Dragon Boat Festival is the main custom of Han traditional festivals. Legend has it that it originated in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Because the Chu people could not bear to part with the sage Qu Yuan and died in the river, many people rowed boats to catch up and save them.
They rushed to catch up with each other, but when they got to Dongting Lake, there was no trace of them. Since then, people have been rowing dragon boats on May 5th every year to commemorate it. Rowing a dragon boat to disperse the fish in the river so as not to eat Qu Yuan's body. The habit of competition prevailed in wuyue and Chu.
Dragon Boat Festival originated from the Dragon Totem Festival of wuyue tribes in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. In order to seek the blessing of the dragon, the ancestors held a grand dragon totem sacrifice every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, and at the same time rowed canoes carved with dragons in the sound of gongs and drums to race on the water.
Suzhou is the birthplace of Dragon Boat Festival. In Shandong and Jiangsu, the dragon boat race is to commemorate Wu Zixu. Therefore, Suzhou has the old habit of offering the Dragon Boat Festival to Wu Zixu and holding a water race to commemorate it. Suzhou Dragon Boat Race originated from Xumen Tanghe River, which is today's Xujianghe River. Shao, a poet in Qing Dynasty, once lamented that "in May, the river was angry and the water was jubilant".