During this festival, there are dragonboat races all over the country, but in terms of food, locals would eat Zongzi (粽子). They are pretty much glutinous rice triangles wrapped in bamboo leaves. My Chinese friend, Lily, told me that Zongzi fillings would usually consist of red bean paste, meats, or even nothing.
The one that I got from Lily on duanwu jie was filled with red bean paste, and she told me to add honey to it to make it tastier.
There is a legend surrounding why locals eat Zongzi on the dragonboat festival. A long time ago in China, a famous poet named Qu Yuan was so overcome with grief when the Qin took over Yingdu, the capital of Chu (where the poet came from), that he drowned himself in the Miluo river.
It is said that locals threw sticky rice into the river so that the fish would eat the rice instead of Qu Yuan's body.
And why is this story a part of the dragonboat festival? Well, because Qu Yuan's admirers paddled on dragonboats to scare away the fish and retrieve his body. The legend of the origin of the dragonboat races and the eating of zongzi on duanwu jie.
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