The Dragon Boat Festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese calendar. It commemorates the life and death of Qu Yuan, a loyal and popular court advisor who was wrongly accused of treason. When he was lost at sea, the people raced out in their boats to try and save him, offering rice balls so the fish would eat these rather than him. The Dragon Boat festival is celebrated each year by boat racing, rice ball eating and general merry making.