The Zhong He Festival, also known as the Blue Dragon Festival, is a traditional festival held on the second day of the second month of the Chinese calendar. It is also called "Dragon rising its head" and simply "2 Month 2." The festival is a reflection of the ancient agrarian Chinese culture. In the tradition of Chinese culture, dragon is believed to be the king of all insects and at same time, it is also believed that the dragon is in charge of bringing rain. Both of these are important factors in ancient agricultural society.

The Zhong He Festival is celebrated around the time of Jing Zhe, one of the 24 solar terms. The phrase Jing Zhe has the meaning of awakening of the hibernated. Jing is startling, and Zhe is hibernated. This is the time during which the hibernated insects begun to wake up at the beginning of early spring, which is often accompanied by the arrival of the first rains, meaning the weather is getting warm. Zhong He Festival is an important worship ritual of wishing for good harvest in the coming months.

In addition to paying the respect to Dragon King, respect to Tu Di Gong was often paid together as well, and wishes are often made at the temples for Tu Di Gong. Another ancient practice to celebrate Zhong He Festival was to get rid of insect pests in homes via fumigation by burning various herbs with recognized insect repellent effects.

The story starts with the only empress in the history of China, Empress Wu. The gods was very angry that Empress Wu became the empress and they did not let the dragon give rainfall to the earth for three years. But the dragon heard of the cry of the people. So he gave rain to the world without the permission of gods. The gods were very angry with the dragon. They locked the dragon under a mountain and said he cannot be released unless the gold bean became a flower. People discovered that the popcorn makes the gold bean a flower. So everyone made popcorn that day. The god saw these gold bean flowers and had to release the dragon.

Today, the Zhong He Festival is celebrated in various ways, most of which are still identical to those practiced in the ancient times, including eating Chinese "fajitas" and noodles. Perfume bags filled with the powder of grinded fragrant herbs are made to be carried by women and kids for good fortunes, though they are not used as insect repellent in ancient times anymore. Another ancient celebration still practiced today is that the Zhong He Festival is the first day of the Tai Hao temple fair that lasts until March 3 of the lunar calendar. Tai Hao temple fair is a celebration of ancestral deities Fu Xi and Nü Wa and the Zhong He Festival marking the beginning of this celebration./FONT>