Things to know

1The festival is held every year on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. This year it falls on June 25.

2The holiday commemorates the life and death of a famous Chinese scholar named Qu Yuan who died in a river. The villagers frantically paddled boats out to recover him and that’s how the dragon boat races began.

3Traditional dragon boats can hold between 10 to 50 paddlers. The rhythm of the team is guided by a leader called a ‘drummer’.

4Zongzi is a traditional snack eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival. It is a pyramidshaped sticky rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo leaves. It is believed that the villagers had thrown these dumplings into the river to keep the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body.

Things you need to know Dragon Boat Festival

5In Hong Kong, different dragon boat races usually take place at different locations during the festival. More than 4,000 athletes from around the world come to Hong Kong during this time to compete at the races.

6This year, due to the coronavirus outbreak, several major races including the Sun Life Stanley International Dragon Boat Championships, Sha Tin and Aberdeen Dragon Boat Races, have been postponed or cancelled.