Dragon Boat Festival

Yesterday was the public holiday in honor of Dragon Boat Festival here in China.  Dragon Boat Festival is always held on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese lunar calendar and is often referred to as The Double Fifth or in Chinese "Duanwu".

The sun is considered to be at it's strongest around this time of year and the summer solstice.  In Chinese the sun is like the Chinese dragon and represents masculine energy so the summer solstice is the peak annual moment of male energy.  Thus the dragon is associated with Duanwu and was given the name Dragon Boat Festival as it is a highly popular day to race boats across the lake.

In Suzhou the race was held very near to our apartment and a few of the expats we are friends with were on teams actually racing so we walked down an area called Moon Harbour to watch the festivities with other expats.  The pictures aren't great as we were a bit far away and it was a cloudy day.

 There are 13 members on a team and in the boat.  6 on each side and a drummer.

 There are at least 4 boats in this picture.

 The boats are VERY tippy according to our friends and as you can see this one capsized!

 The white pontoon boat was suppose to be a "life saving" boat however as you can see the pontoons started to sink while the team members were trying to get on it.   WHOOPS!!!
We are told you DO NOT want to swim in the lake.  #1 it's illegal by government standards.  (If you were to drown they are not responsible.) and #2 the people we knew in the race said there were dead fish all over the lake and it's quite green and nasty.

 The lady to the right was invading Bill's railing space so he didn't have much of a view or much room to sit and enjoy the races.   In China there is no sense of personal space!!!

Happy Dragon Boat Festival - hey we'll take a day off during the week anytime!