Zongzi are traditionally eaten during the Duanwu Festival (端午节) which
falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar,
and commonly known as the "Dragon Boat Festival" in English. The
festival falls each year on a day in late-May to mid-June in the Western
calendar.
Chinese people eat Zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival to memorialize
Qu Yuan, an advisor in the court of Chu during the Warring States period
of ancient China who was exiled by the emperor for perceived disloyalty.
Qu Yuan had proposed a strategic alliance with the state of Qi in order
to fend off the threatening state of Qin, but the emperor didn’t buy it
and sent Qu Yuan off to the wilderness. Unfortunately, Qu Yuan was right
about the threat presented by the Qin, which soon captured and
imprisoned the Chu emperor. The next Chu king surrendered the state to
their rivals. Upon hearing the tragic news, Qu Yuan drowned himself in
the Miluo River in Hunan Province.
In memory of him, every year on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, the
day he drowned himself, dragon boat races, which are said to represent
the search for his body, are held, and the Chinese people eat zongzi,
which was originally thrown into the river to keep the fishes from
eating the body of Qu Yuan. An interesting legend of Zongzi has been
passed down through generations from ancient China.