Cape Town Dragon Boat Festival: A celebration of diversity, Chinese culture and dragon boat racing

Not only did scores of people from Cape Town’s Chinese community show up for this year’s "Cultures of China - Cape Town Dragon Boat Festival" celebrations at Battery Park on the V&A Waterfront, but so did locals.

Traditionally held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu) commemorates Qu Yuan, the devoted statesman and poet from the Warring States period, whose legacy lives on through spirited boat races and the sharing of sticky rice dumplings, or zongzi.

Building on last year’s success, several enthusiastic paddlers competed. Competitors battled in 100-metre and 500-metre sprints, with a tug-of-war race on the water adding extra excitement.

On Saturday, spectators lined the Battery Park shoreline to cheer on the crews and enjoyed cultural performances, traditional music, and a showcase of Chinese heritage throughout the afternoon.

Chairperson of the Cape Town Dragon Boat Association, Igsaan Salie, said that dragon boating has been in the city since around the 90s, however, their partnership with the Chinese community over the last three years has enabled “a phenomenal change” in terms of scope.

“It's fantastic – when it comes to food, decorations, and just overall gees (atmosphere). It just became a whole new thing, and it went up a whole bunch of levels.

“When we participate at the marina and those places, it's great, but it's not on the same level as the festival in terms of the turnout, the enthusiasm, and all of that - and the guys love it,” Salie said.

Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and the Chinese Consul General in Cape Town, You Wenze, were also in attendance at the festival. The mayor got to experience and enjoy all that the Chinese community had to offer.

Hill-Lewis was given a tour around the festival by the Consul General, and he also got his hands dirty competing in a few games, and even testing how good his aim was at basketball.

The festival also included an exhilarating dragon boat race in which Hill-Lewis and Wenze participated alongside the various dragon boat clubs in Cape Town.

Despite ending up with his shirt and pants soaked in water, Hill-Lewis said that he loved it and that it was very fun.

“I love participating in events like this. It's always fun just to get involved, to try and experience it for yourself.

“So I must say, it's the first time I've ever put foot on a dragon boat, and I loved it. It was great fun. “I really got into the gees and got competitive, as I always do,” he said.

“And I was pleased to win.”

The mayor said that such events are very lovely as Cape Town has a significant Chinese community, and he noted that there's a risk of the communities keeping to themselves.

“Events that bring people out of their homes, bring people together, and let you experience Chinese food like the ones I tasted, and let you experience some beautiful tea, some Chinese medicine, games, the lovely Dragon Boat Festival, you name it, are very important.”

Wenze said the event allows for a cultural exchange and enables people-to-people understanding.

“The Dragon Boat Festival has a long history, about more than 2,000 years. So it’s great to see the Chinese community, together with the local communities, and some international tourists, when they come together to celebrate this traditional Chinese festival.

“It's great as it speaks to the diversity of cultures… You can see a lot of Chinese food and Chinese culture. So this is a very colourful, very splendid event.”

Speaking about the boat racing, Wenze said that it is great to see the unity, the coordination, and how people are sitting in the same boat, having to paddle through the water at the same time.

Salie added that the clubs do enjoy putting on the show and having a good time. He said that their most active clubs are at the V&A Waterfront and Century City.

“It’s Monday through Friday, where we've got clubs on the water after five, so between those two places, it's one of those things where you stand on the side and you can just say, can I get on? And in most cases, you'll get signed up.

“It's a participation sport where they are keen to get new paddlers on board, and just having people see what it is, is a big step in the right direction for us, because it's almost not understood.

“They're like, okay, is it like canoeing? Is it like kayaking? Is it like supping? Is it like whatever? But it's not, it's 20 people working together towards the same goal. And it's phenomenal.”

theolin.tembo@inl.co.za