On the 22nd of June we will be raising the Chinese flag. In China, they have the Dragon Boat Festival.
This day is a public holiday in China, it is a day off for the general population, and schools and most businesses are closed. Our tamariki will engage with colouring in and origami to also celebrate this day.
What Do People Do?
The Dragon Boat Festival is a celebration where many eat rice dumplings (zongzi), drink realgar wine (xionghuangjiu), and race dragon boats. Other activities include hanging icons of Zhong Kui (a mythic guardian figure), hanging mugwort and calamus, taking long walks, and wearing perfumed medicine bags.
All of these activities and games such as making an egg stand at noon promote good health and well-being.
In the Republic of China, the festival was also celebrated as “Poets’ Day” in honour of Qu Yuan, who is known as China’s first poet. Chinese citizens traditionally throw bamboo leaves filled with cooked rice into the water and it is also customary to eat tzungtzu and rice dumplings.
