Dragon Boat Festival

 Monday, June 6 was a holiday.  It was the day of the Dragon Boat Festival.  The Dragon Boat Festival is an ancient tradition in Asian culture.  But in China, the tradition was lost...at least officially lost...for may years.  It was only in 2008 that the holiday was officially re-instated by the government.   Which is a good thing, since this is 2011 and we get the day off of work.

 On the day of Dragon Boat Festival, you do two things.  The first thing you do is go to see the dragon boat races.   Word-of-mouth says that most every city has some kind of dragon boat race.  Businesses and clubs form teams to participate in a friendly competition.   The organizers provide the boats.  And the teams just show up the day of the competition.  The more aggressive come to win.  The majority, though, come with only the hopes of not overturning the boat and looking foolish.

 In Suzhou, the Dragon Boat Races were held on Jin Ji Lake in the Moon Harbor area....just a mile or so East of our apartment.  It rained most of the day, but miraculously there was a break in the drizzle from about 9:00am until 1:00pm for the races.

 In coming out to the races, the main point is to see other people and have a good time.   In truth, if you've seen one Dragon Boat Race,  you've seen them all.   Unless you've got a horse in the race, it's pretty much all the same.  It's mainly for fun and for charity.  Somewhat like the Daviess County Turkey Trot, but with Dragon Boats instead of Turkeys doing the racing.