CHANCE T O BREATHE SOME FIRE
LIONS and Dragons will be dancing on The Strand this morning to celebrate the annual Chinese Dragon Boat Festival.
North Queensland Phoenix Dragon Boat Club and the Chinese community in Townsville have joined forces to celebrate this annual event and give people a chance to try paddling in a dragon boat.
Anyone over the age of 12 who is interested in having a go at paddling in a dragon boat is invited to come down to the beach near Tobruk Pool today between 8am and 11am.
Aspiring paddlers need to be sunsafe and bring water, a hat, and wear clothes that can get wet. Paddles and personal flotation devices will be provided as well as a free healthy breakfast of yoghurt and fruit.
Event organiser Julie Twomey from North Queensland Phoenix Dragon Boat Club explained that the Dragon Boat Festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar and commemorates the death of the poet and minister Qu Yuan from the Zhou Dynasty.
Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River when his country was defeated. The local people raced out in their boats to save him or at least retrieve his body.
“This is thought to have been the origin of dragon boat races,” she said. “When his body could not be found, the local people dropped sticky rice dumplings into the river so that the fish would eat the sticky rice dumplings instead of the body of Qu Yuan.”
For more information, visit the NQ Phoenix Facebook page or phone club president Mish on 0414 872 478.