The History

The Dragon Boat Festival is one of the most spectacular traditions of ancient China. It is an exciting period for rowing competitions marked by the eating of rice dumpling called "Ma Chang". In some Chinese-speaking societies, the day is also known as the "Poets' Day".

The Legend behind the Dragon Boat Festival embodies the story of love and service for one's country. About 2300 years ago, during the Warring States period, a well-respected poet and statesmen named "Qu Yuan" lived in the Chinese Kingdom of Chu and served the government with integrity as Minister of State. He was disturbed by the corruption and by the court intrigues of many courtiers who resented his talent, popularity and sense of righteousness. One version said that other officials convinced the Emperor that Qu Yuan was corrupt, that his plea for reforms be ignored and had him banished from the Kingdom.

For years, he wandered the countryside composing poems expressing his patriotism and love for the people. Either as an act of despair or an ultimate protest against the corrupt government, Qu Yuan threw himself into the Mei Lo river (in today's Hunan province) on the fifth day of the fifth month in the year 278 B.C. Qu Yuan opted to commit suicide rather than lose face and honour by serving a corrupt government.

He composed two famous poems known as "Ai Ying" and "Huai Sha" before jumping into the river with a large stone tied to himself. Grief-stricken local fishermen who witnessed Qu Yuan's desperate act, tried to save the patriotic poet. They sailed up and down the river to look for him and desperately thrashed the water with their oars and paddles to scare off the hungry fishes which might eat his body. To commemorate the patriotic man, the fishermen and rural town folks threw cooked rice dumplings wrapped in silk or banana leaves, into the water in order to appease the spirits of the river on his death anniversary. These rice dumplings are called "Tsung Tze" or "Ma Chang".

The first Dragon Boat Races were recorded in the Tsin period. It became popular in the Tang Dynasty ( 618-907 A.D.) spreading throughout the Yangtze River Valley and to most of South China. One paddler traditionally stands in the boat searching for Qu Yuan's body while a drummer on board and the ferocious-looking dragon designs were added to frighten away evil water spirits. This is because Chinese people traditionally regarded the dragons as presiding over the water and having dominion over rainfall. It is also the supreme symbol of power and benevolence in the Far East.In the present day, the Dragon Boat Festival is held annually in different nations world wide. In China alone, 20 million people are active in this sport which is organized in the various cities and provinces.

TRADITIONAL RITES ASSOCIATED WITH DRAGON BOAT RACING

The ritual aspect of dragon boat racing has a deep cultural heritage and springs from religious beliefs. The colourful and traditional rites are performed on the dragon boats before and after the races. They reflect deep reverence for the vessels despite certain degrees of variation in the procedures followed by the believers.

There are basically two important ceremonies that have to be performed for the dragon boats. They have to be blessed and "awakened" before the races and then properly induced to "repose" afterwards. Four days before the festival, the dragon boats are taken out of their storage yard and their dragon heads and dragon tails are attached to them. A benediction ritual done with great pomp and ceremony follows this and involves the burning of paper bills in front of the dragon boats, the making of offerings and chanting of prayers to heavenly gods. This ritual serves to ward off evil and to sanctify and bless the dragon boats. In addition, this action is supposed to make the dragon boats strong and fierce and therefore fit to compete in the exciting races.

When this has been done, each dragon boat is rowed out to sea, on a course perpendicular to the nearby temple and then back to the temple with the drummer beating the drum. This procedure is repeated three times. The performance of these rituals and the staging of dragon boats races show a community's dedication to its gods. In return, the members of the community will be protected from unfriendly spirits of the sea and blessed with happiness and prosperity.

"Life" is given to a newly-built dragon boat at a ceremony performed by a Taoist priest a few days before the actual festival. Holding a bell and a sword into the "Fu Zhou" (a paper bill with "magic" words) while chanting some "magic" words, he then touches the dragon head, tail and drum with the sword, following which paper money is burnt and "magic" sand is sprinkled on the dragon head. A community leader is invited to dot the eye of the dragon head and, afterwards, the dragon's eyes will be drawn in red with a brush.

When the races are over, the dragon head, tail and drum are removed from each dragon boat and stored either in the temple or in another place agreed upon by the community. Incense is burnt to thank the heavenly gods. Meanwhile, the body of a dragon boat itself is usually covered with sand along the shore near a temple or put on appropriate racks and covered with roof-shape tin foil covers. By performing these basic procedures, the dragon boats are considered to be properly induced to "repose" until the next Dragon Boat Festival when the whole cycle of ceremonial rites will be repeated.

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Modern Day Dragon Boat Racing in Canada

Dragons Abreast was one of the 2nd breast cancer dragon boat teams to form, beginning in November 1997. There were 33 eager novices when the team started, but it wasn't long before there were enough members for 2 crews. Over the years, Dragons Abreast has engaged in a number of special events.
In 2001, Dragons Abreast held a conference for breast cancer teams in conjunction with the Toronto International Dragon Boat Race Festival at Centre Island. This was a follow-up to a conference hosted by Abreast In A Boat in 1999. Eleven teams attended, including the first international composite team of Internationally Abreast.
In 2002, the book   How to Ride a Dragon: 22 women with breast cancer tell their stories, written by Michelle Tocher, was published.
This was the dream of team members at that time and used a story guide sent to all Canadian teams to elicit individual stories and images of the dragon. It was an immediate success and enabled Dragons Abreast to donate close to $25,000.00 to the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Initiative. A second edition of How to Ride a Dragon was published in 2011.   Copies can be obtained through   lulu.com    Proceeds from this edition will be directed to the Canadian Cancer Society for cancer prevention research.
For 7 years, Dragons Abreast collaborated with Jones New York in an annual fashion show in support of Wellspring Cancer Support Centres.
Over the years, Dragons Abreast has competed in Festivals across Canada, in New York City and Australia. Individual team members have paddled in Shanghai, Singapore, Cape Town, Rome, Venice as well as across Canada and the United States.

Breast Cancer and Dragon Boating
The breast cancer dragon boat movement began in 1996. It was started by Dr. Don McKenzie, a sports medicine specialist at UBC, Vancouver, as a small research study. He questioned the logic behind the activity restrictions one of his patients with breast cancer was given. It was common practice to tell women not to engage in strenuous and repetitive upper body exercises post any surgical node dissection and radiation therapy for fear of a debilitating swelling of the arm, called lymphedema. Dr. McKenzie set about testing his theory by recruiting 22 women post breast cancer treatment to make up a dragon boat crew. Carefully monitored, they trained for six months and were launched onto the unsuspecting dragon boat community for the first time at the 1996 Alcan Festival. None of the women developed lymphedema but there was an unexpected outcome. The original 22 refused to stop paddling and set about organizing the structure required to continue their team, Abreast In A Boat. In addition to the physical benefits of increased exercise, team members provide a wealth of support to each other .

Abreast In A Boat really started something. They eagerly helped new teams in other communities and 15 years after the first team started, there are now between 150 & 160 breast cancer teams world-wide.

A few facts about dragon boat racing today in Canada:

•  Dragon boat has become North America’s fastest-growing adult team sport and is the second-most practiced sport in the world (after soccer).
•  Dragon boat racing became a fully sanctioned sport in the Year 2000 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia.
•  Today dragon boat racing is celebrated in many communities across Canada.
•  The Toronto Chinese Business Association (TCBA) brought dragon boating to Toronto in 1989.
• In Toronto alone, there are over 200 crews comprising close to 5,000 athletes. Toronto is also home to the two-time world champion men’s crew.

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