The Dragon Boat
Festival is a Chinese tradition dating back to 2400 years ago. It was
originally held to commemorate the death of a poet named Qu Yuan and later
developed into a national holiday with dragon boat races. The festival
is observed on May 5th in the Chinese Lunar calendar, which usually falls
in June. Now, dragon boat race has become a sport in many other countries
including the U.S. and Canada.
A dragon boat is long and narrow with decorated dragon
head and tail. It has a large drum, and a team of paddlers will follow
the drumbeat to power the boat. Larger dragon boats have other decoration
such as flags or ceremonial umbrellas like those shown in the above picture.
Exploring the Dragon Boat
*The words in parentheses explain the Chinese characters
on the flags.
How to Make a Paper Dragon Boat
1. Click here to get the pattern for the
dragon boat, then print, cut out, draw some paddlers, and color both sides;
(To make it fun, children can draw their family members as paddlers.)
2. Fold the pattern along AB and then CD;
3. Glue the upper edges of the two sides together,
then fold the flaps along the dotted line EF and HG towards the
inside of the boat so that the boat can stand.
Books About Dragon Boats:
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