The Story of Dragon Boat Festival with Flavorsome Chinese Sticky Rice

“Bak Zhang” is an auspicious pyramid shaped sticky rice made of glutinous rice stuffed with flavorsome fillings. Some Bak Zhang recipes might stuffed with fillings made of more than 10 ingredients. So, to celebrate Dragon Boat Festival, we would like to invite all of you especially Thai citizens of Chinese descent to learn how the festival which has been passed down from generations to generations was originated. The festival has been around for so long that it was listed as world’s intangible cultural heritage in 2009. Follow us now to explore the origin of Dragon Boat Festival.

>>Shop fruits for Dragon Boat Festival<<

When is “Dragon Boat Festival” celebrated?

Dragon Boat Festival or “端午节” in Mandarin Chinese takes place on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month in every year. This year, the festival will be held on 3rd June. This festival is held to worship the Dragon God. a grand dragon boat race is traditionally held in addition to worship God.

The Origin of Dragon Boat Festival

The festival is held to commemorate “Qu Yuan”, a great poet and patriotic statesman of Chu County. During his lifetime, he expressed exceptional performance and works and so he was selected as a counselor of his kinsman Huaiwang, the ruler of Chu and the Dynasty royal families. However, every coin has two sides. He made a lot of enemy due to his honesty. The jealous officials defamed him and Emperor Huaiwang didn’t trust Qu Yuan any longer. This honest statesman wrote poem called “Li Sao” to express a great deal of sorrow.

When Emperor Huaiwang passed away, his heir ascended to the throne. The new emperor trusted the impute from jealous officials and finally exiled Qu Yuan from Chu State. Being overwhelmed with sorrow, Qu Yuan decided to jump into Miluo River to end his life on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.

As Qu Yuan was beloved by the people of Chu, they rowed out on the river to find his body and threw food into the river to feed the fish so that the fish wouldn’t eat Qu Yuan’s body. The practice of throwing food into the river became a tradition to commemorate Qu Yuan on his death anniversary.

Two years have passed. At night, a people in Chu County dreamed that Qu Yuan in a beautiful clothing visited him and thanked everyone for paying him tributes each year. However, he never had a chance to eat those food because fresh water animals in the river ate them. So, he suggested that the food should be wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves before throwing into the river.

A year later, the people did as they were told. After that day Qu Yuan appeared in the dream again to tell that he received the food that everyone gave him. However, some of them were eaten by fresh water animals. He suggested that the Chu people should decorate the boat to look like dragon before throwing food into the river. When fresh water creatures see the dragon, they would understand that the food are tributes given to the Dragon King and wouldn’t eat them. From then on, people of Chu followed what Qu Yuan told them every year, and that was how the Dragon Boat Festival originated and passed down to these days.

Insight into Bak Zhang, glutinous rice stuffed with flavorsome fillings

“Bak Zhang” is a type of food preservation to extend the shelf life. The glutinous rice is wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves before boiling. The filling recipe can be varied in each region, and it usually tastes sweet and salty flavor. There’re a great ranges of ingredients to make fillings, for example, sweet filling made of red beans, red jujube, and salty filling usually made of meat, salted egg yolk, Shitake mushroom, ginkgo, and lotus seeds.

How to worship with Bak Zhang

Bak Zhang is usually offered as tribute to the deceased, Tudigong, or the guardian spirit as well as the holy spirits you respect. The ceremony takes place in the morning only. Furthermore, aside from Bak Zhang, you can offer “Kee Chang” or a traditional Chinese dessert altogether. It’s recommended to arrange Bak Zhang and Kee Chang in pair, and the best number is 4 since it’s an auspicious number in Chinese. Don’t forget to prepare fruits, tea, and 5 incenses for the ceremony. It’s believed that offering Bak Zhang will bring auspiciousness and good fortune to your life.

If you’re now looking for Bak Zhang and other offering set to celebrate the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival by the end of this week, you can shop at any branch of Tops Market or Central Food Hall near you. Also, for your convenience, you can visit at Tops online available on website and application. Whether you visit the store or shop online, you can always get everything you need in one stop.