The Dragon Boat Race was held on 19 June 2022 on Manjača Lake in honour of celebrating the Chinese holiday Dragon Boat Festival, aim of which was to promote Chinese culture.
In addition to the race, which brought together five teams from Banja Luka and Belgrade,
visitors had the opportunity to enjoy other activities in which they could learn more about
Chinese tradition and culture.
On that occasion, the Confucius Institute of the University of Banja Luka organized workshops
on Chinese calligraphy and paper decorations characteristic of this very important holiday in
China, as well as a class of Chinese martial arts Taiji and kite flying.
Earlier in May this year, the Confucius Institute, as part of the Dragon Boat Festival, organized
kite flying at the Doboj Fortress for students of the Doboj School of Economics, where it has
been organizing free Chinese language courses for several years now. One of the activities in
honour of celebrating this holiday was making zongzi, a traditional dish that is usually made
during the celebration of this festival, for students of the Banja Luka Grammar School.
Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar
calendar.
There are many legends about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. The most popular one is in commemoration of Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet who drowned himself in the Miluo River on the 5th day of the 5th Chinese lunar month, when his beloved Chu State fell to the State of Qin. In order to commemorate Qu Yuan, every fifth day of the fifth lunar month people beat drums and paddle out in boats on the river as they once did to keep fish and evil spirits away from his body.
