I want to tell you a little about an annual festival that is held in Macau. It is called the Dragon Boat Festival, which takes place at Nam Van Lake on the main peninsula. The lake itself is located in the city center, close to the Wynn casino and hotel.
The festival itself is a very old tradition. It commemorates a poet named Wat Yuen, who protested government corruption by drowning himself. When the locals witnessed this act, they threw bread into the water to keep the fish from eating his body in support of Wat Yuen’s sacrifice and message.
Today, the festival is about dragon boat races. It’s a very popular event in Macau, and many teams come out to compete on their dragon boats.
The boat itself is very flat and long. At the front the tip of the boat forms the head of a dragon (hence the name “dragon boat”). The boat sits a team of anywhere up to twenty people, who row the boats with oars. However, once major difference from the Western idea of traditional boat racing is that a drummer sits at the front of the boat, hitting the head with a mallet to keep the beat for the team to row together and keep the pace steady.
We went on Saturday morning, which was when the preliminary races were held. Our school, IFT, competed in one of the races. As much as we cheered them on, unfortunately, they finished last, well behind the other three boats. : (
However, it was a very cool festival, because it seemed to bring the Macau community together. Many of the teams were from local businesses and nonprofit organizations, but there were also a number of casinos that had sent out teams as well, like MGM Grand and the Grand Lisboa.
It also seemed to be a huge draw for not only local Chinese citizens, but also the Portuguese residents as well (remember, the Portuguese have a large presence in Macau; they colonized it for over 400 years). The event also drew a large number of foreign tourists, so there were a number of different cultures represented in the stands. It truly seemed like the community was being brought together to partake in this event. It was a blast!
Love,
Kati
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