端午节(duān wǔ jié) - Dragon Boat Festival in Mandarin

端午节 (duān wǔ jié) is the Dragon Boat Festival, held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. 端 (duān) here means "beginning" (as in 开端, kāi duān, "start"), 午 (wǔ) is the fifth of the twelve earthly branches used for counting days and months, and 节 (jié) means festival, the same 节 found in 春节 (chūn jié), Spring Festival, and 节日 (jié rì), the general word for "festival".

The festival is best known for two things: 赛龙舟 (sài lóng zhōu), dragon boat racing, and eating 粽子 (zòng zi), sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, both traditionally linked to the story of the poet Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in protest and whom villagers are said to have raced their boats out to save.

Like other festival names, 端午节 (duān wǔ jié) needs the lunar calendar to fix its date, not the Western one: 端午节在农历五月初五 (duān wǔ jié zài nóng lì wǔ yuè chū wǔ), "Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month".