Some holidays are so much fun that they catch on outside of their culture. The most obvious example is probably Christmas， which is celebrated around the world by people who arent even Christians. Similarly， in recent years， the Dragon Boat Festival has moved beyond China to become an international holiday celebrated by people who may know little about the holidays origins.

The Dragon Boat Festival is one of three major Chinese holidays， along with the Spring Festival and Moon Festival. Of the three， it is possibly the oldest， dating back to the Warring States Period in 227 B.C. The festival commemorates Qu Yuan， a minister in the service of the Chu Emperor. Despairing over corruption at court， Qu threw himself into a river. Townspeople jumped into their boats and tried in vain to save him. Then， hoping to distract hungry fish from his body， the people scattered rice on the water.

Over the years， the story of Qus demise transformed into the traditions of racing dragon boats and eating zongzi （a kind of rice wrapped in bamboo leaves）. The races have certainly captured the imagination of people from all over the world. Every spring there are nearly 60 dragon boat races held outside of China in cities from Vancouver to Sydney， from Gdańsk， Poland to Cape Town， South Africa. Canada alone has nearly 50 dragon boat teams and Germany has nearly 30.

So what is it about the Dragon Boat Festival that appeals to foreigners？ “Its an unusual sport，” says one racer from Germany. “Its not like everybodys doing it. Thats one of the reasons that theres such great team spirit in a dragon boat team — everybody feels like were doing something special.” And what about the zongzi？ “Ehhh， theyre not bad， I guess，” he says. “Something of an acquired taste. I just havent really acquired it yet.”

有些節(jié)日實(shí)在是很有趣，所以在本土文化以外的地方也很受歡迎。最明顯的例子可能就是圣誕節(jié)了，世界各地的人都會(huì)慶祝圣誕節(jié)，即使是非基督徒。同樣，最近幾年端午節(jié)也已經(jīng)不再局限于中國，逐漸成為一個(gè)國際性的節(jié)日，而慶祝的人可能對(duì)節(jié)日的由來并不太了解。

端午節(jié)與春節(jié)和中秋節(jié)并列為中國三大節(jié)日。在這三個(gè)節(jié)日中，它可能是最古老的一個(gè)，可以追溯到公元前227年的戰(zhàn)國時(shí)代。這個(gè)節(jié)日是為了紀(jì)念楚國的大夫屈原，他因?yàn)閷?duì)朝廷的貪污腐敗現(xiàn)象感到絕望而投河自盡。鎮(zhèn)上的人紛紛沖上船想去救他，卻沒有成功。后來大家把米撒到水里，希望把饑餓的魚群從他的軀體邊引開。

多年以后，屈原的故事逐漸演變成賽龍舟和吃粽子（一種包在竹葉中的米食）的傳統(tǒng)。這些比賽顯然抓住了世界各地人們的想像力，每年春天有將近60場(chǎng)龍舟賽在中國境外的城市舉辦，從溫哥華到悉尼，從波蘭的格但斯克到南非的開普敦。單單加拿大就有將近50支龍舟隊(duì)伍，德國則有近30支。

那么，為什么端午節(jié)賽龍舟會(huì)吸引外國人呢？“這是一項(xiàng)不尋常的運(yùn)動(dòng)?！币晃粊碜缘聡膮①愓哒f，“它并不是所有的人都在從事的運(yùn)動(dòng)。這正是龍舟隊(duì)的團(tuán)隊(duì)精神如此高昂的原因之一，每個(gè)人都覺得自己在做一件很特別的事?！蹦敲呆兆幽兀俊班?，我覺得它不難吃。”他說，“那是一種需要后天培養(yǎng)的品味。我只是還沒培養(yǎng)出來罷了?！?/p>