Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional festival celebrated across many Asian cultures. Come join us to make iconic rice dumplings, try out traditional Chinese calligraphy and learn more about the history of Dragon Boat Festival!

13:00 Wrapping of rice dumplings begins
14:00 Rice dumplings being boiled, other activities take place: traditional Chinese calligraphy, qigong, panel discussion with open floor questions and more.
16:00 Rice dumplings boiled and ready to serve

Made on the Moon, a collective celebrating East & South East Asian (ESEA) creativity and cultures are back with another event! Our team also organises the annual arts festival MOON FEST, which sold out Arnolfini last September and welcomed more than 200 people.

From here on, we are organising more regular opportunities for us to come together. So follow us on Instagram and Facebook to make sure you don’t miss any updates!

1. What is the Dragon Boat Festival?

The Dragon Boat Festival is a traditional Chinese festival, though similar festivals also exist in other ESEA cultures, for example, Japanese (Tango no sekku), Vietnamese (Tết Đoan Ngọ), Korean (Dano). We welcome learnings and discussion from you too about these traditional festivals if you do celebrate! The Dragon Boat Festival is particularly a commemoration of the ancient poet Qu Yuan. It is celebrated by holding dragon boat races and eating sticky rice dumplings.

2. Why the Dragon Boat Fest?

We cherish our traditional festivals and have unfortunately come across many instances where they are appropriated, including the Dragon Boat Race by the Rotary Club of Bristol Breakfast. At this event, we hope to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival with our community the right, fun, inclusive way!

We invited 5 Foot Way, a family run catering company based in Wiltshire to guide us how to put together traditional rice dumplings. They cook for weddings and other private events, supperclubs and corporate parties. They specialise in Malaysian food and due to the influence of the different ethnic and cultural identities there, they also cook other South East Asian, Chinese and Indian dishes. Michelle was born in Malaysia of Chinese heritage and has lived in the UK for the last 40 years. Her husband, Steve, is English, loves Asian food and is king of the satay grill and crispy belly pork.

3. Who will be there?

We welcome friends of East & South East Asian heritages to join, but all allies are welcome. Please note that while everyone is welcomed, it is advised that children aged 10 or below do not participate directly in the wrapping of rice dumplings (Free Entry for children aged 10 or below). For children aged 14 or below, it is advised that they participate in the wrapping of rice dumplings under adult supervision.

4. What are the tickets?

There are two types of tickets, Early Dragon Dumpling Makers (i.e. Early Bird Tickets) and Final Dumpling Makers (i.e. Main Tickets). All revenue is split between 5 Foot Way and Made on the Moon in covering necessary costs. Each Extra Rice Dumpling is £5 and only a very limited amount is available.

5. What is a rice dumpling?

Zong, zhongzi, bak chang…this iconic traditional food has many names and variations! 5 Foot Way particularly specialises in the savoury kind – bamboo leaf wrapped glutinous rice parcels with meat or vegetarian fillings of your choice. The ingredients used are gluten free but there may be traces of gluten and there are other ingredients with allergens present as listed below:
Crustaceans (such as prawns, crabs and lobsters), eggs, ), peanuts, soybeans, and tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts).

6. Any other reminders?

Wrapping rice dumplings could get messy and participants may also opt to join in a short session of qigong, so we recommend wearing loose and comfortable clothes which you don’t mind being made dirty. Handwashing facilities are available on site. Please also bring your own cutlery and containers for the environment, although a number of disposable utensils will be provided.

Our caterer has the necessary certificates and qualifications to make and sell food. However, since the event involves the making of food by participants, please participate only if you have considered and accept to undertake potential risks of safety and hygiene. Made on the Moon organisers would only be liable for any injury occurring as a direct result of our negligence.

Due to necessary preparation of ingredients in advance, please note that we are not able to issue any refund for this particular event.

We will be taking photographs and videos at the event. They would be shared to our social media pages. If you would rather not appear in any, please let us know before the event. Thank you!

7. More questions?

Feel free to email us at email hidden; JavaScript is required!