Dragon Boat Festival 2027: Food and Where to Celebrate

Dragon Boat Festival is Wednesday 9 June 2027. The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month and is marked with dragon boat races. The food that goes with it is zongzi, sticky rice dumplings wrapped in leaves, which vary from sweet in the north to savoury in the south.

Source: Dragon Boat Festival.

Also known as Duanwu Festival, Tuen Ng Festival, Double Fifth Festival, Bakcang Festival.

What people eat for Dragon Boat Festival

Sweet zongzi (northern style)

Northern China

Pyramid-shaped parcels of glutinous rice wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves. Northern China favours sweet fillings such as red bean paste, jujube and nuts.

Source: Dragon Boat Festival.

Cantonese jung

Guangdong and Hong Kong

The southern savoury zongzi, filled with marinated pork belly and duck, mung bean paste, mushrooms, dried scallops and salted egg yolk. They are small, with a square front and a sharp raised back.

Source: Zongzi, Dragon Boat Festival.

Jiaxing zongzi

Jiaxing, Zhejiang

A zongzi named after the city of Jiaxing in Zhejiang, typically savoury, with soy sauce in the rice and a filling of pork, chestnut and salted duck egg yolk.

Source: Zongzi.

Taiwanese zongzi

Taiwan

Taiwan's zongzi are divided by how they are cooked rather than by filling. Northern ones are wrapped in bamboo husks and steamed, southern ones are wrapped in bamboo leaves and boiled.

Source: Zongzi.

Nyonya chang

Singapore and Malaysia

A Peranakan zongzi from Singapore and Malaysia, often wrapped in pandan as well as bamboo leaves, with minced pork and candied winter melon.

Source: Zongzi, Dragon Boat Festival.

Realgar wine (xionghuang jiu)

China

A Chinese liquor traditionally dosed with powdered realgar, an arsenic mineral. On the festival it is dabbed on parts of children's faces to repel the five poisonous creatures.

Source: Dragon Boat Festival.

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