Name: Tan Heng Yeow(38)
(Part A&B)

PART A

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later.New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.
The entire house should be cleaned before New Year's Day. On New Year's Eve, all brooms, brushes, dusters, dust pans and other cleaning equipment are put away. Sweeping or dusting should not be done on New Year's Day for fear that good fortune will be swept away. After New Year's Day, the floors may be swept. Beginning at the door, the dust and rubbish are swept to the middle of the parlor, then placed in the corners and not taken or thrown out until the fifth day. At no time should the rubbish in the corners be trampled upon. In sweeping, there is a superstition that if you sweep the dirt out over the threshold, you will sweep one of the family away. Also, to sweep the dust and dirt out of your house by the front entrance is to sweep away the good fortune of the family; it must always be swept inwards and then carried out, then no harm will follow. All dirt and rubbish must be taken out the back door.
During Chinese New Year,my family put up lots of decorations.Examples of some decorations are on walls.On walls and doors are poetic couplets, happy wishes written on red paper. These messages sound better than the typical fortune cookie messages. For instance, "May you enjoy continuous good health" and "May the Star of Happiness, the Star of Wealth and the Star of Longevity shine on you" are especially positive couplets.The other decorations might be plants and flowers.Every traditional Chinese household should also have live blooming plants to symbolize rebirth and new growth. Flowers are believed to be symbolic of wealth and high positions in one's career.
It is also a tradition to visit our relatives during Chinese New Year.Etiquette dictates that you must bring a bag of oranges and tangerines when visiting family or friends anytime during the two-week long Chinese New Year celebration. Tangerines with leaves intact assure that one's relationship with the other remains secure. For newlyweds, this represents the branching of the couple into a family with many children. Oranges and tangerines are symbols for abundant happiness.
It is also a tradition that married couples should give children they knew red packets.To me,it is not the money inside that is important and rather that it is the thought that counts.Some common traditional foods that we had in our relatives' house are black moss seaweed - is a homonym for exceeding in wealth,dried bean curd is another homonym for fulfillment of wealth and happiness.Other foods include a whole fish, to represent togetherness and abundance, and a chicken for prosperity. The chicken must be presented with a head, tail and feet to symbolize completeness. Noodles should be uncut, as they represent long life.Through Chinese New Year,my relationship with my family and relatives have been better and we bonded better.
Eating steamboat as a family is also a sign of unity and our family practiced that every year.My parents and I all love to eat meatballs and we bought lots of them to cook in the steamboat dinner.But my parents ate very little and saved the rest for me .When i asked them why they had so little,they replied,''We are too full to eat,you can have the rest of them.''Although they said it like this,in my heart i knew that they wanted to give me the best of what they can give me.I really felt the love my parents gave to me at that moment.I felt that I am blessed to be born by two wonderful parents.
I felt that Chinese New Year is a meaningful festival and bond our relationship with my family and relatives very well.In other words,we also had a break from the stressing period of studying!It is really killing two birds with one stone!

PART B

I am going to compare my experience of celebrating Chinese New Year with my family with what Jess experienced with his family during Christmas.Jess celebrated Christmas in a rather different way than how we celebrated Chinese New Year.

Firstly,when they are celebrating Christmas,they need to exchange presents with each other and maybe save up some money to buy things to satisfy their siblings.In Chinese New Year,we do not exchange presents but we exchange oranges with each other to represent unity.

Secondly,the country that Jess is celebrating Christmas is very generous as they give out free puppies to people, and that is how Jess got the puppy and give it as a present to Leslie.In Singapore,people are not so generous and do not give out free animals that worth expensive prices such as puppies as a gift to people.

Thirdly,it is the routine they do that is similar to how we celebrate Chinese New Year.When Jess celebrate Christmas,they shop around the shopping malls to buy new products.Similarly,when we are celebrating Chinese New Year,we also shop for goods and new products to represent a new year.

Fourthly,it is the belief that is similar to how we celebrate Chinese New Year.When they celebrate Christmas,they believe that Santa Claus will give them presents by dropping it to their chimneys,whereas in Chinese New Year,we believe that the God of Fortune will bring us good wealth,so we prayed to the God of Fortune whenever we celebrate Chinese New Year.

Then,it is about the poor life of Jess.As Jess is born in a poor family,he cannot take breaks and had to milk the cow and farm even in Christmas to achieve income.Whereas whether if we are poor or rich,we get a break when it reaches to Chinese New Year and do not need to go to school or work(except for some exceptional cases).

Lastly,when we are celebrating Chinese New Year,we had reunion dinners with our family and relatives whereas when Jess is celebrating Christmas,they do not come together to have a meal or come together to communicate with each other.

These two festivals have lots of differences and some similarities but both festivals result in better relationships between friends,families and relatives as both festivals make all of us happy and relieve stress.

Labels: Tan Heng Yeow (Part A and B)

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