Dragon Boat Festival between the mountains and the sea: A tour of Keelung's Zhongzheng Park

#Dragon Boat Festival Good Places Every Dragon Boat Festival, the weather starts to get hot and the aroma of zongzi is getting stronger. If you can find a place where you can climb high and see far and feel the atmosphere of the traditional solar term, it will be a rare holiday enjoyment. And by the Keelung Port, there is a good place that integrates mountain views, sea views and religious culture - Zhongzheng Park, which is an ideal place to relax the mind, exorcise evil spirits and nourish the spirit during the Dragon Boat Festival. Zhongzheng Park is located on the east side of Keelung City. It is built on the mountain and overlooks the entire harbor. It is a popular place for local residents to climb high and pray for blessings and take in air on weekdays. Around the Dragon Boat Festival, the breeze carries the smell of the sea and the smell of green grass in the woods. It blows all the way from the port to the mountain, which is both cool and refreshing. Step into the park and go up the stairs. What comes into view is the magnificent Guanyin Buddha statue, which is high on the mountain, facing Keelung Port, praying for peace for the entire city. The Dragon Boat Festival is the first of the "Five Poisonous Months". People pay attention to expelling plague and avoiding evil spirits. Coming here to burn incense and worship not only prays for peace and good fortune, but also has a sense of spiritual purification. Some believers will wear sachets and carry mugwort on this day to integrate festival customs into their daily lives. There are also various pavilions and pavilion trails in the park. If you choose to visit in the morning, the climate is pleasant and there are few tourists. You can quietly enjoy a pot of tea under the shade of the trees, or take a rest with your own wrapped rice dumplings, turning the ritual of the festival into a micro-trip in nature. Climbing up to overlook the harbor view, ships coming and going in the distance, and the sparkling waves at the junction of mountains and seas are the best practices of the Dragon Boat Festival tradition of "climbing high to avoid epidemics". If you bring children with you, you can also go to the children's play area in the park, or visit the ruins of the former Keelung Martyrs' Shrine and the war history inscriptions, so that the festival will not only eat rice dumplings and celebrate the festival, but also add historical education and cultural memory. If the rain and fog rise in the afternoon, the whole mountain forest is like a veil, and the Guanyin statue is looming in the mist, like a fairyland. Such scenery allows people to have a quiet moment of mind besides the excitement of the festival. Spending the Dragon Boat Festival in Keelung Zhongzheng Park, there is no need to crowd, nor the noise of boat racing, only the breeze between the mountains and the sea, and the silent respect for tradition and nature in the heart.