Eating rice dumpling during the Rice Dumpling Festival a.k.a. Duan Wu Jie（端午节) a.k.a. Dragon Boat Festival is a Chinese tradition that has been going on since time immemorial. The festival takes place every year on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese calendar, which is also when the sun is the strongest during the summer solstice. The racing of dragon boats on this occasion is therefore symbolic since dragons, like the sun, represent masculine energy. The eating of rice dumpling, on the other hand, is based on the legend of Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet during the Chu Dynasty who committed suicide on the 5th day of the 5th month after he was wrongly banished from the state for the crime of treason. In order to protect the body of Qu Yuan, the local people started throwing rice dumplings into the Miluo River where he perished in order to feed the fish. Such interesting stories make for a perfect excuse to give this traditional dish a whip and a try, especially since it is a dish embraced by the Chinese population in all parts of the world.
