By David J. Glenn
It has its origins some 2,300 years ago in the Chinese state of Chu.
Now it’s an event emanating from Hong Kong and reaching across the world, including right here in Queens.
The 11th annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival kicks off Saturday morning, Aug. 11 at Flushing Meadows Lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Teams from around the U.S. as well as from the metro area will crowd into narrow, long, canoe-like wooden boats and see who’s the fastest — assuming, of course, they don’t tip over, which happened more than a few times during practice last weekend.
What is the tradition that’s prompting all this death-defying (not really — the lake is just a few feet deep) activity?
It seems a court minister, patriot, and poet who lived in Chu province from 340 to 278 BC, advocated reforms, which didn’t sit well with the king, who banished him from the state.
He wandered around the country writing radical (for then) poetry about his homeland. Legend has it that when he received word in 278 that Chu had been invaded, he jumped into the Mi Lo River and drowned himself. Local fisherman raced out to the river but couldn’t save him.
To prevent his body from being eaten by fish, they threw rice dumplings into the water as an alternative for the water’s inhabitants. It’s why eating rice dumplings is a popular part of each year’s Dragon Boat Festival., marked on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. It’s even more exciting this time around because it’s now the Year of the Dragon on the Chinese calendar.
The TimesLedger, one of the sponsors of the Dragon Boat Festival, has its own team of 15 hardy souls determined to “kick the rear end,” as Captain Corey Burkes put it, of all the other teams — especially our journalism colleagues, The New York Times and WNBC-TV. “They’re just wasting our time,” he said of the competition. “They might as well not show up.”
If Burkes, 32, a TimesLedger production assistant, expresses such determination, you can believe it. He never learned how to swim, and has a fear of water, but he’s ready to deal with all of that and lead his team to victory.
How did he become captain, anyway? “Well, on the record,” he said in a world-wide exclusive interview with Qguide, “it’s because I have all the strength and ability needed for this important position.
“Off the record, nobody else wanted to do it.”
And what does the captain actually do? “I make sure the boats don’t sink.”
Of course, the event is more than just a boat race. There’s plenty to do and see for those on land — musical performances, folk arts and crafts, martial arts, and an ethnic food court.
You won’t even have to get wet.
Reach Qguide Editor David Glenn by e-mail at glenn@timesledger.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 139.
