The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Duanwu Jie Festival in Mandarin, is a traditional Chinese holiday that holds deep cultural significance. The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, corresponding to late May or early June in the Gregorian calendar. Dragon Boat Festival 2025 falls on Saturday, May 31. As per historical records, the holiday commemorates Qu Yuan, the Prime Minister of the southern Chinese state of Chu during the Warring States period, about 600 B.C. to 200 B.C. May 2025 Holidays and Festivals Calendar: Complete List of Important Dates and Events in the Fifth Month of the Year. 

This annual event of Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated by holding dragon boat races and eating sticky rice dumplings called zongzi, which were southern Chinese traditions. Traditionally, Dragon Boat Festival integrates praying for good luck and taking respite from the summer heat. In this article, let’s know more about Dragon Boat Festival 2025 date and the significance of the important Chinese festival.

Dragon Boat Festival 2025 Date

Dragon Boat Festival 2025 falls on Saturday, May 31.

Dragon Boat Festival Significance

People of several ethnic groups throughout China and the world celebrate the Dragon Boat festival, beginning on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, especially in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The day is marked by sporting events such as dragon races, enjoying feasts of rice dumplings, eggs, and ruby sulphur wine; and folk entertainments including opera, song and unicorn dances. Long, narrow boats decorated as dragons are paddled in competitive races.

The day is celebrated with great enthusiasm where participants ward off evil during the festival by bathing in flower-scented water, wearing five-colour silk, hanging plants such as moxa and calamus over their doors, and pasting paper cut-outs in their windows. The Dragon Boat festival strengthens bonds within families and establishes a relationship between humanity and nature.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 31, 2025 07:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).