The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.It is generally believed that the festival originated to celebrate the memory of the ancient patriotic poet Qu Yuan. 
    
    Qu Yuan,a native of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period (476 BC-221 BC), repeatedly offered his king proposals aimed at forestalling political corruption. Subsequently, slandered by treacherous court officials, he was sent into exile by the same king he had tried to help. 
    
    In 278 BC, the capital of the State of Chu was lost to his enemy the State of Qin and Qu Yuan drowned himself in despair on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Aware of the tragedy, the local people living beside the river went out in the boats to try to find his corpse.
   
    Every year thereafter on this day people continued to row dragon boats on their local rivers in memory of Qu Yuan' life and death, throwing sections of bamboo filled with rice into the river as an offering.
   
    Legend has it that someone once met Qu Yuan's spirit on the bank of the river and was told:"The food you have given me has all been taken away by the dragon. Hereafter,you should wrap the rice in bamboo leaves tied with five-colored thread. These are the two things that the dragon is most afraid of." 
    
    Thus people began to make zongzi(glutinous rice wrapped in a pyramid shape using bamboo or reed leaves) in a memory of Qu Yuan. Naturally, zongzi is the traditional food for the Dragon Boat Festival. 
 
    农历五月初五是端午节。一般认为，它是为纪念古代爱国诗人屈原而产生的。
    屈原，战国时楚人，他多次向楚王提出整治政治腐败的改革建议，后遭人奸人诬陷，被楚王流放。
   
    公元前278年，秦兵攻陷楚城，屈原于这年五月初五投江自尽；江边群众得知后，纷纷驾舟打捞屈原尸体。
   
    以后，每到这一天人们都有在江河上划龙舟，以示悼念，同时还用竹筒装米投入江中祭祀他。
   
    传说，一次有人在江边遇到屈原，屈原说：“你们给我的食物都被龙抢去了，往后可改用艾叶塞筒，并缚以五色彩线，龙最怕这两样东西。”
    
    从此，就以竹叶包裹糯米做成粽子来纪念屈原，而粽子也成了端午节的传统食品。