On the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar(农历), all Chinese people celebrate one of their traditional festivals, the Dragon Boat Festival. Their celebrations include eating zongzi, rice wrapped in reed leaves in the shape of a pyramid, racing dragon boats and sticking mugwort leaves on their doors.
In 2007, the central government decided to add the Dragon Boat Festival, together with two other traditional festivals—Tomb-Sweeping Day(清明节) and the Mid-Autumn Festival—to the list of public holidays.
According to tradition, our ancestors(祖先) believed the hot weather in midsummer might cause different kinds of diseases(疾病). So to keep off diseases and drive out evil were the main purposes of the Dragon Boat Festival. Parents used colorful threads to make necklaces and bracelets(手镯) for children, gave them beautiful embroidered bags(荷包), and painted the Chinese character for the "king"(wang) on their foreheads to drive away bad luck. The Dragon Boat Festival was also called "the kids festival" in some places. Spending such happy hours with parents, young children began to understand the festival as well as the traditions and culture behind it. Repeating the customs year by year makes it possible for kids to learn the traditions, accept them and pass them on when they become adults.
