Dragon Boat Festival at the Connecticut-Asia Cultural Center

Saturday, June 6, 11am–3pm | Norfolk, CT | Free

The Connecticut-Asia Cultural Center in Norfolk celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival on June 6 with a free afternoon of traditional performances, activities, and food on the grounds of its restored castle property.

The Dragon Boat Festival—known in Chinese as Duanwu—falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar and is one of the oldest traditional Chinese holidays, with origins dating back over 2,000 years. It commemorates the poet and statesman Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in protest of government corruption in 278 BCE, and the villagers who raced out in boats to retrieve his body. The racing of long, narrow dragon boats became the festival's central tradition; eating zongzi, sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, is another.

The afternoon includes a Tai Chi Fan Dance performed by Taiwanese members of the center, a Dragon Dance, wooden dragon boat races on land for adults, tabletop dragon boat racing for kids, arts and crafts, and photo opportunities inside a wooden dragon boat constructed in Taiwan. Complimentary traditional vegetarian festival food is served from noon to 1pm.

The day also includes tours of the center's Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist cultural exhibits, Tea Art sessions, and a wellness seminar—a full afternoon is easy to build if you haven't visited before. The property was originally the estate of physicist Michael Pupin, purchased by the Confucian Study Association in 1998 and renovated beginning in 2018 into a cultural center that opened to the public in 2022. All activities are complimentary.

Connecticut-Asia Cultural Center, 207A Westside Rd., Norfolk, CT. More info and schedule at ctasiaculture.com.