19 June 2007 is the date for this year's Dragon Boat Festival, which is a Chinese lunar holiday, occurring on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in the Chinese calendar. The festival, also known as the Double Fifth Day Festival or Duan Wu Jie, is a significant holiday in China, ranking alongside the Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The Dragon Boat Festival is particularly well known for being celebrated by teams racing highly decorated, 12m boats in the shape of dragons, accompanied by a metronome drumbeat. And Dragon Boat Racing is now claimed to be the second fastest growing outdoor sport in the world. It combines the Chinese cultural tradition with teamwork and strategy, to create a fantastic spectacle of colour and sound.
The
International Dragon Boat Federation is recognised world wide as the world governing body for the sport of Dragon Boat Racing and there is a useful worldwide calender of
Dragon Boat Race Events.
Labels: 2007, Dragon Boat Festival, Dragon Boat Racing, festival
