Meaning
The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar (usually falling in June). It commemorates the ancient poet Qu Yuan and features dragon boat races, eating zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), and wearing fragrant pouches for protection.
Usage
This is a major traditional festival in Chinese culture and a public holiday in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. When discussing the festival, people commonly talk about eating zongzi, watching dragon boat races, and family gatherings. The festival name is always capitalized as a proper noun.
Examples
- 01端午节我们全家人一起包粽子。.During the Dragon Boat Festival, our whole family wraps zongzi together.
- 02今年的端午节你打算怎么过？?How do you plan to celebrate this year's Dragon Boat Festival?
Characters
Measure words
- 个一个端午节
Common collocations
- 过端午节to celebrate Dragon Boat Festival
- 端午节快乐Happy Dragon Boat Festival
- 端午节吃粽子to eat zongzi during Dragon Boat Festival
- 端午节假期Dragon Boat Festival holiday
Origin
The name literally means 'upright noon festival' or 'beginning of noon festival.' Duān (端) means beginning or upright, wǔ (午) refers to the noon hour which represents the peak of yang energy, and jié (节) means festival. The fifth month was traditionally called the 'noon month' in the traditional calendar system.