The Confucius Institute Ljubljana, in collaboration with the Canoe Federation of Slovenia, is organizing the traditional Dragon Boat Festival and rowing competition 2025!
The Festival is taking place on Saturday, May 31, 2025, at 11:00 AM on Ljubljanica River, Trnovski pristan (under the Prulski Bridge).
Come and watch the festival, try delicious food, or even participate in the competition!
The Dragon Boat Festival is dedicated to patriotism and courage, which are common to both Chinese and Slovenian history.
“Carrying Forward the Spirit of Patriotism and Promoting National Culture, paying tribute to national heroes from both Chinese and Slovenian history”
Reviving the Stories of Two Patriots
For over two thousand years, on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, the Chinese have celebrated Duanwu — a festival in memory of the poet and statesman Qu Yuan, who, due to his loyalty to his homeland and his fight against injustice, ended his life in the Miluo River.
The best-known traditional story holds that the festival commemorates the death of poet Qu Yuan . 340 BC – 278 BC) from the ancient state of Chu, in the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty.
Duanwu (端午) means ‘starting five’—i.e., the first “fifth day” of the month according to the Chinese zodiac.
People honored his spirit with dragon boats and rice dumplings to ward off evil spirits and protect his body.
A similar story of courage and patriotism can also be found in Ivan Hribar, the long-time mayor of Ljubljana and diplomat, who after the First World War persistently advocated for the right of Slovenians to self-determination and dignity. He too dedicated his life to defending his homeland and nation. At the decline of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the beginning of the occupation of Ljubljana, Hribar, as a sign of protest against the loss of Slovenian independence, committed suicide on April 18, 1941, by drowning himself in the Ljubljanica River, or the Gruber Canal in Kodeljevo. He left a farewell letter to his wife and daughter with verses from the poem “Baptism on the Savica” by the poet France Prešeren: “Less terrifying is the night in the wings of the black earth, than the slave days under the bright sun.”
Come and enjoy Chinese delicacies and music by the Ljubljanica River.
