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March 8, 2014 |
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Image:DragonBoatRace.jpg|Dragon Boat Race|thumb|right|300px|Two dragon boat teams competing. The drummer, steerer and paddlers can be clearly seen. A typical Dragon Boat will hold 20 paddlers, seated in pairs and facing forward. A Drummer sits at the front of a the boat, while a Steersman is positioned at the rear. Drummer, also referred to as the Caller, leads the team during a race. They can be men or women, usually chosen for their strong leadership skills. The Drummer is there to make all the calls necessary to react to changes during a race through a combination of hand signals, voice calls or the beat of the drum. Steersman, also referred to as Steers or Steerer. They control the Dragon Boat with a steering oar that is mounted at the rear of the boat. Steersmen will also usually relay the Drummer's calls for the back half of the boat during a race. Paddlers sit facing forwards and paddles are used in a canoe fashion (rather than the kayak style typical of rowing|crew). The leading pair of paddlers, or "Strokes", set the pace for the team. All other paddlers synchronize their strokes to the paddlers in front of them and the drum beat which they can hear. The history of dragon boat can be traced back to more than 2000 years ago along on the banks of the life-sustaining rivers in Southern China such as the Yangtze River|Yangtze. There are two main legends popularly related to the custom of racing dragon boats: Firstly, it was primarily held as a rite to awaken the hibernating Chinese dragon|Heavenly Dragon, which plays a most venerated role among the Chinese zodiac mythology and was traditionally believed to be the ruler of rivers and seas that dominates clouds and rains. Sacrifices, sometimes humans, were involved in this ritual, and for this reason it remains a violent clash even centuries later as the crew members of the competing boats throw stones and strike each other with cane sticks. Originally, paddlers or even an entire team falling into the water could receive no assistance from the onlookers as it was considered to be due to the will of this Dragon Deity and could not be interfered with. If people drowned it was considered to be a sacrifice. This belief coincides well with the time of this festival, which is annually held on the 5th day of the 5th Chinese calendar|Chinese lunar month (varying from late May to middle June), which is traditionally reckoned as a month of death and disease, a period of evil and darkness due to the high summer temperatures. Thus venerating the awakened Dragon was meant to avert misfortune and encourage rainfall which is needed for the fertility of the crops and thus for prosperity in an agricultural way of life. Some other rituals also serve as evidence of this theory, one of which called Awakening of the Dragon involved a Daoist priest dotting the protruding eyes of the dragon head carved on the boat, in the sense of ending its slumber. Another ritual required red paper being cut into the shape of the five most poisonous animals - the snake, centipede, scorpion, lizard and toad - those that lure the Evil Spirits, and which were placed in the mouth of the wooden dragons that formed the prows of the boats. Another main legend connects this festival with a touching saga of a famous Chinese patriotism|patriot poet named Qu Yuan. He lived in the pre-imperial period called the Period of the Warring States (475-221 B.C.) during which time the area today known as China was torn into seven main states battling among themselves with unprecedented heights of military strategy|military intrigue. The author Sunzi (Sun Tzu) wrote the famous The Art of War during this period, for example. Qu Yuan was a Political minister|minister in the government as well as a poet of the southern state of Chu, a champion of political loyalty and truth eager to maintain the Chu state's sovereignty. The Chu monarch|king, however, fell under the influence of other corrupt, jealous ministers who slandered Qu Yuan as 'a sting in flesh', and banished his most royal counselor. In his exile, so the legend goes, Qu Yuan produced some of the greatest poetry in Chinese literature expressing his fervent love for his state and his deepest concern for its future. His body of work is contained in an anthology of poetry known as the Chuci or the Odes of Chu. In the year 278 B.C., learning of the upcoming devastation of his country from invasion by a neighbouring warring state, he is said to have waded into the Miluo river in today's Hunan Province holding a great rock in order to commit ritual suicide as a form of protest against the corruption of the era. The common people, learning of his suicide, rushed out in their fishing boats to the middle of the river and tried desperatedly to save him. They beat drums and splashed water with their paddles in order to keep the fish and evil spirits from his body, and later on, they scattered rice into the water to prevent him from suffering hunger. However, late one night, the spirit of Qu Yuan appeared before his friends and told them that the rice meant for him was being intercepted by a huge river dragon. He asked his friends to wrap their rice into three-cornered silk packages to ward off the dragon. This has been a traditional food ever since known as zongzi, although they are wrapped in bamboo leaves instead of silk. In order to commemorate him, people held Dragon Boat Race every year on the day of his suicide. Dragon boat racing has been practiced in China by around 20 million people. But over the past 25 years it has spread beyond Asia to Europe, North America, Australia and Africa, to become an international sport with a huge following. Nowadays it is among the fastest growing water sports and remains amazingly the largest team sport, with over 60 million participants in over 50 countries. Main racing federations includes the http://www.dragonboat.com International Dragon Boat Federation, the European Dragon Boat Federation as well as the Asian Dragon Boat Federation. An International Dragon Boat Racing contest is held in Hong Kong annually. IDBF member associations exist in many places, for example China DB Assn, Hongkong DB Assn, Chinese Taipei DB Assn, Macau DB Assn, Singapore DB Assn, Australian DB Federation, United States DB Federation, Dragon Boat Racing Council of Canada, British DB Racing Assn, Italian DB Fed'n, German DB Assn, Swiss DB Assn, South African DB Assn, Danish DB Assn, etc. The IDBF holds world championship regattas on alternate, odd numbered, years (Yueyang Hunan PRC 1995, Hongkong 1997 (2 weeks before return to Chinese sovereignty to become HKSAR), Nottingham England UK 1999, Philadelphia Pennsylvania USA 2001, Qingpu County Shanghai PRC 2003, Berlin Germany 2005, Sydney Australia 2007. In honour of the 2008 summer Olympiad in Beijing, the China DB Assn and the IDBF will stage a major international dragon boat regatta. The biggest dragon boat festival racing events outside of Asia are in Canada. Vancouver and Toronto each host races featuring more than 180 25-person crews. These races take place over two days in mid-to-late June in correspondence with the 5th Day of the 5th Month custom. As co-operation plays an important role in successful dragon boat racing crews, Dragon Boat Racing has also become a very popular corporate and charitable sport, during which friendship, strength and endurance are developed among the participants. Category:Chinese holidays ja:端午zh:端午节 This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dragon boat race".
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