Dragonboat Festival, DC May 28-29, 2005

The 4th Annual Washington DC Dragon Boat Festival is coming to town.



If you're around the Washington DC area this coming Memorial day weekend, try to catch the Dragonboat races on the Potomac River.

Watch 20 paddlers, an oarsman, and a drummer race a 45 foot long dragonboat against several other teams in a rush to the finish line. It's an exciting and fun to watch event that's celebrated in cities around the world.

I'll be racing with the ECS mixed adult team again this year, and helping with the officiating as well. Hope to see you there.


Excerpt from DragonboatDC.com:

LEGEND OF THE DRAGON BOAT RACE

The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the life and death of Chu Yuan (340 –278 BC), a political leader of the state of Chu.

Chu Yuan was a respected poet as well as politician of ancient China. When he lost the trust of the King and saw his home state of Chu fall into the hands of inept officials and the country weakened with the ensuing invasion by its powerful neighbor, Chu Yuan drowned himself in the Mi-Lo River in despair.

The people of Chu rushed to rescue him, but in vain. In memory of Chu Yuan’s loyalty to the kingdom and as a symbol to keep the fish away from his body, people threw rice dumplings wrapped with bamboo leaves - called tzung-tze - into the river.

Since then, the dragon boat races have taken place annually, and tzung-tze has become a festival snack sold in food stores instead of being thrown into the rivers. This event is now known as the Dragon Boat Festival.