Dragon Boat FestivalDragon Boat Festival Customs

Dragon boat racing is the most iconic and exhilarating custom of the Dragon Boat Festival. A dragon boat is a dragon-shaped vessel used specifically for festival races. Dragon boat racing has long been one of the principal customs of the Han Chinese Dragon Boat Festival.

During a race, dozens of paddlers sit along both sides of the boat and drive their paddles through the water in time with the drummer. Paddles churn the waves and drums thunder across the river; what is being tested is not merely speed, but the collective spirit of “one boat, one heart.”

Traditional dragon boats are painstakingly constructed. The process includes selecting timber, building the hull, carving the dragon, and applying painted decoration. A typical boat is long and narrow, with an intricately carved dragon head at the bow and a dragon tail at the stern, while the hull is decorated with painted scales. Dragon heads vary in color from region to region and may be red, yellow, blue-green, white, or other colors.

Besides the paddlers, a racing crew generally includes a drummer, helmsman, and flag bearer. The drummer sits aboard the boat and beats out the rhythm; the helmsman controls the direction; and the flag bearer waves a banner at the bow to raise the crew’s spirits.

The spectacle can be extraordinary: boats race abreast across the river while crowds pack the banks, cheering at full voice. Tang-dynasty poet Zhang Jianfeng (张建封) captured the scene vividly in his Song of the Boat Race (《竞渡歌》):

鼓声三下红旗开，两龙跃出浮水来。 棹影斡波飞万剑，鼓声劈浪鸣千雷。

Today, dragon boat racing is not only an important activity during Chinese traditional festivals; it has also become popular internationally and developed into a competitive sport in many countries.

There are several explanations for the origin of dragon boat racing. The best-known connects it with the commemoration of Qu Yuan (屈原), the poet and statesman of the ancient State of Chu during the Warring States period. According to legend, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. The people of Chu, unwilling to let their respected minister perish, rushed out in boats to rescue him. They raced as far as Dongting Lake but could not find him. Thereafter, people are said to have raced dragon boats every fifth day of the fifth lunar month in his memory, beating the water and driving away fish so that they would not consume his body.

This explanation appears in works including Wu Jun’s (吴均) Xu Qi Xie Ji (《续齐谐记》, Continuation of Records of Strange and Marvelous Things) of the Liang dynasty and Zong Lin’s (宗懔) Jingchu Suishi Ji (《荆楚岁时记》, Record of the Seasons and Customs of Jing-Chu).

Another explanation holds that dragon boat racing originally formed part of seasonal rites for preventing illness and epidemics. Before the Spring and Autumn period, communities in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region are said to have conducted dragon-totem rituals through boat races on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Other traditions associate the races with Cao E (曹娥), who entered the river in connection with her father’s death, and Wu Zixu (伍子胥), remembered for avenging his father. Dragon boats have also been associated with driving away fish and shrimp, commemorating ancestral spirits, and worshipping water deities.

Written records of Dragon Boat Festival racing can be traced at least to the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Jingchu Suishi Ji records dragon boat competition on the fifth day of the fifth month. Racing was associated with the ancient states of Wu, Yue, and Chu and had become highly popular by the Northern and Southern Dynasties. What may initially have included rites for averting misfortune later acquired moral and commemorative meanings centered on figures such as Qu Yuan, Wu Zixu, and Cao E.

During the Dragon Boat Festival, visitors can watch races in many river and lake cities of southern China. Miluo in Hunan and Zigui in Hubei are particularly important centers of Qu Yuan and dragon boat traditions, while races in Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, and other regions have distinctive local styles.

Many cities organize public competitions during the festival, and visitors can watch from designated safe areas along the riverbanks. Some scenic areas also offer supervised dragon boat experiences in which visitors can try paddling themselves.

Eating zongzi (粽子) is one of the most widespread Dragon Boat Festival traditions in China. Also historically known as zonghe (粽籺), zongzi are made primarily from glutinous rice and fillings wrapped in leaves such as bamboo or other broad leaves. They come in many shapes, including triangular and four-cornered forms. Their history is extremely old, and they were originally used as offerings to ancestors and deities.

Making zongzi requires considerable skill. Tender reed leaves growing beside rivers and ponds are commonly used, while bamboo leaves are preferred in some regions; these wrapping leaves are collectively known as zongye (粽叶). The glutinous rice is first soaked, often overnight. Two leaves are folded into a funnel, filled with rice and other ingredients, and then tightly bound with thread or plant fiber. Finished zongzi may be tied in pairs or sometimes in strings of four.

Families traditionally eat zongzi on the morning of the Dragon Boat Festival in memory of Qu Yuan. They are commonly wrapped the previous day, cooked during the night, and eaten the following morning.

Traditional zongzi are often triangular and named according to their fillings. Plain glutinous-rice dumplings may be called rice zongzi; those containing adzuki beans are bean zongzi; and those containing red dates are date zongzi. The word for date, zao (枣), echoes the word “early” (早), while zhong in zong can evoke “passing” or “succeeding” in popular wordplay. Date zongzi therefore became associated with the wish that a student might achieve success early. In the past, examination candidates might eat them before taking the imperial examinations; even today, some parents prepare them for children before important school or university entrance examinations.

Zongzi have an ancient history. Early written references are associated with Xu Shen’s (许慎) Han-dynasty dictionary Shuowen Jiezi (《说文解字》, Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters). They were originally offerings to ancestors and deities.

During the Spring and Autumn period, millet was wrapped in wild-rice leaves in the shape of an ox horn and called jiaoshu (角黍, “horned millet”). Rice was also sealed inside bamboo tubes and roasted, producing tongzong (筒粽, “tube zongzi”). By the late Eastern Han period, millet could be soaked in alkaline water made from plant ash, wrapped into four-cornered parcels, and boiled—an early form related to the alkaline-water zongzi still found in southern China.

The food later became closely associated with the legend of Qu Yuan. According to tradition, after Qu Yuan drowned himself, people threw rice balls into the river to keep fish and shrimp from feeding on his body. Later, the rice was wrapped in chinaberry leaves and bound with five-colored silk, which legend held would prevent flood dragons from stealing it.

Regional cuisines eventually produced markedly different styles. After zongzi spread northward, northern millet was also used to make jiaoshu. Today, one of the broadest distinctions is between sweet northern-style zongzi and the many savory southern varieties.

Families can make zongzi together during the festival and experience the traditional wrapping technique firsthand. In northern China, sweet varieties filled with red dates or red-bean paste are common; in southern China, savory versions containing pork, salted egg yolk, and other fillings are popular.

Supermarkets, traditional pastry shops, and restaurants sell numerous varieties during the festival season. Visitors can also travel to places particularly famous for zongzi, such as Jiaxing and Huzhou, to sample local styles.

An old saying goes:

“Willow at Qingming, mugwort at Duanwu.”

Hanging mugwort (艾草) and calamus (菖蒲) is one of the festival’s most characteristic household customs. Families traditionally sweep and clean their courtyards, then place bundles of mugwort and calamus above doorways or hang them inside the main hall. Calamus, mugwort, pomegranate flowers, garlic, and ixora may also be fashioned into human or tiger shapes known as Mugwort Figures and Mugwort Tigers, or woven into wreaths and ornaments.

Traditional practice also developed detailed rules. Because odd numbers were associated with yang energy and the left side was likewise regarded as yang, there arose the saying:

“Hang an odd number, not an even number; hang on the left, not the right.”

Bundles of three, five, or seven stalks might therefore be tied together and hung upside down on the left side of the main doorway. Mugwort, banyan twigs, and calamus might be tied together with red paper before being placed above the entrance.

Calamus was counted among the “Five Auspicious Plants of Mid-Heaven” (天中五瑞). Its long, narrow leaves resemble swords, so it became a symbol for cutting away harmful influences. Daoist ritual specialists sometimes called it the “water sword.”

Behind these beliefs was also an accumulated body of seasonal practical knowledge. The fifth lunar month falls during a hot and humid period when insects multiply and infectious diseases historically became more common. Mugwort’s strong fragrance can repel some insects, while calamus contains aromatic volatile oils. Hanging these plants around doors and windows allowed their scents to disperse through living spaces.

The Dragon Boat Festival has therefore sometimes been described as an ancient Chinese “festival of hygiene.” People cleaned their homes, hung medicinal plants, sprinkled realgar water, and traditionally used realgar wine as part of a broader seasonal effort to remove impurity, deter insects, and protect health.

The custom has a long history, and one popular legend connects it with the rebel leader Huang Chao (黄巢) during the Tang dynasty.

According to the story, when Huang Chao’s army approached Dengzhou in the fifth lunar month, he encountered a young woman fleeing with two children. Curiously, she carried the older child while making the younger one walk. When questioned, she explained that the older boy was the orphaned son of her elder brother, while the younger child was her own. If she could save only one, she felt obligated to save her brother’s child first.

Moved by her sense of duty, Huang Chao cut mugwort and calamus from the roadside and told her to hang them above her door. He then ordered his soldiers to protect any household displaying the plants. The woman returned to the city and told her neighbors, and soon every household had hung mugwort and calamus. According to the legend, Huang Chao kept his promise and spared them, and the custom subsequently spread.

Traditional Chinese medicine describes mugwort as warming and aromatic, while calamus is likewise valued for its penetrating fragrance. Their volatile oils have been studied for various antimicrobial and insect-repelling properties, which helps explain why aromatic plants became associated with seasonal household sanitation.

On the morning of the festival, fresh mugwort and calamus can be purchased at traditional markets. They may be tied into bundles of three or five stalks with red cord and hung beside the doorway or window.

Where fresh plants are difficult to obtain, dried mugwort can be found in Chinese herbal medicine shops. For overseas visitors, simply observing the bundles hanging outside homes, shops, and traditional buildings can provide an accessible introduction to the festival’s combination of ritual symbolism and seasonal health practices.

Wearing fragrant sachets and tying five-colored cords are important Dragon Boat Festival customs associated with protection and good fortune.

Fragrant sachets are known by several Chinese names, including xiangbao (香包), xiangdai (香袋), xiangnang (香囊), and hebao (荷包). Some are woven from five-colored silk thread; others are sewn from scraps of cloth and filled with aromatic substances. Traditional fillings include Chinese medicinal herbs such as Atractylodes, patchouli, Eupatorium fortunei, Angelica dahurica, and mint. The filling is enclosed in silk or cloth and decorated with five-colored cords, creating small ornaments in an enormous variety of shapes.

Different ages traditionally favored different designs. Elderly people might wear sachets shaped like plum blossoms, chrysanthemums, peaches, apples, lotuses, or a child riding a fish—all carrying auspicious associations. Children preferred animals such as tigers, leopards, monkeys, fighting cocks, or rabbits. For young people, sachets could also become tokens of affection: a young woman might carefully embroider a distinctive sachet and present it to her sweetheart before the festival.

The five-colored cord (五彩绳), historically also called the five-colored longevity thread, is made from threads in blue-green, red, white, black, and yellow—colors traditionally regarded as auspicious. The cord is tied around children’s wrists, ankles, or necks as a protective charm.

According to custom, the cord should not simply be cut off and discarded at random. In different regions it may be removed on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, during the first major summer rain, or at the child’s first bath after the festival, then cast into flowing water so that misfortune is symbolically carried away. Some Shaanxi traditions associate this act with the celebrated physician Sun Simiao (孙思邈). Children are also traditionally told not to speak while the cord is being tied.

Fragrant sachets were not understood merely as decorative objects. In traditional Chinese medical culture, aromatic herbs worn close to the body were considered part of a broader practice sometimes described as “garment therapy.” Their fragrances were believed to refresh the mind, dispel dampness, support digestion, and help people cope with the humid heat of midsummer.

The custom of wearing sachets is ancient. Chen Shiliang’s (陈示靓) Suishi Guangji (《岁时广记》, Extensive Records of Seasonal Customs), quoting earlier seasonal writings, describes festival pouches made from red and white colored cloth and threaded with colored cords into flower-like forms. It also records small silk ornaments filled with powdered shell and worn by children to absorb perspiration.

Over time, the contents of such pouches changed—from shell powder, talismans, coins, and realgar powder to aromatic herbs and spices. Their craftsmanship became increasingly elaborate, eventually making the fragrant sachet one of the Dragon Boat Festival’s distinctive forms of folk art.

Five-colored cords can be tied around children’s wrists or ankles on the morning of the festival. Fragrant sachets can be purchased or handmade and worn on the chest or waist, or attached to a bag.

Making one by hand is also an accessible way to experience traditional craft: choose a fabric, sew it into a small pouch, fill it with aromatic herbs, and decorate it with colorful cords or embroidery.

The traditional use of realgar wine, or xionghuang jiu (雄黄酒), is one of the best-known historical Dragon Boat Festival customs. Realgar is an arsenic-containing mineral traditionally called “cockscomb stone” in Chinese materia medica. Historically, people mixed realgar with alcohol and used it in rituals intended to repel insects and the so-called Five Poisons.

Realgar wine was also applied to children’s ears, noses, foreheads, wrists, and ankles, traditionally believed to keep mosquitoes, snakes, scorpions, centipedes, geckos, spiders, and other creatures away.

A particularly recognizable custom is forehead painting. Adults use realgar to draw the Chinese character 王 (wang, “king”) on a child’s forehead. The design carries two layers of symbolism: realgar represents protection from poisonous creatures, while the character 王 resembles the markings on a tiger’s forehead. Because the tiger is traditionally regarded as the king of beasts, the mark symbolically transforms the child into a tiger protected against harmful forces.

Local gazetteers and Qing-dynasty seasonal records describe similar customs of applying realgar wine to children’s foreheads, ears, noses, hands, and feet.

The custom can be traced back many centuries, and realgar was traditionally believed to counteract numerous poisons.

Modern medicine, however, advises against drinking realgar wine. Realgar contains arsenic compounds, and heating or improper preparation can produce highly toxic substances. Ingestion can cause serious poisoning, including gastrointestinal distress, vomiting, convulsions, coma, and potentially death.

For that reason, the historical practice should be understood today primarily as cultural heritage rather than a recommended health practice. Even topical use may expose the skin to inorganic arsenic, so modern visitors should avoid direct use unless appropriate safety guidance is available.

The safest way to experience this custom is through cultural demonstrations, museum activities, or symbolic forehead painting with a non-toxic substitute rather than actual realgar. Historical realgar wine should not be consumed.

The fifth lunar month was historically regarded as a dangerous period of heat, humidity, insects, and disease. The Dragon Boat Festival therefore developed a large group of customs centered on avoiding the “Five Poisons” (五毒).

The exact list varies by region and tradition, but commonly includes creatures such as snakes, centipedes, scorpions, geckos, spiders, or toads. Some folk traditions symbolically countered them by eating five red-colored foods, associating their red color with the blood of the poisonous creatures. Foods could include roast duck, amaranth, salted duck eggs with red oil, crayfish, and historically realgar wine.

Gathering medicinal herbs is another important festival activity. In earlier times, people traveled into the countryside together to collect herbs. Folk belief held that plants were especially potent around the Dragon Boat Festival. Mugwort, calamus, and numerous medicinal plants were gathered, dried for later use, or boiled to prepare herbal bathing water.

Herbal bathing became an important festival practice in its own right and was traditionally believed to cleanse the body, prevent illness, and remove harmful influences.

Another custom is collecting “noon water” (午时水)—water drawn from a well or river at midday on the festival. Because noon was associated with the height of yang energy, the water was traditionally regarded as especially auspicious. It might be used for making tea, brewing, or bathing.

Customs for warding off the Five Poisons grew from ancient concerns about summer disease. The fifth lunar month corresponds to the onset of intense summer heat in much of China, when humidity increases and insects multiply. Ancient communities consequently regarded it as a dangerous “poison month.”

Hanging mugwort, displaying calamus, wearing fragrant sachets, gathering medicinal plants, taking herbal baths, and collecting noon water can therefore be understood as parts of a larger seasonal system combining ritual protection with practical hygiene.

Visitors can gather or purchase mugwort, calamus, and other traditional aromatic plants and learn how they were historically used. Herbal foot baths or baths made with safe ingredients offer one way to experience the custom.

The traditional “noon water” ritual can also be explored symbolically, although modern participants should of course use clean, safe water rather than untreated water from wells or rivers.

Fighting the Hundred Herbs (斗百草) was one of the most popular traditional Dragon Boat Festival games. In ancient times, people traveled into the countryside to gather medicinal plants and began playing with the plants they collected; over time, the activity developed into a recognized festival game.

One version is physical: two players each hold the ends of a grass or flower stem and interlock the stems. They pull until one breaks; the player whose stem remains intact wins.

Another form is intellectual and is sometimes described as “literary herb fighting.” Participants challenge one another by naming plants and responding with corresponding plant names. The stem-pulling version is accordingly sometimes called “martial herb fighting.”

The game was more than entertainment. It encouraged people to recognize plants, remember their names and properties, and interact socially while gathering herbs. During the Tang and Song dynasties it became a particularly popular seasonal pastime.

Tang poet Bai Juyi (白居易) wrote:

弄尘复斗草，尽日乐嬉嬉

—describing children happily playing with dust and competing with grasses throughout the day.

The custom can be traced at least to the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Zong Lin’s Jingchu Suishi Ji records that on the fifth day of the fifth month, people went out among the herbs and played the game of fighting grasses.

It became increasingly popular in the Tang and Song dynasties. Tang poet Sikong Tu (司空图) also referred to grass-fighting, while the Song-dynasty urban chronicle Dongjing Meng Hua Lu (《东京梦华录》, The Eastern Capital: A Dream of Splendor) records the activity among Dragon Boat Festival entertainments.

The game thus represents not only recreation, but also a lively folk expression of China’s traditional bencao (本草, herbal materia medica) culture.

During a festival outing, friends or families can collect common grasses and try the traditional stem-pulling game. Children can also learn the names and uses of local plants, turning the activity into both a game and a form of nature education.

Flying a zhiyuan (纸鸢), the traditional Chinese term for a kite, is associated with the symbolic idea of “releasing misfortune” and praying for good fortune.

Traditional kites are made by pasting paper or silk onto a bamboo framework and decorating the surface with auspicious designs or inscriptions. Once attached to a long line, the kite is carried into the sky by the wind.

In some southern regions, children flying kites during the Dragon Boat Festival was known as fang yang (放殃), literally “releasing calamity.” The idea resembles certain Qingming kite customs: disease, bad luck, and disaster are symbolically sent away with the kite.

Chinese kite traditions have an extremely long history, with legendary prototypes associated with Mozi and Lu Ban during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

The word yuan (鸢) originally refers to a bird of prey. Over time, flying a kite acquired various symbolic meanings, including the removal of harmful influences. Its incorporation into Dragon Boat Festival practice therefore fits naturally with the festival’s wider theme of seasonal protection.

Visitors can fly a kite in an open park or countryside area during the festival. Wishes or auspicious designs can be written or painted on the kite.

Some older customs involved cutting the string and allowing the kite to drift away as a symbol of releasing misfortune. For modern environmental and safety reasons, however, it is better to keep control of the kite and bring it home afterward rather than deliberately releasing it.

“Hiding from Duanwu” (躲端午), also called duowu (躲午, “hiding from noon”), is a distinctive traditional custom. Because the fifth day of the fifth lunar month was historically regarded in some traditions as an inauspicious or dangerous day, newly married daughters might return to their natal families before the festival to symbolically avoid potential misfortune. This custom was particularly widespread in parts of northern China.

The festival also developed a broader range of practices for avoiding the Five Poisons. Families might display pictures of the Five Poisons or embroider their images onto clothing, following the symbolic principle of “using poison to counter poison.” In some places, people remained indoors and displayed an image of Zhong Kui, the legendary demon-queller, to protect the household.

Although the forms vary considerably, these practices share a common concern with the dangers historically associated with the hot and disease-prone fifth lunar month.

Protective Dragon Boat Festival practices have a very long history. Ying Shao’s (应劭) Han-dynasty Fengsu Tongyi (《风俗通义》, Comprehensive Meaning of Customs) records the tying of five-colored silk around the arm on the fifth day of the fifth month, calling it a “longevity thread.”

Ancient perceptions of the fifth month as dangerous were also connected with ideas about the seasonal struggle between yin and yang. The Liji · Yueling (《礼记·月令》, “Monthly Ordinances” in the Book of Rites) describes the period around the summer solstice in terms of the interaction and contest between yin and yang, life and death. Such ideas contributed to the later notion of the fifth month and fifth day as a dangerous seasonal threshold.

Modern visitors can learn about the tradition by viewing Five Poisons images, Zhong Kui prints, protective embroidery, and other festival objects in markets or cultural exhibitions.

The custom of a newly married daughter returning to her parents’ home can likewise be understood today as a historical family tradition rather than a literal method of avoiding disease.