dragon boat

Yesterday was the chinese dragon boat festival. For those of you not in the know I will explain the origins and you can tell me if it sounds resonable for a day of celebration. There was once a poet in china his name was qu yuan. He was alligned with one group during a turbulent part of chinas history. Now the people he was not alligned with invaded the land of those he was. Instead of joining the army and fighting (one source says he tried but failed to quialify for the army) he went to a river and drowned himself. How exactly this helped his cause I am not certain. It isnt as if he had state secrets that the others were going to torture him to reveal. He just killed himself. Now as if that isnt a strange enough reason, then the people from his town near the river, went and threw rice into the river to stop the fish from eating his body. This part I can somewhat understand, however any fish with a taste for flesh may not be so keen on rice. And anyways did the villagers plan to keep feeding the fish forever, or did they think the fish only ate once a year. So in the end china has a holiday that takes its traditional beginings from a cowardly poet and some shortsighted villagers. I always thought the easter bunny was just about the worst thing to base a holiday around but when a country has 5000 years of history, leave it to them to have that rabbit beat in spades. Anyway happy boating.