Dragon Boat Racing

Imagine…

20 people paddling side by side, in a boat forty foot long.

A drummer, sitting in the prow, beating the drum to provide timing, rhythm, and motivation.

A steerer, at the stern with a giant paddle – guiding the boat in the direction of the finishing line.

Yes, imagine all these elements combined together, united in the spirit, and dedicated to the triumph. This is dragon boating.

Today, my division – Insurance & Investment Management – organised a Dragon Boat race among the various social groups. Although my team managed to win in two races in the preliminary stage, our timing wasn’t good enough to get us into the final. Oh well, the consolation of it all was that we managed to lay our hands on the booze before the finalists. :P And most importantly, we had tonnes of fun!

Though yesterday’s race was amazingly tiring, I was sparked by an idea to research on the legend behind this sport. And if I’m not mistaken, Dragon Boat Racing will be included in the 2012 Olympics. Cool stuff!

So, henceforth begins our history lesson:

Dragon Boat Racing is an ancient Chinese tradition that goes back over 2000 years, and has become shrouded in many myths, legends and superstitions. The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar (usually around Midsummer’s Day).

THE BATTLE OF DRAGONS
One explanation for the origin of the festival is connected to rain-making magic. Summer is the driest period of the year and rain is needed to grow the crops. The races were held each mid summer, re-enacting the battle between Lung, the dragon of the air and Le, the dragon of the water which were said to fight in the clouds thus causing rain. The races were thought to stimulate the real dragon gods to fight in the heavens.

HUMAN SACRIFICE
Another theory its origins , like many other midsummer celebrations all over the word, was as an attempt to come to terms with the fear of decay and death which accompanied the passing of the longest day of the year. The powers of darkness might be appeased by a sacrifice, and one way of achieving it was by a mock battle, the losers symbolising the sacrifice. In fact, dragon boat 'fights' frequently provided real victims because boats would sink and men would drown. It is said that no one would attempt to rescue the men on the grounds that they had been chosen for sacrifice by the very fact of their boat’s sinking. Luckily this part of the tradition has not been practiced for some centuries.

DEATH & CORRUPTION
By far the most popular legend, saddest and most romantic is that of Qu Yuan. In the third century B.C., China was divided into a number of small kingdoms, each struggling to gain control of the rest. In one of these kingdoms lived a wise counsellor and warrior statesman called Qu Yuan. He was a loyal aide to the Emperor King Huai, but through deception and plots laid against him by corrupt court officials, Qu Yuan was removed from his position of high office and banished from the royal palace.

In the years that followed his banishment, Qu Yuan became a wandering poet who was much loved by the people he met on his travels. He wrote of his love for his country and its’ people and lamented his fate and that of his Emperor still surrounded by those corrupt officials. Eventually he presented a petition to the Court listing all his grievances. When this was rejected out of hand by the King, he made the ultimate protest and committed suicide, drowning himself in the Mi Lo River.

When Qu Yuan's followers heard of his death, they took to their boats to search for his body and to protect it from being eaten by fish, they beat the water furiously with their paddles, and threw rice dumplings into the water as food for his spirit. It is said that some days later a man met the ghost of Qu Yuan. He told him that the rice had been taken by the Dragon water god that lurked beneath the surface of the river. In future the rice should always be wrapped in bamboo leaves and silk, and tied with multicoloured thread, as protection from the dragon god and his water spirits.

And so it came about that every year thereafter, on the anniversary of his death, that the Chinese began to commemorate Qu Yuan’s final protest, by holding a Dragon Festival, on the fifth day of the fifth moon, which was celebrated with temple rituals. This festival grew to include the custom of eating ‘tsung-tzu’ or 'bak-zhang', lumps of sweetened glutinous rice boiled in a wrapping of leaves and tied with raffia, and the launching of boats to look for Qu Yuan’s remains as well as the custom of Dragon Boat racing, with drums being banged to symbolise the act of frightening the fish from Qu Yuan’s body. Eventually the festival and the races spread throughout the coast and river communities of China.

Well, whatever the legend, I have two statements to make:

a) Dragon Boat Racing is amazingly fun!

b) 'Tsung-tzu' or 'bak-zhang' is amazingly yummy!

Gosh... all this talk about food is making me hungry. Think I'll have to make a quick trip to the refridgerator now... Adios!