On May 17th, the Dragon Boat Festival cultural event jointly organized by the Golden Mountain Bay Area Overseas Chinese Education Center and the Northern California Taiwan Hall was held in the bustling South Bay, attracting over a hundred students and parents from Taiwanese Language Centers (TCML) and Taiwanese schools, as well as community residents, to participate in a fun and educational traditional festival experience.
The event featured a variety of activities starting with an explanation of the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival and the story of the poet Qu Yuan, introducing traditional customs of the festival such as dragon boat racing, eating zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), wearing sachets, and egg standing. In addition to students and parents getting hands-on experience in making zongzi and sachets, the organizers also provided Taiwanese specialty desserts for everyone to taste, allowing participants to fully immerse themselves in the cultural charm of the Dragon Boat Festival through sight, touch, and taste.
Director Zhuang Yashu of the Overseas Chinese Education Center said in her speech, “We warmly welcome everyone to our cultural and educational center to participate in this exciting cultural event. The Dragon Boat Festival is a very important holiday in Taiwan, where we eat zongzi, race dragon boats, and make sachets. Thank you to the Northern California Taiwan Hall TCML for assisting in organizing this event, and we hope everyone can have a great time and gain a deeper understanding of Taiwanese culture.”
Principal Dai Peili of the Northern California Taiwan School and TAC-TCML mentioned that this year 98 students registered to participate, far exceeding the initial expectation of 50 people, showing enthusiastic response to the event. She emphasized that this event has been held for at least five or six years, in collaboration with the Overseas Community Affairs Council every year, becoming a key cultural heritage project for the school. She said, “Through making zongzi and learning about festival legends, students can gain a deep understanding of the cultural significance of the Dragon Boat Festival and the origins of eating zongzi. Such stories and experiences are precious cultural heritage.”
TCML student Domingos also shared his thoughts on participating in the event. He mentioned that he started learning Chinese about ten years ago, with several years of interruption before restarting classes a year ago. This was his first time making zongzi himself, and he found it both new and interesting. He also appreciated the introduction of the Qu Yuan story and dragon boat racing videos during the event, saying, “I knew very little about the Dragon Boat Festival before, and today I gained a lot.”
Mrs. Zhang, who attended the event with her two young daughters Yuan Yuan and Man Man, mentioned that the event was fun and meaningful, allowing her children to see the process of making zongzi and understand the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival. She happily noted that her daughters enjoyed eating and playing during the event, and if given the chance and time, they would love to participate in similar activities in the future.