A Pleasant Surprise.

So, at Diamond Court, where I am staying, my apartment is cleaned twice a week. Those days are on Monday and Thursdays. Yesterday, when I returned to the apartment, I found this little bag with these ornately tied and wrapped bamboo leaves with something in them. These were sitting on my dining room table. Next to the bag on my table was a sheet of paper with Traditional Chinese and English. So I read it and it was a story about:

The Dragon Boat Festival

The festival is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar, and is therefore often called the "Double Fifth Fesitval" In Chinese, the holiday is called Duan Wu Jie.

The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar-statemsman Qu Yuan, who lived some three centuries before the birth of Christ. Qu Yuan was a loyal minister that served the King of Chu during the Warring States Period. Qu Yuan was a highly respected and trusted advisor to the King of Chu. He fought the corruption of other officials of the court.

Initially, Qu Yuan was favored by the King, but over time, his wisdom and ways antagonized the other court officials. Eventually, the intrigues of his rivals exerted enough ill influence on the King that Qu Yuan soon found himself out of favor and was banished from Chu. While in exile, Qu Yuan composed many poems expressing his sorrows and concerns for his country and the people. Amongst his most famous poems is "Encountering Sorrow" a poem that describes his search for a good sovereign that would listen to good advice regarding government.

When it was known that Qu Yuan had been lost forever, the local people began the tradition of throwing sacrificial cooked rice into the river for their lost hero. However, a local fisherman had a dream that Qu Yuan did not get any of the cooked rice that was thrown into the river in his honor. Instead, it was the fishes in the river that had eaten the rice. So, the following year, the tradition of wrapping the cooked rice in bamboo leaves was begun. The cooked rice wrapped in bamboo leaves later came to be known as Zong Zi (pronounced ZongZ).

There is another version of the story. When it was known that Qu Yuan had been lost to the river, the local fisherman had a dream that the fishes in the river were eating Qu Yuan's body. The local people came up with the idea that if the fishes in the river were not hungry, then they would not eat Qu Yuan's body. So the local people began the tradition of throwing Zong Zi into the river to feed the fishes in hope that Qu Yuan's body would be spared.

It was a good thing that Kurt and I talked to Jason Yang in the office because we were intending on making a trek to the river and to throw the rice in the river. But as it turns out, the custom has begun to actually steam the bamboo leaf shrouded rice in a rice cooker and eat it. It was good that we talked to Jason because as usual. you can learn a lot more about a country, a custom or a tradition when you live it and talk to the people who know.

All for now......Take care.