Day 19 (26/9/11)

This morning, there was a local lecture on china culture. Firstly. He explained to us the meaning of a few chinese characters. I learnt that Buddha is not a god, he is a person who is wise and well-respected. After class, we went on to have our lunch. After lunch, we went back to the same classroom to have EG2 test and then cultural lessons on traditional festivals in China.

The most important festival will be the spring festival, lunar new year. During the spring festival, they visit our relatives and friends, let off fireworks, and the children collect red packets from the adults. For decoration wise, the word “fu” would be put upside down on the wall. In chinese, it means bliss coming into the house. They also have traditional food like back in Singapore. In comparison, the way they celebrate lunar new year is like how we do in Singapore. Besides, letting of fireworks is legal here in China. It’ll be fun if we get to try it.

The next festival would be lantern festival, yuan xiao jie. People in China eat yuan xiao, a round, sticky and sweet food to celebrate the first full moon of the month. We also celebrate it by lighting lanterns and putting riddles on them.

Next is the qing ming festival when we visit our ancestors and late loved ones, to burn incense and sweep the tomb. In China, there is even spring outings and flying of kites.

After that it will be the dragonboat festival, duan wu jie. People celebrate the dragonboat races, eating zongzi and drinking realgar wine. (history about qu yuan)

In September, there is the mid-autumn festival. The people here eat mooncake, watch the moon and sit together to tell the story of changer’

I learnt that all these festivals that we celebrate is not just came out by humans ourselves. Instead, there're many history, legends and myths behind them. It is good to learn why are we celebrating the festivals. After I know the meaning behind each and every festival, I will think back and remember the history behind each and every festival I celebrate.