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The Mid-Autumn
Festival and the Dragon Boat Race
By Yuet-Mei Chan
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Some
of you who live in major cities with a significant Chinese
population may have heard of or even attended "Dragon
Boat Races". These races consist of boats built in the shape
of a dragon with a skinny and long body. It's hard to believe
that a boat that was designed centuries ago actually has such
aerodynamic feature. These dragon boats all have a beautiful
dragon head, complete with eyes and whiskers, at one end and
a dragon tail at the other end. The fancier ones would have
a body painted with colorful dragon scales and decorated with
waving flags. It is a tradition to have a famous person to
come and "point" or paint the eye of the dragon. That usually
signifies the beginning of the race, kind of the christening
of a new ship with a bottle of champagne.
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They
are exciting and noisy to be a part of. The noise comes from
the crew, the music and the cheering crowds. Each boat comes
with a helmsman, a drummer with his Chinese round drum and
two big drumming rods on board, plus 10 to 30 rowers, depending
on the size of the dragon boat. As always, the drummer is
the heartbeat of the entire crew, with every beat of the drum,
the rest of the crew paddles in sync, keeping the wake to
a minimum. The dragon is the symbol
of power, but the only source of power of these boats come
from their crewmembers. Dragon races usually attract noisy
crowds who cheer on their own team while paddling unconsciously
along the shore. The race usually lasts about 5 to 10 minutes.
At the end of the race, you can count on every crew from every
boat and every fan to have given the race all they've got.
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These
races are usually held on the 15th of the eighth month of
the Chinese Lunar Calendar. (That's about July for most of
us.) The perfect time for boat racing and shoreline cheering.
Watch out for the next one coming to your city. Should you
be travelling to a city with major China town, check to see
if they've got one. You wouldn't want to miss it.
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