This year & the next celebration
When is Dragon Boat Festival?
85 days ago
Dragon Boat Festival 2026
19 June 2026Open this calendar month →270 days away
Dragon Boat Festival 2027
9 June 2027Open this calendar month →Meaning & living traditions
What is Dragon Boat Festival?
Boats and community gatherings
Dragon-boat races are collective performances as well as competitions. Depending on the community, celebrations can also include songs, opera, dances and other gatherings.
Rice dumplings at the festival table
Wrapped rice dumplings, often called zongzi, are one of the festival’s most recognisable foods. Their preparation and sharing connect the public celebration with household traditions.
More than one remembered figure
Qu Yuan is especially important to traditions in Hubei and Hunan. Other communities commemorate different local figures and histories, including Wu Zixu in parts of southern China.
The story connecting rice and racing
A widely told account centres on Qu Yuan, a poet and official of the state of Chu. After he died in a river, people went out in boats to search for him. Rice offerings, splashing paddles and drums are explained in versions of the story as ways to protect him or honour his spirit. This narrative connects the boats and festival foods, while other communities preserve different commemorations.
Duanwu at home and on the water
Duanwu is the festival’s Chinese name. In Singapore, its food tradition continues through homemade dumplings as well as those sold in shops: sticky rice and fillings wrapped in leaves and tied with string. Racing has also grown into a team sport practised beyond the festival season.
Calendar rule
When Dragon Boat Festival falls
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month, often called the double-fifth.
The exact rule is 5th day of the 5th lunar month. Its Gregorian date moves because lunar months last 29 or 30 days, while leap months keep the lunar year aligned with the seasons.
Dragon Boat Festival dates, 2023–2032
| Year | Gregorian date | Calendar position |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 22 June 2023 | Lunar 5/5 |
| 2024 | 10 June 2024 | Lunar 5/5 |
| 2025 | 31 May 2025 | Lunar 5/5 |
| 2026 | 19 June 2026 | Lunar 5/5 |
| 2027 | 9 June 2027 | Lunar 5/5 |
| 2028 | 28 May 2028 | Lunar 5/5 |
| 2029 | 16 June 2029 | Lunar 5/5 |
| 2030 | 5 June 2030 | Lunar 5/5 |
| 2031 | 24 June 2031 | Lunar 5/5 |
| 2032 | 12 June 2032 | Lunar 5/5 |
Observance
How it is observed
In communities especially around the middle and lower Yangtze, observances may combine local memorial rites, dragon-boat sports and rice-dumpling feasts; even the honoured hero varies by region.
Common questions
Understanding Dragon Boat Festival
Does every Dragon Boat celebration tell the same story?
No. The lunar 5/5 date connects traditions with different local commemorations and performances. A particular race or community’s account should not be treated as the only festival tradition.
Do I need to attend a race to observe the festival?
No. Making, sharing or eating rice dumplings is another established way families mark Duanwu.
Is a dragon-boat race date always the festival date?
No. Races also take place at other times. The lunar date identifies Duanwu; an organiser’s programme identifies an individual competition.
The calendar around the next occurrence
Dragon Boat Festival in 2027
Wednesday, 9 June 2027 is lunar month 5, day 5, in lunar year 2027. The festival falls in the Yin Fire Goat year.
The festival’s lunar year
Yin Fire Goat
354 days across 12 lunar months, with no leap month.
Explore this lunar year →Inside lunar month 5
29 days in this month
From 5 June 2027 to 3 July 2027. The festival is on day 5, four days after the month opens.
Grain in Ear
The solar term begins on 6 June 2027.
Convert the festival date →
Moon around the celebration
Waxing crescent
This is the Moon phase on the festival’s civil date.
Moon phases for the festival month →Before and after this festival
5 April 2027
Qingming FestivalLunar date & day reading →9 June 2027
Dragon Boat FestivalLunar date & day reading →8 August 2027
QixiLunar date & day reading →
The next celebration · 9 June 2027 · UTC+8
The complete Dragon Boat Festival day reading
The festival sets the occasion; its day pillar, activities, directions and hours change each year. This reading is for 9 June 2027.
Daily almanac · 2027-06-09
Dragon Boat Festival: activities & day animal
己未 Yin Earth Goat
The stem gives Earth; the branch gives Goat.
Read this stem against your Day Master →Huang Dao and Hei Dao name the day-god cycle. For a particular plan, read its Yi and Ji activities below.
宜 Traditionally suitable
- Make a formal betrothal proposal纳采
- Formalize a betrothal agreement订盟
- Hold a wedding嫁娶
- Ritual offerings祭祀
- Pray for blessings祈福
- Open a business or market开市
- Receive funds纳财
- Sign a contract立券
- Move residence移徙
- Travel出行
- Build or renovate修造
- Begin construction earthworks动土
- Lay a foundation起基
- Set foundation stones定磉
- Erect pillars竖柱
- Dismantle a structure拆卸
- Clean the house扫舍
- Release or drain water放水
- Install an incense altar安香
- Set up a bed安床
- Build a boat造船
- Dig a pond开池
- Dig a well掘井
- Build a livestock enclosure造畜稠
- Plant crops栽种
忌 Traditionally avoid
Calendar terms explained
This day in the traditional cycles
Each result below names this date’s position and explains what the term means.
- Day pillar 日柱
- Yin Earth Goat · 己未— this date’s position in the repeating 60-day stem–branch cycle.Hidden stems are stems conventionally contained in the day pillar’s earthly branch. Primary is the main layer; middle and residual are secondary layers.
- Yin Earth · Jǐ 己 (primary)
- Yin Fire · Dīng 丁 (middle)
- Yin Wood · Yǐ 乙 (residual)
- Month pillar 月柱
- Yang Fire Horse · 丙午— the month’s position in the 60-part stem–branch cycle.
- Year pillar 年柱
- Yin Fire Goat · 丁未— Fire generates Earth; the year’s position in the 60-year cycle.
- Day Na Yin 纳音
- Heavenly Fire · 天上火— a fixed named element assigned to this pillar; its element is Fire.
- Day animal 生肖
- Goat · 羊— the animal of the earthly branch in this date’s pillar.
- Opposes 冲
- Yin Water Ox · 癸丑— a Six Clash (六冲), the branch directly opposite this date’s branch in the 12-branch cycle.
- Lunar mansion 宿
- Wall · 壁— this date’s position in the repeating 28-mansion cycle.North palace (北) · Yu beast creature (獝) · traditionally favourable (吉)
- Day officer 建除
- Remove · 除— determined by this date’s earthly branch relative to its solar-term month branch.
- Auspicious directions 吉方
- Joy 喜神: Northeast (东北)
- Blessing 福神: North (正北)
- Wealth 财神: North (正北)
- Peng Zu lines 彭祖百忌
- The verse cautions against handling agreements, saying both parties may lose.己不破券二比并亡The verse cautions against taking medicine, saying harm may enter the body.未不服药毒气入肠Two traditional almanac caution lines selected by this date’s stem and branch.
All hours and their hour gods · UTC+8
Auspicious hours for Dragon Boat Festival
Read every interval and its traditional classification. A favorable hour is separate from suitability for a particular activity.
Heavenly Punishment
InauspiciousVermilion Bird
InauspiciousGolden Coffer
AuspiciousHeavenly Virtue
AuspiciousWhite Tiger
InauspiciousJade Hall
AuspiciousHeavenly Prison
InauspiciousDark Warrior
InauspiciousController of Destiny
AuspiciousGou Chen
InauspiciousAzure Dragon
AuspiciousBright Hall
AuspiciousAzure Dragon
Auspicious
The Rat double-hour crosses midnight. Its 00:00–00:59 and 23:00–23:59 portions belong to different hourly cycles, so both are listed separately. How the hourly cycle works →
The Moon this month · UTC+8
June 2027 moon phases
New moon
Lunar 5/1
First quarter
Lunar 5/7
Full moon
Lunar 5/15
Last quarter
Lunar 5/23
Calculated phase moments use fixed UTC+8. A lunar day number and a Moon phase describe different things. How they fit together →
Plan around Dragon Boat Festival
See the festival in its month or compare the surrounding days with your own birth-year animal.