Nearly every month featured a festival in ancient China. These festivals were deeply entrenched in daily life and were richly intertwined with cultural characteristics that can only be "seen" through one's "mind" and "heart".

Unlike modern festivals such as April Fool's Day, Mother's Day or the Day of Reading, old Chinese festivals aren't whimsical, nor do they call upon people to do something.

"Jie", the Chinese word for "festival", originates from the word for the joints of bamboo sections. Because these ridged joints mark the beginning and ends of bamboo branches, the word "jie" was used to mark the end or beginning of a certain period. 

Today is the Duanwu Festival, which has several meanings that are important for Chinese culture.

First, the celebration commemorates Qu Yuan, the first great poet of Chinese literary history, who is best known for his work Lisao (The Song of Desperation).

The man of noble character started the Fu school of poetry - a unique literary style combining poetry and prose that inspired a great number of works for nearly 1,000 years until the early Tang Dynasty (AD618-907).

But why would the Chinese celebrate a festival for a poet for thousands of years? Surely, this is rare among other nations or regions of the world.

This is not a purely literary question, and it demands cross-disciplinary study. For example, Jiuge (Nine Songs) by Qu Yuan includes different roles within its dialogues and performances. This is not literature by mere text; it is also a source of music, dance and drama.

Also, the culture of the State of Chu was quite different from that of the Central Plains. With great talent, the Chu people created diversified literary forms.

There is another explanation, which some modern people consider superstition. The word "ling" appears quite often in Lisao. In the complicated, traditional Chinese character writing style, the word is composed of the radical for "rain" (yu) above three "mouths" (kou) with a "witch" (wu) at the bottom.

"Ling" could mean god, beautiful being or king - someone who was of the highest ranking in a certain field. But it could also refer to a witch.

Witchcraft was quite popular in the State of Chu. A witch would suddenly fall into a trance. When she opened her eyes, her appearance and voice would change. She would become an oracle of supernatural powers. The ancient people of Chu believed strongly in this kind of communication between heaven and man.

Qu Yuan weighs in as far more important than being just a literary genius. His works embody much richer meaning than, for example, the poetry collections of the two great Tang Dynasty poets Du Fu or Bai Juyi.

Qu Yuan's works are a major pillar of the nation's culture. Without understanding this, people couldn't understand the essence of Chinese literary history or Chinese culture. That is exactly why Qu Yuan is so very important.

There is another meaning of the Duanwu Festival. On this day, all Chinese families used to put a calamus leaf (pu cao) and an argy wormwood leaf (ai ye) on both sides of the door. People believed these herbs could drive away evils and poisonous things, such as scorpions, centipedes and snakes. People also put woodcut paintings featuring a big bottle gourd on the door. The calabash is a symbol of traditional Chinese medicine, as it was used to contain medicinal herbs.

The birthday of the legendary Medical Saint also happens at the end of the fourth month on the lunar calendar, which is a season of blossoming trade for medicinal herbs in China. In actuality, this served as a summertime health campaign of cleaning and disease prevention.

Another layer of meaning for this festival also marks the arrival of the first harvest, making it an important and celebratory time. 

In old Beijing, each hutong had at least one small temple. In total, there were some 2,000 temples scattered across the city. Monks would be busy chanting scriptures and playing Buddhist music for various celebrations.

As the year's first fresh vegetables and fruits ripened, women who were forbidden to go outside the household were given a break from domestic chores. Men, especially those in their 20s, were eager to visit temple fairs, because they could see young women dressed in their new summer clothes.

Ancient Chinese paid great attention to every detail of dress, food and accommodation, which could explain why traditional Chinese culture rose to such heights.

My childhood memory about the festival is always linked with the fragrance of bamboo or reed leaves, which were used to wrap the glutinous rice for zongzi. At 90 years of age, I still insist that my family should make its own zongzi. Decades ago, children would have tiny cloth tigers and small gourds made of red cloth and stuffed with fragrant grass affixed to their clothes. It has been many years since I last saw these or smelt their scent. Many people today have neglected such precious folk customs and have forgotten all about the historic and cultural meanings of the Duanwu Festival.

As people read Qu Yuan's works, join or watch the Dragon Boat Race, eat zongzi, improve public health and increase agricultural output, the rich and diversified meaning of the Duanwu Festival should receive due attention once again. Maybe, the Duanwu Festival could soon become a global Red Letter Day? That would be ideal.

The author is a renowned researcher of Chinese culture and specializes in the study of the encyclopedia classic novel Dream of the Red Chamber

(China Daily June 19, 2007)