Today is
Duan Wu Jie/端午节 - the Dragon Boat Festival.
This festival has its origins in dragon worship and is also held in commemoration of the Zhou Dynasty poet and minister,
Qu Yuan/屈原, a patriot who was accused of treason and exiled when he opposed his king's friendship with dubious allies, and eventually committed suicide by drowning himself in a river when these allies eventually turned traitor and toppled the ruler.

The inhabitants of his place of exile, who deeply admired him, raced out in boats to rescue him or at least retrieve his body. Unable to find Qu Yuan's body, they dropped dumplings of glutinous rice into the river so that the fish would eat these offerings instead of him.
Qu Yuan's spirit supposedly manifested to the locals one day, telling them that the Dragon King of the river had given him a new life as an official in his court, and requested that they continue the boat races and offerings of dumplings in the dragon's honour.
To this day, Duan Wu Jie is still marked by lively boat races involving water craft decorated to look like dragons, and the preparation of glutinous rice dumplings as a holiday treat.


Here is a Dragon King making a rare appearance via a medium: