vanessa's notebook entry: Jun 13, 2010 The Dogran Boat Festival is coming! Do you know the origin of it? The Dragon Boat Festival, also called the Duanwu Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese calendar. For thousands of years, the festival has been marked by eating zong zi (glutinous rice（糯米）wrapped to form a pyramid using bamboo or reed leaves) and racing dragon boats. The festival is best known for its dragon-boat races, especially in the southern provinces where there are many rivers and lakes. This regatta（赛舟会）commemorates the death of Qu Yuan , an honest minister who is said to have committed suicide by drowning himself in a river.