Chinese – 端午节 (duān wǔ jié)

Traditional Chinese – 端午節 (duān wǔ jié)

Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan is one of the most important festivals alongside the likes of Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese New Year.

Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan || Dates

Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan || The Story

Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan || Balancing Eggs

Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan || Useful Vocab

Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan || Other Holidays

Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan || FAQs

Dates for the Dragon Boat Festival (2025-2027)

The dates for the Dragon Boat festivals in Taiwan are as follows:

In 2025 – May 31st, 2025

In 2026 – June 19th, 2027

In 2027 – June 9th, 2027

Celebrating Moon Festival in Taiwan 2024 || A Complete Guide

Like other traditional Taiwanese holidays, the date of Moon Festival/mid-autumn festival is on August 15th of the Lunar calendar.

The Story Behind Dragon Boat Festival

Once upon a time, during the Spring and Autumn time in China, there was a patriotic poet name Qu Yuan, who was from the Chu Kingdom.

The king of Qin Kingdom wanted to frame the king of the Chu Kingdom in the name of intermarriage. Qu Yuan was strongly against this, but King Chu didn’t listen to him.

King Chu was killed by King Qin.

Qu Yuan was devastated when he heard the news, he jumped into the Miluo River with a stone and committed suicide.

Because of the admiration for Chu Yuan, local people row the dragon boat trying to find Qu Yuan’s body and meantime put rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves (粽子zòngzi) into the river to feed the fish to stop the fish eating Qu Yuan’s body.

On May 5th of every year, respects are paid to Qu Yuan. Why? Because this was the day when Qu Yuan committed suicide.

Dragon boat racing (划龍舟 huá lóngzhōu) also became a famous custom because of this.

A small dragon boat can take 15 people, 12 for rowing the boat, 2 for making sounds by gong and drums and 1 for getting the flag.

When the dragon boats race, the first boat to capture the flag is the winner.

Qixi Festival in Taiwan ❤️ Valentine’s Day and a Forbidden Love

Love is in the air! The so-called Chinese Valentine’s Day is coming. In Taiwan, it is better known as Qixi Festival (七夕) or Qixi Valentine’s Day (七夕情人節).

Dragon Boat Festival || Balancing Eggs

There’s a headline you won’t read often!

Believe it or not, if you manage to balance an egg at 12 noon, you will be due good luck for the whole year!

GO on then… go get those eggs!

Dragon Boat Festival || Key Vocabulary

Let’s teach you some useful terms about the Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan here:

BONUS: Other Taiwan Holidays

From Chinese New Year and Double Ninth Festival to Tomb Sweeping Festival, National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival, Taiwan has a lot going on each year!

Every festival has its own wonderful story, of which you can find out more about on our Taiwan holidays page and check out the dates for each one in the coming year.

Ghost Month and Zhong Yuan Festival | Discover Taiwanese Traditions

Ghost Month & Zhong Yuan Festival takes place in the entirety of the July of the lunar calendar. Find out what it is and when it’s celebrated.

Dragon Boat Festival || FAQs

Want more from LTL?

If you wish to hear more from LTL Language School why not join our mailing list.

We give plenty of handy information on learning Chinese, useful apps to learn the language and everything going on at our LTL schools!

Sign up below and become part of our ever growing community!

BONUS | Want to study the local Taiwanese dialect known as Hokkien? We provide Hokkien classes in person and online.