Monday- I was recruited to Family Home Evening with the senior couples to help them with their Cantonese. This weeks theme was in preparation for the Tuen Ng Festival (Dragon Boat Festival- there will be more of this later on), we made jung "rice dumplings"- gobs of rice, meat, duck egg yolk, shrimp and peanuts, wrapped in bamboo leaf and boiled for two hours; and then we went to a big seafood restaurant for a peking duck dinner- it was a contest between the two tables of missionaries who spoke the best Cantonese with the staff ( I would like tothink that my table won).
More about Tuen Ng- the festival commemorates Qu Yuan, who was a popular poet and patriot of the Chu dynasty during the Warring states period, he was banished for opposing an alliance with the Qin state. While in exile he wrote profuse amounts of poetry. Then the Qin state invaded Chu- and here's where the story gets good, or bad, anyway back to the story- Qu Yuan was so distraught he committed suicide- he tide his feet to a big rock and jumped in the river. The locals were so upset to loose their favorite poet, they jumped in long boats and when chasing after him to try and save him. When they found they were too late, they dropped special rice dumplings in the river too keep the fish from eating the body. A little while later, a local drunk tipped a big barrel of wine in the river- and this is where the dragon comes in- the wine managed to intoxicate the local river dragon which emerged from the depths with a piece of Qu Yuan's clothing stuck between it's teeth. I guess the rice dumplings weren't enough to distract the dragon ( I don't blame the dragon- the duck egg yolk definitely wouldn't tempt me). So, these days, the locals hold festive dragon boat races and stuff themselves on rice dumplings to console themselves of the loss of their dear poet, Qu Yuan.
Here's just a snippet of Qu Yuan's "Mountain Spirit"

雷填填兮雨冥冥  The thunder rumbles and the rain darkens;
猿啾啾兮狖夜鳴  The gibbons mourn, howling all the night;
風颯颯兮木蕭蕭  The wind whistles and the trees are bare.
思公子兮徒離憂  "I am thing of the young lord; I sorrow in vain."