CIIC:Today's featured article/March 17, 2009
Dragon Heads-raising Day falls on the second day of the second lunar month, which is a traditional festival for Han nationality popular in most Chinese regions. The festival is also embraced by many minorities such as the Miao, Zhuang, Man, Dong, Li, She, Bouyei, Hezhen and Ewenki.
The origin of the festival is deeply related to one of the 24 solar terms - "excited insects". It's said that as the day comes, the land will wake up while the Yang Qi starts to rise. Dragons are auspicious omen in Chinese folk legends and they dominate wind and rain. As the folk saying goes, "dragon raises its head on the second day of the second lunar month". People hope that dragons will rise to make plentiful rain for the mankind and to facilitate spring plowing. (More...)
