What is Dragon Boat Festival?
The festival, Duanwu, is best known for the story of Qu Yuan, a poet and minister of the ancient state of Chu who drowned himself in the Miluo River around 278 BC. Legend says local people raced out in their boats to save him and threw rice into the water so that the fish would leave his body alone: the origin of the races and of zongzi.
UNESCO added the Dragon Boat festival to its intangible heritage list in 2009. Korea's Gangneung Danoje festival, held around the same day, was listed in 2005.
When is Dragon Boat Festival? Dates for 2026 and 2027
2026
- Friday 19 June 2026Dragon Boat Festival
2027
- Wednesday 9 June 2027Dragon Boat Festival
The festival follows the lunar calendar, so it moves between late May and late June. Races are often held on the day itself and on the weekend around it; each city publishes its own programme.
How people celebrate
- Dragon-boat races, with crews of about twenty paddlers, a drummer and a steerer.
- Zongzi: sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, with sweet or savoury fillings.
- Hanging mugwort and calamus by the door and wearing fragrant sachets to keep illness away.
Good to know
- Watch from the shore near the finish line, where the races are closest.
- Try both kinds of zongzi: sweet ones with red bean, and savoury ones with pork and salted egg yolk.
- Balancing an egg upright at noon on the festival day is a popular game.