Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan – The Complete Guide

What is the Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan?

The Dragon Boat Festival, also called Double Fifth Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of May of the lunar calendar.

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.

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

• In 2020 – June 25th 2020
• In 2021 – June 14th 2021
• In 2022 – June 3rd 2022

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 – FAQ’s

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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.

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 Vocabulary

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

• Boat Race – 划船比赛 huáchuán bǐsài
• Celebrate – 庆祝 qìng zhù
• China – 中国 zhōng guó
• Day Off – 休假 xiū jià
• Dragon Boat Festival – 端午节 duānwǔ jié
• Happy Dragon Boat Festival – 祝你端午节快乐 duānwǔ jié kuàilè
• Holiday – 假日jià rì
• Hong Kong – 香港 xiāng gǎng
• Macao – 澳门 ào mén
• Rice Dumplings – 粽子 zòng zi
• Taiwan – 台湾 tái wān

Other Taiwan Holidays

Did you know the official set of holidays for Taiwan? Here they are (for 2021):

• January 1st 2021 – International New Year
• February 11th 2021 to February 16th 2021 – Chinese New Year
• February 28th 2021 & March 1st 2021 – 228 Peace Memorial Day
• April 4th 2021 & April 5th 2021 – Children’s Day and Tomb Sweeping Festival
• June 14th 2021 – Dragon Boat Festival
• September 21st 2021 – Mid Autumn Festival
• October 10th 2021 & October 11th 2021 – National Day

Every festival has it’s own wonderful story, of which you can find out more about on our Taiwan holidays page.

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Dragon Boat Festival – FAQ’s

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