A year in Wuhan, China: Dragon Boat Festival 端午节

Well this will probably be my last blog post for the year! Time really has flown by--I cannot believe in just one week I will be on a plane back home to the States. I am both very excited and very sad to leave, but I think those are the best kind of conflicted feelings I could ask for. I've had such an amazing experience here, but I know many more lie ahead back home with family and friends. Trying to fit in all the last things I want to do (mostly fit in all the food I want to eat). Packing is going how packing usually goes--a bit stressful, but slowly falling into place. Saying goodbye here has struck me as a new experience as well. There's a real chance I won't ever see any of my students again, and maybe even the other Chinese friends I've made. Hopefully our paths meet, but being continents away makes things a bit different in terms of keeping in touch. In everything there is something to learn I suppose.

Anyway, last Monday-Wednesday we had no work because it was the Dragon Boat Festival 端午节。 The festival （节）was technically Wednesday, but there were events and celebrations and time spent with family the days before. Since Nathan and I have been travelling during most of the other Chinese festivals this year, we were excited to finally spend one in Wuhan. One of Nathan's students and a friend of ours--her English name is Alice-- asked us if we wanted to go to East Lake 东湖 with her to celebrate. So on Tuesday we spent the day watching boat races, taking our own paddle boat out onto the lake surrounded by lotus paddies, and enjoying the most perfect weather we've had in Wuhan 武汉 all year. Seriously. The crispest blue skies, temperatures in the low-upper 70's, sunny but not humid (for once!), and with a cool breeze. On days like today when it is over 100 and so humid you're drenched before you even step outside of the apartment, days like our day at East Lake 东湖 really stand out.

The festival itself is really very interesting has its origins in Wuhan 武汉 which made it neat to celebrate it here. It is an ancient story from the time of the Chu Kingdom of the Zhou Dynasty in the Warring States period in Chinese history (that's a mouthful). Qu Yuan was a high official in the kingdom who saw problems with how things were being run and so he supported new policies for the kingdom that the majority of high officials saw as being too revolutionary. So, as most great revolutionaries are at some point, Qu was exiled. During his exile, Qu wrote a lot of poetry about his sadness regarding where he saw the future of China heading. When, after many years of this kind of rebellious writing, he saw his fears becoming realities, Qu committed suicide by tying rocks around his neck and jumping into the river. The local people who had supported and respected Qu made what are now known as zongzi 粽子--reed-leaf wrapped triangles of flavored rice. These zongzi 粽子 were meant to distract the fish so they would eat the zongzi 粽子 instead of Qu's body. Zongzi 粽子 are now eaten annually during the Dragon Boat Festival 端午节. The ancient people also paddled around in boats to keep the fish away, which became the tradition of dragon boat racing.

So here are some pictures from the day:

Outside the North Gate of our University--blue skies!

Took a walk around campus before heading to East Lake. There are many beautiful trees and walkways all around.

Nathan and I in front of our favorite 'Harry Potter' statue. He's actually apparently a famous revolutionary student from CCNU. So kind of like Harry Potter if you think about it...

Nathan and Alice

Me and Alice

Waiting for a bus

Shrimp are in season, so these massive guys are EVERYWHERE!

Lotus paddy at East Lake 东湖

So many boats!

Nathan and Alice doing all the work in the paddle boat, I'm just chilling in the back :)

Such a beautiful day!

I tried to take pictures of all the excellent boats--here is the 'car boat'

'yellow submarine boat'

'duck boat'

One of the ever-developing Wuhan skylines

'helicopter boat'

'mickey mouse boat'

'pagoda boat'

Alice was telling us there are many beautiful Chinese poems written about the shape water takes when on a lotus leaf. It is incredible and unlike any usual shape water takes on.

Alice was telling us, too, that the lotus plants are a symbol for purity in Chinese culture. The ground underwater where they take root is dirty but from the unclean rises a pristine and gorgeous leaf and flower that defies the environment it grew up in. This is a symbol for how people should live, especially in the Buddhist faith.