June 19 Tuesday , is also the 5th day of the 5th lunar month , which is one of the three most important holidays for Chinese – Dragon Boat Festival .
As its name suggests , Dragon boat festival is celebrated with races of boats decorated like dragons. To tell the truth, I have never been to any of the boat races , except watching ones on TV at home . This year I am thinking to go to one myself to take some photos …to see the teams row their boats to drum beats, racing to grab a flag at the end of the course , I think it would make some exciting photos … but it has been raining with thunders and lightnings and according to the weather forecast , it’s going to like this for another week…. L
When we think of Dragon Boat festival , we think of “ Zong Zi “ , a sticky-rice treat you can see the photos below ( my mom usually makes /wraps Zong Zi herself every year , and she makes the one without “ pork “ for me , she would put some chicken in instead of pork )
( what my mom usually puts in zongzi )
( my favorite - chestnuts )
There is actually a story why we eat Zong Zi on Dragon Boat Festival , to memorialize “ Qu Yuan “ , a minister and a poet during the Warring States Period . When he drowned himself after failing to end government corruption , people threw zong zi into the river to discourage the fish from eating him .
Other holiday customs include hanging medicinal herbs on the front door to prevent evil and encourage good luck . and there is something kids are taught to do which I have no idea why …. You can try to stand an egg on its end at noon …. Only at noon on Dragon Boat Festival , an egg stands on its end … why ? I actually asked a couple of my students if they had tried to do so and they told me some eggs did stand , but some didn’t ….. ha ha .. must have been the bad and good eggs … ha ha
( and duck egg yolks ... mine has a whole yolk in it while others only get a half )
there are basically two different ways to make zongzi , southern Taiwan - where my mom grew up , they flavor the sticky rice and mixed with peanuts , while people from Northern Taiwan stir-fry the rice first before wrap it with all the other "stuffing" with " bamboo leaves " , then you can either boil them or steam them .
this year my mom had my aunt ( on the right ) and our neighbor ( on the left ) to help wrapping ZongZi ...they made 200 zongzi today .
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