Dumpling festival *tomorow*

Dumpling Festival in Singapore has a legend behind it. Many years ago, in ancient China, the patriotic poet and statesman Qu Yuan threw himself into the waters of the Milo River in order to protest against injustice and corruption. Some fishermen wanted to save the young idealist's body from being consumed by the demons. So they started beating drums and gongs and threw rice into the water as offerings. Keeping this occasion in mind, every year during the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, the Chinese in Singapore organize dragon boat races and eat dumplings. This day is known as the Festival of Dumpling in Singapore. The dragon boat races are known to represent the search for the poet's body.

During the Dumpling Festival Singapore, the dumplings, or 'zongzi', the little packets of sticky rice wrapped up in bamboo leaves, are thrown into the river as offerings. There is a probability that these 'zongzi' originated in the bamboo tubes of rice. To stop the river demons from eating them, the rice packets were tied with bright colored silk threads.