The 2010 Tampa Bay International Dragon Boat Races are scheduled for May 1st.

For detailed event info CLICK HERE.

The Tuen Ng (Dragon Boat Festival) traditionally commemorates an heroic gesture and a tragic event which took place in ancient China more than 2000 years ago.  The government of the Kingdom of Chu was a corrupt one, and after jealous rivals falsely accused him of treason, a well loved statesman, warrior and poet, ‘Qu Yuan’ (pronounced Chu Ywan), was banished. In despair and, perhaps as a final act of protest against the government, he threw himself into the Mi Lo River and drowned.

The Chinese people have never forgotten this desperate heroic act and when fishermen raced
their boats to recover his body before it could be devoured by fish (beating drums and throwing rice dumplings into the river to distract them) they founded a tradition that continues to this day.

Each year, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month (usually June) crews of paddlers re-enact that frantic rush to save Qu Yuan, by powering long narrow boats with the ferocious heads of dragons mounted on the prow through the water, to the frenzied, rhythmic beating of drums. It is not known how the dragon boat prow came into being, but it is thought that over the years, they were added to ward off evil water spirits. This probably arose because the combination of the 5th lunar numbers is thought to be a bad omen and dragon boat races held, at this time, would ward off evil spirits; protect the health of the people and ensure a good crop each year.

Special foods are also eaten at this time of year, especially in Hong Kong, including replicas of
the Rice Dumplings that the fishermen threw into the Milo River, all those years ago in a
desperate attempt to save Qu Yuan.