(for thousands of years, the tradition of the duanwu festival has been passed down from one generation to the next. but where did it come from and why did people eat zongzi and race dragon boats? many scholars have studied these questions and given their academic explanations. ) 字串2
one explanation is that the duanwu festival originated from peoples worship of dragons. in ancient china, people believed the dragon was the god in charge of water, which was vitally important to daily life and agricultural production. on the day of duanwu, people raced dragon boats to entertain the god and offered him zongzi as a treat. the sole purpose was to please the god to ensure a year of favorable weather.
some people believe duanwu comes from activities instigated by ancient sorcerers. these activities were held in early summer when the hot weather was about to bring diseases to people who didnt have modern devices and medicines to protect themselves. so, ancient sorcerers encouraged people to wear fragrant pouches and hang mugwort and calamus on their doors to drive away the so-called evil spirits that caused diseases.
scholars may provide many other explanations about the origin of the duanwu festival. but if you ask ordinary people about its origin, youll get the same answer. they will tell you that the duanwu festival honors the great poet, qu yuan. theyll also tell you the story that has been passed down for more than 2,000 years.
qu yuan was born in 340 bc, during the warring states period. at that time, there were seven states struggling among themselves to unify china. of the seven states, qin was the strongest and chu the largest.
qu yuan was a noble of chu. during his lifetime, the powerful kingdom of chu fell into a decline.
early in his life, qu yuan won the confidence of the king of chu, and was his deputy prime minister, helping draft laws and determine foreign policy. when he saw the danger posed by the ambitious qin state, he proposed government reforms and an alliance with the neighboring qi state as a way to ensure chus safety.
but the king of chu was surrounded by self-seekers, who were jealous of qu yuan. they accepted bribes from the qins envoy, dissuaded the king from taking qu yuans advice and brought about the poets estrangement from the king. qu yuan was finally sent into exile for 20 years.
during those desperate years, qu yuan helplessly watched his beloved country become weaker every day. in the year 278 bc, the capital of chu was stormed by troops from qin. in great pain, qu yuan wrote lisao or the lament, the greatest of all his poems. on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, he drowned himself in the milo river, because he was hopeless about his countrys future. 字串9
qu yuan died thousands of years ago, but he is remembered every year for his love of and loyalty to his country and his people. in his poems, he wrote:
long did i sigh and wipe away my tears,
to see my people bowed by grieves and fears.
......
the peoples sufferings move my heart,
our land i cannot leave.
people grieve for those who have grieved for them. each year, during the duanwu festival, the day of qu yuans death, people race dragon boats to commemorate him. this is believed to be a representation of how the people of chu tried, at the time, to recover qu yuans body from the milo river. pyramid-shaped dumplings by the name of zongzi were thrown in the river to feed the fish, so they would stay away from qu yuans body.
qu yuans life was tragic but, as a poet, he achieved great success. in fact, he is considered to be the first poet in chinese literature. before his time, there were only folk songs. qu yuan created a new style of poetry, which became known as chu ci.
dragon boat festival dragon boat race is a unique folk activities, the causes of this event is to commemorate one of ancient china during the great poet - qu yuan established.
i am fortunate enough to see a dragon-boat race, because my father just the day time, so our whole family to see the dragon-boat race. dragon-boat race to reach the venue, the shore on both sides has long been the people watching wai was packed, and i saw a gap on the bridge, perhaps family members crowded the past. this position clear at a glance down the entire river.
dragon-boat race began, each boat is like a arrow, the一个劲forward, every boat is tied to many of the following are dumplings, each step forward, there are people on the boat with a knife to cut rice dumplings thrown into the water the next. each dragon boat is not at the speed of up and down: on the 1st minute lead on the 8th again and pretty soon to catch up with the. van
suddenly, it seems efforts to increase boating hand, each only a faster boat. at this time, the hands began to beat the drum-ming, rowing hand is immediately followed by the rhythm of the : thunk! thunk! ho! ho! ho ho ho 。。。。。。 seems to boost the morale of god , has started drizzling. really drum! voice! cheers! blast sound! rain! sweat! compatible with the river water!
dragon pace, as if in the long rapid river groups in the ft. gradually, gradually. 1, 5, 9, constitute the leading group. 100 meters! 50 meters! 20 meters. . . . . . the end draws near, only 5 of the power of the outbreak out of control! two dragon boat to the back of far left behind, and then the finish line of the!
dragon-boat race is a fierce competition ah!
赛龙舟是端午节的一种独特的民俗活动,这个活动的起因是为纪念我国古代时的一伟大的诗人屈原而设立的。
我今年有幸去看了一次赛龙舟，因为爸爸当天正好有空，所以我们全家去看赛龙舟。到达赛龙舟的场地时，岸两边早已被围观的人们围得水泄不通了，我看了桥上的一个空挡，便叫家人挤了过去。这个位置居高临下整个江面一目了然。
赛龙舟开始了，每只龙舟都像一支离弦的箭，一个劲的向前冲，每一只龙舟下面都都绑着不少粽子，每向前一步，龙舟上都有人用刀子把粽子斩下扔进水里。每只龙舟的速度都不分上下：一会儿1号领先，不一会儿8号又追上了。
突然，划船手好像力气大增，每一只龙舟的速度更快了。这时，击鼓手开始鸣鼓了，划船手顿时很有节奏的跟着喊起：咚！咚！咚咚咚！嗬！嗬！嗬嗬嗬。。。。。。天公也好像来助威，开始下起了毛毛细雨。真是鼓声！人声！助威声！声声震耳！雨水！汗水！江水水水相容！
龙舟的速度越来越快，仿佛龙群在江水中急速飞腾。渐渐的，渐渐的。1号，5号，9号构成了领先集团。100米！50米！20米。。。。。。终点越来越近，只见5号的力量一发不可收拾的爆发了！把后面的两条龙舟远远地甩在后面，然后冲线了！
赛龙舟真是一项激烈的比赛啊！
a chinese holiday is gaining worldwide popularity 一个逐渐受到全球欢迎的中国节日
some holidays are so much fun that they catch on outside of their culture. the most obvious example is probably christmas, which is celebrated around the world by people who arent even christian. similarly, in recent years, the dragon boat festival has moved beyond china to become an international holiday celebrated by people who may know little about the holidays origins.
有些节日实在是很有趣，所以在本土文化以外的地方也很受欢迎。最明显的例子可能就是圣诞节，世界各地的人都会庆祝圣诞节，即使是非基督徒。同样，最近几年端午节已经不局限于中国，成为国际性节日，而庆祝的人可能对节日的由来并不太了解。
the dragon boat festival is one of three major chinese holidays, along with the spring and moon festivals. of the three, it is possibly the oldest, dating back to the warring states period in 227 b.c. the festival commemorates qu yuan, a minister in the service of the chu emperor. despairing over corruption at court, qu threw himself into a river. townspeople jumped into their boats and tried in vain to save him. then, hoping to distract hungry fish from his body, the people scattered rice on the water.
端午节与春节和中秋节并列为中国三大节日。这三个节日中，它可能是最古老的一个，可以追溯到公元前227年的战国时代。这个节日是为了纪念楚国的大夫屈原，他因为对朝廷的贪污腐败感到绝望而投河自尽。镇上的人纷纷冲上船去救他，却没有成功。后来大家把米撒到水里，希望把饥饿的鱼群从他的躯体边引开。
over the years, the story of qus demise transformed into the traditions of racing dragon boats and eating zongzi a kind of rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. the races have certainly captured the imagination of people from all over the world. every spring there are nearly 60 dragon boat races held outside of china in cities from vancouver to sydney, from gdańsk, poland to cape town, south africa. canada alone has nearly 50 dragon boat teams and germany has nearly 30.
多年以后，屈原逝世的故事逐渐演变成赛龙舟和吃粽子(一种包在竹叶中的米食)的传统。这些竞赛显然激起了世界各地人们的想像，每年春天有将近60场龙舟赛在中国境外的城市举办，从温哥华到悉尼，从波兰的格但斯克到南非的开普敦。单单字加拿大就有将近50支龙舟队伍，德国则有近30个。
so what is it about the dragon boat festival that appeals to foreigners? its an unusual sport, says one racer from germany. its not like everybodys doing it. thats one of the reasons that theres such great team spirit in a dragon boat team everybody feels like were doing something special. and what about the zongzi? ehhh, theyre not bad, i guess, he says. something of an acquired taste. i just havent really acquired it yet.
那么，为什么端午节赛龙舟会吸引外国人呢？这是一项不寻常的运动。一位来自德国的参赛者说，这并不是所有的人都在从事的运动。这正是龙舟队的团队精神如此高昂的原因之一，每个人都觉得自己在做一件很特别的事。那么粽子呢？喔，我觉得它不难吃。他说，那是一种需要后天培养的品味。我只是还没培养出来罢了。
