Dragon Boats & Rice Dumplings
Dragon Boat Festival 端午節 (Jyutping: dyun1 ng5 zit3) is celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese lunar calendar. This year it falls on June 20th.
The festival commemorates the patriotic poet 屈原 (Jyutping: wat1 jyun4), who drowned himself in protest against imperial corruption. The grieving villagers rushed out in boats to rescue him but failed. In an effort to prevent his body from being eaten by fishes, the villagers beat drums, thrashed the water with paddles and threw rice dumplings in the river to feed the fishes. Dragon boat racing and eating rice dumplings have become the central customs of the festival.
The rice dumpling (糉 Jyutping: zung2) is traditionally wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves and in triangular or rectangular shape. It is made with sticky rice and various fillings, including salted duck egg, fresh meat, lotus seeds, bean paste, etc. I like to serve the savory rice dumplings (鹹糉; Jyutping: haam4 zung2) with soya sauce and the sweet rice dumplings (甜糉; Jyutping: tim4 zung2) with sugar or honey. It takes time to make rice dumplings. You have to soak the dry bamboo leaves overnight, make and cook the filling, wrap the dumplings and finally cook the dumplings for 2+ hours. It takes skills to wrap the triangular shaped rice dumplings as you need to secure all the yummy filling with only 3 bamboo leaves. This site has step by step pictures and video to show you how it is done. Not many people throw the rice dumplings in the river nowadays but eating rice dumplings (食糉; Jyutping: sik6 zung2) is a must.
You are probably no stranger to dragon boat races (龍舟賽; Jyutping: lung4 zau1 coi3) as they are big international events nowadays. Traditionally, before paddling or racing in a dragon boat, the eyes of the dragon boat head should be dotted with red paint made of chicken blood in order to reanimate the dragon's bold spirit for hearty racing. This is called the Eye Dotting ceremony (點睛儀式; Jyutping: dim2 zing1 ji4 sik1). After the dragon boats have sailed in the water, it is believed that the water is blessed so people who swim there will stay healthy for the remainder of the year. No matter if you swim at where the dragon boats have sailed or at a swimming pool on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, it is called 游龍舟水 (Jyutping: jau4 lung4 zau1 seoi2).
The Dragon Boat Festival is still more than a week away so you still have time to make some rice dumplings now. What is your favorite rice dumpling fillings?
