Summer Vacay - Day 9: Dragon Boat Festival

The annual Dragon Boat Festival is this weekend. Dragon Boat racing started in China more then 20 centuries ago but didn't become a competitive sport until the late 1970's in Hong Kong. Dragons are the only animal in the Chinese zodiac that aren't 'real' animals (rat, monkey, horse, rabbit, snake, tiger, rooster, ox, pig, dog and sheep). These mythical creatures were believed to be the rulers over water and during the hot seasons when disease and rot it was said that during these dragon boat races human sacrifices would sometimes be involved. The races would include violent clashes between the boats and sharp bamboo sticks. If a member of the dragon boat team fell into the water no one would help because the dragon was to determine their misfortune and no one would be willing to interfere with that so if these fallen drowned then they would be considered a sacrifice. Obviously this is not the present practice but I found it to be really interesting. These dragon boat teams are made up of a drummer, who helps keep the beat of all the strokes for the paddlers. He/she will also voice commands to fellow team mates to help motivate them to perform at their best. In the smaller boats (like the ones we saw today) the drummer is placed at the front of the boat but in the larger traditional boats which seat 40 paddlers the drum may be found in the middle of the boat so that everyone would be able to hear it in the midst of the competition. The majority of the team is made up of paddlers with the front two pacers setting the pace for the rest. The sweep sits in the back of the boat and is charge of rear oar used for ruddering. Another cool fact I learned researching for this post was that Dragon Boats were first introduced to Canada at Expo '86 in Vancouver where Hong Kong sent over to use in the display. So today we watched two races as my arms ached watching and I admired all the bright colours and the sound of the beating drums. It was neat but I think I would have appreciated it a lot more in the moment if I had known all this before I went and not later that evening but I will store all this knowledge for next year and enjoy history along with the present.

Along with the races we walked around Henderson Lake a little bit and although it was still too early in the morning for the face painting and other fun kids stuff they did have these which the kids couldn't resist: