According to Chinese lore, on this day, Qu Yuan, a minister in exile drowned himself when a Qin ruler defeated Emperor Huai of the Jin dynasty.
When Yuan’s body could not be found, local people threw rice, eggs and wine into the river to feed fishes, reptiles and water spirits so they would not feed on his corpse.
Another myth traces the festival’s origin to ancestral worshipping of the dragon by Bai Yue people, the first settlers in the Guangzhou area of China according to Britannica.
For me the festival turned out to be much more hectic than anticipated but high on the fun factor. I went along with a bunch of friends to watch the boat race at Discovery Bay, a picture perfect residential area mainly targeted at expats and high-end income local families.
Watching sea waves break silently against the shore and halos of clouds form around hilltops, it was hard to believe that the place existed just 30 minutes rides from the uber life of the HK island.
I am unsure how a more traditional race would look like but in a city so high strung on the Laissez Faire philosophy, it was interesting to watch people unite into teams and compete.
(Found this blog for pics of the race. There are many more capturing the HK life
http://tdmphoto.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-06-02T17%3A56%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=3 )
Two strong touches of tradition in the competition that were clearly evident to me were the dragon faces and colourful decorations on boat fronts and drummers perched on the boat edge.
A quick Wikipedia search on drummers led to this-
The drummer or caller may be considered the "heartbeat" of the dragon boat, and leads the crew throughout a race with the rhythmic beating of a drum to indicate the timing and frequency of paddling strokes (that is, the cadence, picking up the pace, slowing the rate, etc.) The caller may issue commands to the crew through a combination of hand signals and voice calls, and also generally exhorts the crew to perform at their peak. A caller/drummer is mandatory during racing events, but if he or she is not present during training, it is typical for the sweep to direct the crew.
PS:
1. If you remember the terracotta army (from the "Tomb of the Dragon Emperor", the latest in The Mummy series) it was built during the reign of Qin Shi Huang (of the Qin dynasty), the first emperor of a unified or imperial China (Wikipedia)
2. Click on the link for some more observations on the festival. Unfortunately I could not eat zong zi, apparently a must have on Duan Wu.
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