The Chester Dragon Boat Festival

In Chinese mythology the Dragon is the God of rain so we must count ourselves as highly honoured through experiencing the Dragon's blessing throughout the day as rain fell solidly from just after nine in the morning to late into the afternoon!

The festival started at 10:00 with a wakening ceremony conducted by Lord Mayor and Consort Elect of Chester - as Lord Mayor and Consort, Councillor Eleanor Johnson and Mr. Derek Johnson in an Ancient Chinese custom where the origins of Dragon Boating were re-enacted. Once the ceremony was over, the racing could begin.

At the end of each year, the dragons are rested over the winter months and are only woken when next year’s festivals begin. To symbolise this, the eyes on the dragon boats are painted white so they can sleep.

On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in the Chinese calendar (around the 6th June on our calendar), the dragons are woken and huge celebrations are held world wide in Qu Yuan's memory.

The ceremony in Chester involved first two teams paddling the sleeping dragons very quietly to the shore line so as not to wake them. Once they had reached the Lord Mayor, she then scattered into the river in memory of the Chinese fishermen who 3,000 years ago, are said to have done the same thing in order to entice the fish of the Milou River from eating Qu Yuan’s drowned body as they paddled to rescue him.

The Wakening Ceremony then finished with the Lord Mayor painting in the dragon’s eyes so they could see and the dragons were officially woken by the crowds cheering and the team’s banging drums and their paddles.

The Lord Major of Chester throws rice (above) and dots the dragon’s eye (below) during the Wakening Ceremony.

The Wakening Ceremony

 Teams entering the 2011 Chester Charity Dragon Boat Festival