Dragon Boat and other celebrations

This has been a week of celebrations. Last Wednesday was the Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Jie) so the schools were closed from Monday to Wednesday. As the name suggests, across China there are boat races using dragon headed boats, though sadly there were none here in Danfeng. All Chinese festivals seem to have a special food to celebrate them - and this one was no exception. Zongzi are small piles of glutinous rice, usually with a filling of bean curd or meat, wrapped in bamboo leaves and then boiled or steamed. I bought a pack from the supermarket but was also given a selection as gifts from my neighbours.

zongzi
The festival is on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Chinese calendar and commemorates a 3rd century BCE Chinese scholar, who was falsely accused of conspiracy by courtiers jealous of his wisdon, and was banished from the kingdom. He killed himself by jumping into a river clutching a rock.

On Thursday, I was invited to a wedding by my boss at work. We arrived around 9am and to my delight the wedding was in the old part of Danfeng where the houses are very traditional (often made of falling apart wood) and each home is made up of a variety of structures and courtyards.

I usually go to these things as a hanger-on - knowing no-one but my boss (who is usually the one that invites me.) However, this time it turned out that I knew the "best man" (who works at my school) and the groom's sister (who is a teacher at one of the village schools I work with.) It was nice to feel that I wasn't entirely intruding for a change!

We spent the first hour wandering around the house and courtyards, watching the food being prepared and drinking tea.

the wedding banquet being prepared

vegetables cooking in the courtyard of the groom

whole chickens boiling

The bride's parents were being dressed up - supposedly with the mother looking like a man and the father looking like a woman, though I couldn't see it myself...

the bride's parents

We all went out into the street (there was a crowd of about 50 by now) and watched while some family members tried to get the mother to carry water and the father to carry a burning log (something to do with pretending to be poor peasants.)

Then the bride's parents and a small group of musicians set off to welcome the bride. The wedding itself consisted of a lot of party-popping, silly-stringing and fire-crackering!

the reason it looks like a war zone is all the fireworks that have been let off less than a foot away from the wedding guests

waiting for the food

After that came the food, with 70 tables set up in the street - all the neighbours contribute by bringing out their furniture - and we settled down to enjoy the feast!