Top 8 Dragon Boat Festivals in North America
June 10, 2011
6 min readBy Christine Wei
This past Monday, Chinese communities from all over Asia gathered to cheer on their favorite teams at colorful dragon boat races in celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival. The holiday was born, as legend goes, when wrongly exiled court official and scholar Qu Yuan drowned himself to protest corruption and maintain his honor during a troubled political period in China. His friends rowed out to the river, warding off evil spirits with drums and distracting hungry fish with glutinous rice balls.
But today, you don’t have to be in Asia to marvel at the incredibly coordinated rowers racing to heart-pumping drum beats or to enjoy yummy zhong zi. We’ve gathered a list of some of the biggest and most popular dragon boat celebrations happening in North America this summer where you can join in on the festivities and get a taste of the East close to home.
These are only a handful of the celebrations happening this summer. Many others are held at fun locations like Banff National Park in Canada and Disney World in Florida. To see a more comprehensive list, check out http://dragonboatnews.com/news.html.
Know another can’t-miss dragon boat festival? Tell us in the comments section below.
Christine Wei is a freelance writer who grew up in Taipei, Taiwan and spent her formative years drinking boba milk tea right from the source. When she’s not suffering bouts of wanderlust or breathing in more calories than she should, she also edits Mochi Magazine, an online publication for Asian American girls. She loves good food, good company, and happy endings.
Photos: Above, Brian Yen/My Shot; Below, Rakesh Chandode/My Shot
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