This Year's Dragon Boat Festival

Chen Chi-Hsiang. Celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival in Paris is hard to imagine; it was all chance. I hadn't felt a lunar holiday in ages, but a Taiwanese friend called to say it was here and invited me over for zongzi (she gave me ten). Her warmth and sharing moved me deeply. It was still Taiwanese zongzi. She asked how long it had been since I ate them. Indeed, it had been a while. Did I miss them? Of course not. If there were some, I would eat; if not, so be it. Living abroad, I rarely missed hometown food, but when the opportunity arose, I enjoyed it to savor that taste and recover the emotions within.

This year's Dragon Boat Festival was special. A friend returned from the countryside on the weekend, picked a large bag of cherries weighing at least three kilograms, and also invited me over to take some. There is an old, beautiful cherry tree in his country courtyard. I still remember last year when we picked cherries together. Although interactions with friends in Paris are not frequent, whenever a season or festival arrives, we meet to talk about our Taiwanese hometown and the bits of life in Paris, reconnecting emotionally and sharing news from home. On this special Dragon Boat Festival, I pray for peace for the world and all beings, and thank my friends for their care. Grateful for existence.