Unit 1 Festivals and Celebrations-【新课程能力培养】2023-2024学年新教材高中英语必修第三册学习手册（人教版）

UNIT 1　FESTIVALS AND CELEBRATIONS　 UNIT 1　FESTIVALS AND CELEBRATIONS Culture Background Analysis Festivals and celebrations ·The Spring Festival ·The Lantern Festival ·The Tomb-sweeping Festival ·The Dragon Boat Festival ·The Double Seventh Festival ·The Mid-Autumn Festival ·The Double Ninth Festival The Dragon Boat Festival The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. It is generally be- lieved that the festival originated to celebrate the memory of the ancient patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan, a native of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period,repeatedly of- fered his king proposals aimed at forestalling po- litical corruption. Subsequently, slandered by treacherous court officials,he was sent into exile by the same king he had tried to help. In 278 BC,the capital of the State of Chu was lost to its enemy the State of Qin and Qu Yuan drowned himself in despair on the fifth day of the fifth lu- nar month. Aware of the tragedy,the local peo- ple living beside the river went out in their boats to try to find his corpse. Every year thereafter on this day people continued to row dragon boats on their local rivers in memory of Qu Yuan􀆳s life and death, throwing sections of bamboo filled with rice into the river as an offering. Legend has it that someone once met Qu Yuan􀆳s spirit on the bank of the river and was told:“The food you have given me has all been taken away by the dragon. Hereafter,you should wrap the rice in bamboo leaves tied with five-colored thread.