Dragon Boat Festival

I was thinking how melancholy my posts have been lately. I understand why, but it is certainly not really what I am feeling nor the theme of my days. We are very content and happy here. There are trials and yes, they may be different than the issues we would face back in the US, but I know that there would still be many difficulties no matter where one lives. Maybe being here just makes them  more interesting. Haha. However, there is pain in the world as a whole: “creation groaning” Romans 8:22. And all of us must deal with that reality in our surrounds.

But I wanted to write something more upbeat today and decided to discuss a bit about Dragon Boat Festival which is Monday. Of course the minute that I decided on the topic, I remembered that the obscure origins of Dragon Boat Festival probably revolves around the suicide of a much loved counselor in ancient China. He was so distraught that his advice about a moral State was being ignored that he drowned himself…..or maybe it was a romance story, unclear. Boats were launched to try to rescue him, failing that they tried to recover the body, failing that they threw rice cakes into the sea to entice the fish not to desecrate his body. So Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated with triangular shaped rice wrapped in leaves, boat races, and general holiday stuff.

We were used to very big celebrations for Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan. However, not so much here, now. I think that really to celebrate this holiday you need bodies of water and of course, Taiwan is an island, with lots of boats….and water. However, most of China is landlocked. I am told that southern China makes a bigger festival out of it. We will go out to eat (Western Sizzler, haha) tomorrow. But it is to celebrate a 60^th birthday of a co-worker not Dragon Boat Festival.

I find it interesting that the “big” town closest to my growing up years in Minnesota, Bemidji, has  Dragon Boat Races. They are later in the summer, but I am sure they have evolved because of all the bodies of water we have in Minnesota, and the need to have a summer festival.

Celebrating holidays is one of the more important ways to become part of a culture. We have so enjoyed so many festivals in so many places through the years, and always make resolutions always to remember when they are and make a token effort to participate. It is easier when you actually are in the countries that honor that holiday.