Today is the Duanwu Festival, also often known as the Dragon Boat Festival.
Many traditional customs and activities are held on this specified day by Chinese people, as the Duanwu Festival is a traditional holiday in China.
Eating Sticky Rice Dumplings
Zongzi (粽子) is the most traditional Dragon Boat Festival food, which are a kind of sticky rice dumpling made of glutinous rice filled with meats, beans, and other fillings.
Drinking Realgar Wine
There is an old saying: 'Drinking realgar wine drives diseases and evils away!' Realgar wine is a Chinese alcoholic drink consisting of fermented cereals and powdered realgar.
In ancient times, people believed that realgar was an antidote for all poisons, and effective for killing insects and driving away evil spirits. So everyone would drink some realgar wine during Duanwu Festival.
Wearing Perfume Pouches
Before Dragon Boat Festival arrives, parents usually prepare perfume pouches for their children.
They sew little bags with colorful silk cloth, fill the bags with perfumes or herbal medicines, and then string them with silk threads.The perfume pouches are said to protect them from evil.
5-Colored Silk-Threaded Braid
In some regions of China, parents braid silk threads of 5 colors and put them on the their children's wrists, on the day of Duanwu. People believe that this will help keep bad spirits and disease away.
Yesterday, Leboo celebrated the Duanwu Festival together.
We ate Zongzi and other snacks, drank beverages, and enjoyed the learning of braid silk threads of 5 colors.
With the help of professional teacher and each others cooperation, we zero-based learners had a great time and made some lovely braid in different shapes.
