Dragon Boat Festival 端午节

The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is a holiday celebrated in China and the one with the longest history. After Chinese New Year, it is considered to be the second biggest holiday in China. This year, the festival falls on Saturday, June 23.
 

Known as Duānwǔ Jié in Chinese, Jié means festival. The festival was long known as a cultural holiday in China. In 2008, the Dragon Boat Festival was recognized as a public holiday in the People's Republic of China. 

The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated by boat races in the shape of dragons. Each team rows their boats and hopes to reach the finish line first while a drum beats. An actual dragon boat is traditionally made of teakwood and is similar to a 22 seat canoe.
 

According to custom, the poet Qu Yuan drowned on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 277 B.C. He supposedly tied a large rock to himself and committed suicide by jumping into the Miluo River at the age of 61. The boat races are meant to symbolize the rescue of Qu Yuan. Bamboo leaves filled with rice (known as zongzi) are thrown into the water in the hopes that the fish will eat the rice and not Qu Yuan. 

A type of realgar wine (known as xionghuangjiu) is also enjoyed. Realgar contains arsenic sulfide which was believed to be an antidote for poisons, thus driving away evil spirits, insects and other poisonous animals. 

During this celebration, several rituals are performed for protection from evil and sickness for the reminder of the year. Hanging herbs on the front door, drinking certain elixirs and hanging pictures of Zhong Kui (who is supposedly evil’s archenemy and a mythical figure). 

And if one manages to balance a raw on its end and it is exactly 12:00PM, this will also ensure that the following year will be lucky.