FÊTE DES BATEAUX DRAGONS

This feast commemorates the date when the patriot poet of the kingdom of Chu in ancient China, Qu Yuen, threw himself into the river of Milouo, because he had lost all hope in his country's future. Legend wants the population to have played the drum to scare the fish, and thrown rice boulettes into the water to prevent them from maiming Qu Yuen. Today, it's always the same gâteaux rice cake, wrapped with a bamboo sheet that you know that day. Children wear, around the neck, colorful sachets bags, filled with artemisia, to hunt bad spirits and attract good fortune. It is also an opportunity to organize boat races with the head and tail of a dragon, progressing at the rhythm of the drum beat. These races symbolize attempts to save Qu Yuen and to hunt fish.