Celebrating 2009 Dragon Boat Festival

The Duanwu Jie, called the Dragon Boat Festival in English, is on May 28th this year. People usually celebrate this Chinese holiday festival by wearing perfume pouches, eating rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, and racing long wooden boats. The boats are decorated with dragons and have 20 paddlers, with a steersman in the back and a drummer in the front.

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With the approaching summer, people all over are preparing. The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated worldwide, but often not on the official date.

If you can’t make it to Hong Kong, then you can probably find one in your city. In the United States, major cities will be celebrating throughout the coming months. A few U.S. festival dates are listed below, but there are many more out there:

  • Boston, MA — June 6th & 7th
  • St. Paul, MN — July 11th & 12th
  • Long Beach, CA — August 1st & 2nd
  • New York, NY — August 8th & 9th
  • Seattle, WA — August 22nd & 23rd

  1. Gee, not expected it to be celebrated 2 month after the festival day. In China, it’s around May 28th, if not exactly on the day. Dragon boats competition and family-made Zongzi (sticky “rice wrapped in bamboo leaves”) are the two major things in China.

  2. In 2008 I was in HK at Stanley Beach for the celebration; simply an insane time.

    stay adventurous,
    Craig

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