The dragon boat festival is celebrated with pomp and cheer,
It’s when daylight is the longest in the northern Hemisphere,
For it is the summer solstice or ‘mid-summer’ in East Asia.
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So it’s a good chance for a man to prove that he is not weak,
The dragon being of masculine energy, its image they seek,
Soon dragon boats are ready for racing on a river or a creek.
The festival honors the poet Qu Yuan, who died in 278 BC,
His last masterpiece, ‘Embracing the Sand’ lives on in history,
That he drowned himself in an act of
patriotism is a tragedy,
The race is for the
boatmen who searched for him desperately.The special food is glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves,
Mugwort leaves are strung on top of doors to ward off disease,
Perfumed pouches on children’s clothes is for evil to freeze,
A five-color silk thread on their wrists offers calm and peace.
