By: Edward
Happy Chinese New Years! Chinese New Year is the start of a new year based on the lunar calendar. Normally, it lasts seven days. During those seven days, people exchange good wishes with each other and elders give children red pockets. Inside a red pocket contains the lucky money for children. I usually get about seven or eight red pockets (one from each family member). For new years, my parents are busy sending letters for our relatives, while my sister and I are busy comparing our money. On Chinese New Year, we don’t just eat regular food because we have special holiday food. These special foods are supposed to bring good luck and good wishes. Some example, one of these special foods is Duncon cake for good health. Another one is a whole fish for saving a lot for the new year. As you can see, Chinese New Year is an exiting event. Do you and your parents celebrate any events of your own culture festivals? And how do you celebrate it?
21 comments:
Our familly celebrates Chinese New Year too. This year, we had a party at my friend's house. I got 25$ in cash in the red packets and I ate a lot of candy. For dinner, we had Peking Roast Duck and some rice cakes and mixed fruit for dessert. After the delicous dinner, the kids went down to my friend's family room and we watched the movie Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. After the movie, we drew comics and played a lot of computer. Finally, we went down to the living room where the adults were and we watched the Winter Olympics. Our family ended up going home at 11:00! We are having another Chinese New Year party this Saturday at my other friend's house. This time, there are no red packets:(. As you see, this is how I celebrate Chinese New Years.
My family celebrates Chinese New Year every year. On Chinese New Year's Eve, my mom lets us do something called sho shwei: me and my brother stay up as late as we can and the parents go to bed early, but we only do sho shwei if there is no school the next day, of course. Last year I was only able to staye up until 7:30 A.M. but this year I managed to stay up until 11:30 A.M.! I probably could have stayed up even longer but my dad made me go to bed once he woke up and found me still on the computer playing games. My mom usually gives me and my brother red envelopes too and also my friends' parents. Our nearest relatives are in Salinas (south CA) so I don't get many envelopes but the ones that I do get from my friends' parents normally have like $15-20 so in all I got about $60. My mom usually makes this giant New Year's dinner but this year we didn't.
We celebrate Diwali. Diwali is inbetween late summer and early autumn. I think it's in October.
Last Diwali, we went to a temple, and did a special poioja. A pooja is a special worship.
We also wore some lagas (pronounced la as lo in long, ga as in baby talk), which are skirts with something similar to undershirts attached to the skirts. On the undershirts are some coat-like shirts.
In the evening, we lit deppas, which are used not unlike candles.
I don't celebrate Chinese New Year. But I still celebrate some Indian holidays. One Indian holiday I know is called "Pongal". Pongal, is a type of Indian sweet that I love. On the day of Pongal, everybody wakes up early in the morning and have a "Pooja". A Pooja, is a special type way to pray to god. People do Poojas on special events like birthdays, or holidays. We all make food and put it in front of the god, and eat it later. After we do a Pooja, we get a pot and fill it up will Pongal. The really fun part about it, is that we we make the Pongal rise up so high up on the pot. And since it is really bubbly, it lookes so cool. Then we all shout out "OH PONGAL"! It is really fun.
I don't celebrate Chinese New Year, but in the church I go, every year, there is a Chinese New Year celeberation. People can bring food and eat some. Last year, my neighbor gave my brother and I a red envlope with one dollar in it. I also heard that Chinese New Year was on Vanentine's day.
Great post Edward!
My family doesn't celebrate Lunar New Year, but in the Marathi calendar, the new year is the coming of spring and is in March. It is called Gudhi Padwa. On that day, we get new clothes, and do spring cleaning. Women and children do rangoli, a type of drawing of designs. We also have special holiday food. A flag of victory called the gudhi is raised high in the air, since a symbol of victory is held high.
I don't celebrate Chinese New Year but I celebrate some Indian festivals. My family celebrates a festival called Diwali. Diwali means the “festival of lights.” We celebrate this festival by lighting a candle; this type of candle is called a diya. My mother also draws some beautiful flowers outside our front door step. We open the door to our house so a god can come inside and bless us. That gods name is the Goddess Laksmi Devi. Last year the festival was on October 17, but this year it might be on October 18. This is one of the festivals I love. Great Post Edward!!!
~Mahi
My family celebrates Chinese New Year too. Last, last Saturday I had a special dinner at my grandma's house and I recieved $20 in my red packets. My parents gave all of their money that they recieved(yay!). On Sunday my family went to my great grandma's house. My aunts and uncles which are actually cousins once removed came with their families. The youngest "aunt or uncle" was eight years old and the oldest "aunt or uncle" was in his mid-teens(intresting, right?)in the end we all got red packet from each family. During the whole time we all played Wii. This is usually how I spend my Chinese New Year.
Us Muslims, we celebrate Eid. It is a really fun day for us! We wake up in the morning and my mom makes a yummy breakfast. After that, at noon, we leave for afternoon prayers. That is our day to eat as many sweets as we can! We then go to the SBIA fairgrounds. That is where we put on religious stuff and eat lunch. We also hang out with friends!
My family celebrates Chinese New Year every year. This year I had two parties. For the first one, I ate a lot of yummy food like rice cakes, dumplings, and fish. I played Wii and computer games while the adults were talking about subjects boring to kids. For the second party, I played Mario Kart, ate dinner, and made some "funny" shows. This year I got five red envelopes. I think I got $180 in all.
Of course, I celebrate Chinese New Year because I am Chinese. My family celebrates this holiday but having fun, not crying and having a feast. On Chinese New Year Eve, we stay up until midnight and have a feast on that day too. My mom tells me that she doesn't want to owe money on Chinese New Year because it means that she says that it is bad luck to owe money and be cursed. I get red envelopes from my relatives, parents, and family friends. This year, I didn't really get much money for Chinese New Year (only from my mom D:wah), but at least I got some. Usually, we are supposed to go to the dad's side parent's to spend the holidays but this year we didn't get to. Do instead, I had my cousins come from Seattle. It was really a fun weekend to spend with some family.So, spending New Years is a fun holiday for me!
My family celebrates Chinese New Year too. We have a party/feast and then it is red bag time. Most of the kids like the red bags the best. Last year I got 60 bucks. What I like best is gambling this year. I won 20 cents that was pathetic But my brother won nothing so I was okay. Then my family plunks down on the coach and watching movies till 12:00 o'clock. This is how I spend my chinese new year.
We celebrate something too. (I forgot what is is called.) Anyway, on this holiday we buy a special loaf of bread from the market. Inside, there are two plastic baby Jesus figures. We have to try to find both of thse figures by eating the bread. In another celebration, we have to put our shoes neatly by the door. At night, the three wise men from the bible come and put money in your shoes. Nice post Edward! Happy Chinese New Year!
Since I am also Chinese, I celebrate Chinese New Year. This year we didn't get to celebrate Chinese New Year, because we were busy, but I can tell about last year. We eat special foods like fish, spinach, peanuts, candy, and other foods. There is also beliefs like eating one whole spinach to represent long life. Then we had candy. They had jelly candy that you can also eat the wrapper. Since my birthday is after Chinese New Year, we were getting ready. This is how I usually celebrate Chinese New Year.
My family celebrates Chinese New Year every year too. My mom buys a cake with the words Happy New Year on it. Then we get money. This year, my brother and I got $100 each but I got one more $100 because I won second place for my piano competition. After we eat cake, we either play board games or chat on the phone. I like to listen to my mom chat on the phone and say exciting news to my relatives. We also watched the Winter Olympics. I like the ice skating best! This is how I spent my time on Chinese New Year.
I celebrate Chinese New Year with all my relatives from my father's side including my grandparents. We have a huge feast with lots of bottles of beer and about 15-20 dishes of food. After that then we are given red envelopes. I don't count how much I get in dollars; I just give them to mother/father later and they keep them. I am worried that I'll lose them and all the money will be gone.
My family and I don't have I special way of celebrating New Years, but we are usually on vacation or at someone else's house celebrating. I usually stay up all night watching the big apple going down on TV. Around the Halloween time that is when The Hindus celebrate the new year though. We celebrate Diwalli, or the festival of lights. We light these lamps that have many intricate designs on them and set them outside near our door.
Our family usually celebrates Indian festivals. One holiday is called Holi and in that festival kids get to throw clored water at each other and dry color. Another Indian festival is Diwali the festival of lights where you try to decorate your house with alot of lights. The last festival is called Rakhi where the brother has to say that you are going to protect their sister and the sister ties a bracelet which represents the love of the brother and sister called Rakhi. In all of these holidays you pray to god and get homemade special treats.
Since I am half Muslim and half Hindu my family celebrates Eid and Pooja. We usually have a party and I play with my friends. We eat eat a yummy lunch and dinner. Its a fun day for all of us!!
My family and I don't celebrate Chinese New Year but, we celebrate the western New Year on Jan. 1st. Since we are Catholic, we celebrate Easter and Christmas but, we enjoy celebrating the Chinese New Year with our friends and eat rice and mandarin chicken.
My family celebrates Holi and Diwali. Those are two Indian festivals. In Holi, we go to one of our friend’s house and put colored powder on each other. To put the powder on each other you put a little water on your hand as well. Diwali means "the festival of lights." I light firecrackers. I really enjoy these Indian festivals.
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