Every year around May or June, Chinese, all over the world celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, which reminds me that when I was growing up in Mauritius my mother used to make sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, we called it “joong”. I did not know why then but later understood it was to celebrate the 2,000 year old Chinese traditional Dragon Boat Festival. It is amazing and worthy of praise that overseas Chinese, though thousands of miles away from their home country, keep many of their long traditions with them, wherever they are, Vancouver, San Francisco, London, Cape Town, Sydney or Sao Paulo.
“Joong” sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves.
“Joong” with peanuts and BBQ pork fillings
The Chinese population in Mauritius is too small, too scattered and probably too busy to organize the traditional dragon boat race associated with the festival. They are content with making and enjoying the sticky rice dumplings. Nowadays sticky rice dumplings can be found any day in many Chinese restaurants and shops around the world, and they come with different kinds of fillings, red bean paste, chestnut, barbecue pork or chicken.
When I arrived in Hong Kong in 1966 I was exposed to and mesmerized by the many long standing Chinese traditions that were not celebrated to its fullest in Mauritius. In Hong Kong the dragon boat race is an important component of the festival. Here races are organized at over 10 different sites, involving thousands of competitors, tens of thousands of supporters. The race is very colourful, the boat lively decorated with an imposing dragon head and multicolour banners, the participants dressed in bright colour uniform, not to mention the chanting scream of the paddlers and deafening beating of the drum or gong which coordinates the rhythm of the paddles. A great tourist attraction.
Participants ready for the Dragon Boat race in Hong Kong
Dragon Boats with imposing Dragon Head and drummers
When I was living in Vancouver, Canada in the 1980s, the local Chinese community leaders, due to the large influx of Hong Kong immigrants to the city, organized a Dragon Boat Race at False Creek in downtown Vancouver. The event quickly became very popular not only among the local Chinese but to many Canadians who also enthusiastically participated in the event by commissioning their own dragon boats. Soon the event spread to other major cities around the world including New York, Sydney and San Francisco.
There is even an International Dragon Boat Race held in Hong Kong every year where teams from around the world congregate to compete for the top title.
There are several folklores as to the origin of this festival, the most popular is about Qu Yuan (340-278 B.C.), a poet and beloved minister in the ancient state of Chu during the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty. He lost the Emperor’s favour due to his disagreement with the state policy. Removed from his post and later out of despair for his country, he drowned himself in the river. The local people raced in their boats to try to save him, hence the Dragon Boat Race celebration. When they could not find his body, the local people threw rice dumplings in the river so that the fish would eat the dumplings and spare his body, hence the sticky rice tradition.
Statue of Qu Yuan in Zigui county, Hubei Province, his birthplace