Climate change has been happening unusually in recent years, making summers hotter and longer. We've gotten used to the heat, and it seems not many people think about the beginning of this sweltering weather anymore. That's the Dragon Boat Festival, also known as Duanwu Festival. But I'm different; no matter how the weather changes, I'll always remember the Dragon Boat Festival, and I'll think about it for the rest of my life.
In my memory, traditional Tet (Lunar New Year) celebrations always stirred up a sense of anticipation. My family valued traditional customs, so every Tet celebration in the four seasons received special attention. I remember one sweltering day in early May, my mother drying the golden rice grains in the courtyard under the blazing sun. Every thirty minutes, she would shake the rice to dry it. I followed her down to the courtyard, my feet burning hot, and quickly ran back up to the porch. Back then, there was no electricity in my village. My grandmother always fanned vigorously with her arms so that three or four of us, naked, could lie sprawled on the ground and cool off. Then she reminded my mother, "Check the jar of rice wine, and tomorrow morning, scoop out a small cup for each of us to 'extract insects'." She called us all "brother" and "sister"! That was the custom in the village. I didn't know what "extracting insects" meant, or why we had to. I tugged at her sleeve and asked, "Grandma, what do you mean by 'extracting insects'? Where are the insects, Grandma?"
My grandmother was skilled in poetry and folk songs; she could turn anything into a poem. She said: “In April, we measure out beans to make sweet soup / We celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival and return in May. Our ancestors taught us that on the 5th of May, we must exterminate insects. You could say exterminate, or kill. This is the day when the heat, both inside and outside of a person, reaches its peak. Therefore, insects also multiply and thrive intensely. Look at you all, your rashes are growing like millet. And tomorrow, pimples will be everywhere… You must eat glutinous rice wine, sour fruits, and bathe in fragrant herbal water to kill insects and maintain your health. Remember this so that you can follow this tradition in the future!”
I didn't fully understand everything she said, but I only knew that the next morning, she made each of us drink a small bowl of rice wine and chew on a sour, unripe lemon that made our teeth ache. After that ritual, I saw that my grandmother was very happy and relieved. She also drank a bowl of wine and ate an unripe lemon.
And so, every year, on this day, my grandmother would urge my mother to make rice wine and prepare some sour and astringent fruits for the whole family to ward off insects. At noon, my mother would prepare duck meat and set out a feast to offer to our ancestors. In the stifling heat of May, everything we ate tasted delicious. The whole family was filled with laughter and happiness. My mother said it was a day of family reunion.
Later in life, my grandfather explained to me what the Dragon Boat Festival was all about. He studied classical Chinese during the feudal era and had planned to take the imperial examinations to become an official, but the time was not right, so he resigned himself to living a simple life, "throwing away his brush and writing with a pencil." He said that on this day in China, people commemorate a man skilled in poetry and literature, who held a high position in the court during the reign of King Huai of Chu, named Qu Yuan. Initially, he was greatly favored by the king, and because of this favoritism, many people became jealous and plotted to harm him, causing the king to suspect and dislike him.
After the reign of King Huai, King Xiang, the son of King Huai of Chu, ascended the throne. Following the advice of his foolish ministers, he despised Qu Yuan and banished him to Jiangnan, south of the Yangtze River. Qu Yuan, consumed by grief, committed suicide in the Miluo River on the 5th day of the 5th month, leaving behind immeasurable sorrow for countless virtuous and upright individuals. Therefore, the 5th day of the 5th month is the day the Chinese commemorate Qu Yuan.
Vietnam has been influenced by Chinese culture for many years, and these rituals have integrated into social life, though the exact time is unclear. However, with the development of history, Vietnamese people have developed their own interpretations of annual festivals. The Dragon Boat Festival is also known as the festival for killing insects, the mid-year festival, or the Yang Ngo festival. Many customs on this day are performed to serve human life, reflecting people's aspirations for life, humanity, and spirituality. My grandfather said that not only in my hometown, people often dye their fingertips with henna leaves, but they shouldn't dye their index and toe fingers. Early in the morning, they eat rice wine and sour fruits to kill insects. After children eat, they apply cinnabar to their fontanelles, chests, and navels to disinfect them. At noon, after offering sacrifices to ancestors, people go to pick leaves for the fifth day of the fifth lunar month—they pick whatever leaves they can find, but they try to pick leaves of the windmill grass, the vối plant, and the muỗm plant—to bring home, dry, and boil them to make a drink for health benefits. My grandmother would go to the rice fields to cut some young rice plants, thresh the grains, roast them until they popped and cracked, then boil them in rainwater for her grandchildren to drink. The water had no taste, only the fragrant aroma of fresh rice, stirring the soul and making one unforgettable the taste of home whenever the rice harvest season arrived.
My family was very happy during the Dragon Boat Festival. My grandparents had many daughters, and according to tradition, on this day, each son-in-law had to bring his father-in-law a goose, a duck, or a pair of ducks... depending on their means. My uncles and cousins brought ducks and geese to their fathers-in-law. A simple, warm meal on this festival day, without a single breeze, brought comfort to my grandparents.
Over time, we grew up and moved away from home. But every year on this day, no matter how far away the children and grandchildren live, they must return to reunite. My grandmother established this rule so that we would remember and preserve our family traditions. And, on the Dragon Boat Festival in 1998, the weather was scorching hot, and there was a power outage. My mother's rice drying in the yard was spread out under the sun. My grandmother was sick and confined to the house, feeling stifled, waiting for us to come home for the festival. This year, no one in the family had time to perform the "insect extermination" ritual, because she said she would break the tradition and wait for us to come home before performing the ritual, not necessarily in the early morning. But unexpectedly, the May heat was unbearable for her, and she left us for the other world ... She passed away on the Dragon Boat Festival, the same day as the death anniversary of Qu Yuan.
Now, working in air-conditioned rooms, eating meals, sleeping in air-conditioned rooms… hardly anyone pays attention to what this mid-year festival is like, but I still feel nostalgic, my soul burning with the distant memories of childhood, of the Dragon Boat Festival, of things connected to my family life.
Jiangnan
Source
![[Photo] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh presides over a dialogue with Japanese businesses.](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2026/03/21/1774097547316_ndo_br_dsc-0448-jpg.webp)
Comment (0)