Dragon Boat Festival in Singapore – A Kaleidoscopic Podium for Storytelling and Hullabulloo

Life is a big race, more of a hurdle with life changing events becoming the part of it.  The Dragon Boat Festival, which consumes in flamboyant boat race, story-telling and dumpling shows, simply changes the purpose of living for a moment. Participating in these exquisite boat race festivities puts forth a new way of living on a new turf altogether. 

Dragon Boat Festival – The Changing World and New Manifestations

The festival characteristically is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which tantamount to either May or June according to the calculations of the Gregorian calendar. One of the widely popular boat races in world, the whole event is organized under the aegis of Singapore Dragon Boat Association on locations Kallang Water Sports Centre (KWSC) @ No. 10 Stadium Lane, Kallang, in Singapore. The boat race event basically consists of 12-Crew Dragon Boats, and a second group constituting 22 Crew Dragon Boats has a decorated drummer who will create a unique rhythm by beating the drum with coxswain, which is complemented by the sighs of paddlers who ultimately control the movement of entire boat.  The background of Dragon Boat Festival has a tapestry comprising the long standing financial building structures and equally attractive shop houses.  

In Singapore, Dragon styled boat competitions are an integrated part of Dragon Boat Festival, popular as the Duanwu Festival or Tuen Ng Festival. This festival is in fact overwhelming popularity among the Chinese community. Besides, the festival is also observed by people from diversified ethnic communities that are the part of Singaporean Culture. Alongside the Dragon Boat Festival, there are other prominent activities that get around, and a few of these include the consumption of rice dumplings (zongzi), the taste of which goes far beyond everything else.

Origin of Dragon Boat Festival

The big and gargantuan boat festival has traces of origin in Southern China, when such types of races were organized along with the dumplings. The underlying idea in such massive races was to pray the river dragon and likewise commemorate Qu Yuan, who was a revered poet from 3rd Century and a popular political figure from Chu State of the ancient China.

The dragon was originally seen to be the compassionate spirit that represented the flowing waters in streams and rivers. It demonstrated the mannish principle or yang within the Chinese dogma of harmony. The folklore had it that the dragon from the river had influenced the raining pattern and therefore, the denizens worshipped him with all fervour at the times of summer solstice. Offerings were made by the local people to appease the dragon for torrential rains that would ultimately lead to good harvesting. Praying was done before the dragon to ensure that no inundation would ever occur on the land.  In short, the core idea behind the festival was to make sure that dragon protected the land from all sorts of activities.  

The Chinese dragon of yesteryears had a horse head, while the trunk was designed like that of snake with either four or five legs and the bird wings attached firmly the trunk.  Each foot had five claws representing the imperial dragon.  The design and concept of dragon lie deep within the Chinese mythological events where the five sea dragon kings become integral to Chinese pantheon. 

In the later part of development in China, these divine dragons became symbols of immortality and espoused by Chinese emperors to represent nothing more revered than the imperial emblem. In Chinese culture, the dragon therefore became a representation of supremacy, prosperity and affluence. 

Dragon Boat Races from Medieval Times

It is rightly believed that fishermen from Wu (Jiangsu Province) and Yue (Zhejiang Province) had dragon shaped boats, which they used to sail in the times of spring and autumn seasons. These types of races began between 770 and 476 BCE. The famous King Gou Jian from the state of Yue had training exercises organized for the navy, and boat races were a regular event.  During the time of Han Dynasty, the Dragon Boat Race became quite a popular festival with long and narrow boats and the prows were decorated in the form of head that represented a mythical dragon. The festival during this time was sent to a unique melody with raucous gongs and drums.  

Verdict

Boat races like the Dragon Boat Race are a cultural melange that truly fills the heart with excitement. Such races create a value in themselves, and speaking of Singapore in specific on Dragon Boat Festival, the excitement emanating from attending the race is of next level altogether. Tourists from all walks of life and even those from within Singapore would not even miss out the surprisingly mirthful events like rice dumpling tasting, or the dumpling wrapping competitions and more thrillingly offbeat grapevine events, which re-energize the heart from within.