Duan Wu Festival, which is also known as the Dragon Boat Festival is an old tradition observed by the Chinese. The festival is a day to commemorate an influential ancient poet, Qu Yuan who died on this day during the Warring States Period of the Zhou dynasty.
Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River, and the locals organised a mass effort on their boats to rescue the poet. This is said to have inspired the Dragon Boat Races, which is why this observation is also known as the Dragon Boat Festival.
When the body of the greatly admired poet could not be found, the people dropped balls of sticky rice into the river so that the aquatics can feed on it instead of the body. Thus, Chinese always make their own rice dumplings on this day, although it is no longer thrown into the river.
Since then, rice dumplings have evolved into many different versions to adapt to the local taste and culture. In Malaysia, there’s even Nyonya, vegan and even a halal type of rice dumplings.
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