A little girl learns to make Zongzi, or glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves in the shape of a pyramid, in Zibo City, Shandong Province on June 4, 2008. On the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which is Sunday this year, all Chinese celebrate one of their major traditional festivals, the Duanwu Festival, or Dragon Boat Festival.(Xinhua Photo) 

On the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which is Sunday this year, all Chinese celebrate one of their major traditional festivals, the Duanwu Festival, or Dragon Boat Festival. The highlights of their celebrations include eating zongzi, glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves in the shape of a pyramid, racing dragon boats and sticking mugwort leaves on their doors.

There is a touching story behind the festival, too. Qu Yuan, a poet in the Warring States Period more than 2,000 years ago, drowned himself on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month of 278 BC in the Milo River in despair over his country's future. Hearing of his death, people who loved Qu raced in boats to recover his body from the river and threw zongzi into it to feed the fish to keep them away from Qu's body.

In 2006, the folk customs for celebrating the Duanwu Festival were approved by the State Council as a national cultural heritage. A year later, the central government decided to add the Duanwu Festival, together with two other traditional festivals – Tomb Sweeping Day and Mid Autumn Festival – to the list of public holidays.

According to tradition, our ancestors believed the hot weather in midsummer might cause various diseases. So, to ward off diseases and drive out evil were the main purposes of the Duanwu Festival.