Zongzi
This time every year (the 5th day of the 5th lunar month) I always wonder "why is the Dragon Boat Festival called this?" In 5 years I've never spotted a Dragon Boat on Ximahe Lake. Instead, down here in Simao people do all the other DBF things: eat zongzi, drink root soup, and hang up haocao.
Roots
Why eat zongzi? It's a long story, and it's late at night here, but the general gist is that (in the story) these reed packets of sticky rice were thrown into the water to distract the fish from eating the body of some (popular) chap who had drowned. The roots are traditionally eaten on this day as a medicine tonic soup. And the haocao? That's a couple of pieces of long grass (one a reed, the other a fragrant smelling herb) hung on the front door as a good luck charm. Still no Dragon Boats though - maybe next year.
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