a) Chinese New Year is an special occasion where the chinese celebrates every year, which brings fun and excitement to everyone. This year, we had a very fun, memorable and enjoyable day during the Chinese New Year.
During Chinese New Year Eve, my family and I cleaned the whole house from morning till evening. My sister and I threw all those old clothes and books away while my parents mopped the floor and cleaned the whole house including cleaning the toilet, kitchen, bathroom, study room and bedroom. We also started decorating the house by pasting new year ornaments and decorations on the wall. Even though we were tired after cleaning and decorating the house, we felt very satisfied after seeing the house become spic and span.
After that, we went to my grandmother's house for reunion dinner. The whole family sat down together and enjoyed a lot of delicious food such as curry chicken, nuggets, fish and fried prawns. We also watched many chinese new year program together.
On the first day of the Chinese New Year, we went to our grandmother's house first. I liked the chinese new year goodies such as pineapple tart and love letters.I received some red packets from my grandmother, aunts and uncles.
After that,we went to my relative's house ,feeling hungry. Every year, when we go to my relative's house, it will be very crowded as my mother has a big family which consists of six sisters and three brothers. When we reached there, about fifteen cousins have already arrived. Fortunately, my fourth aunt has a big bungalow which can accommodate many people.Later on, everyone of us helped to prepare the ingredients for the steamboat dinner together. When dinner was ready, everyone sat down together to enjoy the scrumptious meal that we prepared together. After dinner,I received lots of red packets from my relatives.
At about nine thirty, my cousins and I gathered together to play the firecrackers. It was fun and exciting to see the firecrackers exploding into the night sky. An hour later, my parents told my sister and I that it was about time to go home. My sister and I could not bear to leave as it was really very fun playing with my cousins.
I felt that Chinese New Year is the only day where everyone in the family have the time to gather to chat, play and eat together. Most importantly, it will also bond relationships among them. Therefore, for me,Chinese New Year is the most meaningful event for the whole year!

b) From what Jess experienced with his family during Christmas, in Chapter 6, I can see that the relationship among their family is totally different from what I experienced with my family. It is written in the chapter that Brenda and Ellie teased Jess for having no girlfriend. This shows that they did not respect each other and could not control their own emotion.If Jess had not jump out of the chair and walked away,he would have smacked Brenda. Not only that, his parents does not like Jess.. It is written in the chapter that Jess wanted to please his father by running his racing car set for him. Yet, Jess's father kicked the floor dangerously near the track and called the car set a cheap junk. It is also written that his mother wanted him to milk the cow when he was playing the cars and only called Jess to do it. On the other hand, our family know how to respect each other , solve arguments with reasoning .For example, during Chinese New Year Eve when my whole family cleaned the house, my sister complained that she had more workload than me. After reasoning with her calmly, we compromised with each other and came to an agreement. Therefore, due to our good relationship that our family have, shouting, teasing and fighting seldom happens in our family. My parents also did not show favoritism among me and my sister.
However,despite the arguments they had, Jess and his siblings still helped and chatted to each other like what me and my sister did during Christmas. It is written that Jess helped May Belle wrap her wretched little gifts and even sang "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" with her and Joyce Ann. Similarly, I helped my sister to clean her room while my sister helped me to tidy up my bookshelf during Chinese New Year.


c)Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the Lunar New Year, especially by people outside China. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī (除夕, abbr. for 年除夕 Niánchúxī, Chúxì in Taiwan). It literally means "Year-pass Eve".

Celebrated in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction.[citation needed]. In Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and other countries with significant Chinese populations, Chinese New Year is also celebrated, largely by overseas Chinese, and has, to varying degrees, become part of the traditional culture of these countries.


Public holiday

Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in a number of countries and territories where a sizable Chinese population resides. Since Chinese New Year falls on different dates on the Gregorian calendar every year on different days of the week, some of these governments opt to shift working days in order to accommodate a longer public holiday. Also like many other countries in the world, a statutory holiday is added on the following work day when the New Year falls on a weekend.

It is also important to understand that informal celebrations, which may span a period of several weeks before and after the official holidays, are the time when many businesses operate in 'holiday mode', and generally aren't the time for making decisions or business negotiations.

Days before the new year

On the days before the New Year celebration Chinese families give their home a thorough cleaning. It is believed the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes ready for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and window-panes a new coat of red paint. Homes are often decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets. Purchasing new clothing, shoes and receiving a hair-cut also symbolize a fresh start .

In many households where Buddhism or Taoism is prevalent, home altars and statues are cleaned thoroughly, and altars that were adorned with decorations from the previous year are also taken down and burned a week before the new year starts, and replaced with new decorations. A paper effigy of the Kitchen God, the recorder of family functions, is also burned in order to report to the Jade Emperor of the family household's transgressions and good deeds.

The biggest event of any Chinese New Year's Eve is the dinner every family will have. A dish consisting of fish will appear on the tables of Chinese families. It is for display for the New Year's Eve dinner. This meal is comparable to Christmas dinner in the West. In northern China, it is customary to make dumplings after dinner and have it around midnight. Dumplings symbolize wealth because their shape is like a Chinese tael. By contrast, in the South, it is customary to make a new year cake after dinner and send pieces of it as gifts to relatives and friends in the coming days of the new year. Niangao literally means increasingly prosperous year in year out. After the dinner, some families go to local temples, hours before the new year begins to pray for a prosperous new year; however in modern practice, many households hold parties and even hold a countdown to the new lunar year. Beginning in the 1980s, the CCTV New Year's Gala was broadcast minutes before the start of the New Year.
Chinese New Year fireworks in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

First day of the new year

The first day is for the welcoming of the deities of the heavens and earth, officially beginning at midnight. Many people, especially Buddhists, abstain from meat consumption on the first day because it is believed that this will ensure longevity for them. Some consider lighting fires and using knives to be bad luck on New Year's Day, so all food to be consumed is cooked the day before.

Most importantly, the first day of Chinese New Year is a time when families visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended family, usually their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents.

Some families may invite a lion dance troupe as a symbolic ritual to usher in the Lunar New Year as well as to evict bad spirits from the premises. Members of the family who are married also give red packets containing cash to junior members of the family, mostly children and teenagers.

While fireworks and firecrackers are traditionally very popular, some regions have banned them due to concerns over fire hazards, which have resulted in increased number of fires around New Years and challenged municipal fire departments' work capacity. For this reason, various city governments (e.g., Hong Kong, and Beijing, for a number of years) issued bans over fireworks and firecrackers in certain premises of the city. As a substitute, large-scale fireworks have been launched by governments in cities like Hong Kong to offer citizens the experience.

Second day of the new year
Incense is burned at the graves of ancestors as part of the offering and prayer ritual.

The second day of the Chinese New Year is for married daughters to visit their birth parents. Traditionally, daughters who have been married may not have the opportunity to visit their birth families frequently.

On the second day, the Chinese pray to their ancestors as well as to all the gods. They are extra kind to dogs and feed them well as it is believed that the second day is the birthday of all dogs.

Business people of the Cantonese dialect group will hold a 'Hoi Nin' prayer to start their business on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year.The prayer is done to pray that they will be blessed with good luck and prosperity in their business for the year.

Third and fourth days of the new year

The third and fourth day of the Chinese New Year are generally accepted as inappropriate days to visit relatives and friends due to the following schools of thought. People may subscribe to one or both thoughts.

1) It is known as "chì kǒu" (赤口), meaning that it is easy to get into arguments. It is suggested that the cause could be the fried food and visiting during the first two days of the New Year celebration.[citation needed]

2) Families who had an immediate kin deceased in the past 3 years will not go house-visiting as a form of respect to the dead. The third day of the New Year is allocated to grave-visiting instead. Some people conclude it is inauspicious to do any house visiting at all.

Last day of the new year

The fifteenth day of the new year is celebrated as Yuánxiāo jié (元宵节), otherwise known as Chap Goh Mei in Fujian dialect. Rice dumplingsTangyuan , a sweet glutinous rice ball brewed in a soup, is eaten this day. Candles are lit outside houses as a way to guide wayward spirits home. This day is celebrated as the Lantern Festival, and families walk the street carrying lighted lanterns.

This day often marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.

New year cuisine
Niangao, Chinese New Year cake

Reunion dinner

A reunion dinner is held on New Year's Eve where members of the family, near and far away, get together for the celebration. The venue will usually be in or near the home of the most senior member of the family. The New Year's Eve dinner is very sumptuous and traditionally includes chicken and fish. In some areas, fish is included, but not eaten completely (and the remainder is stored overnight), as the Chinese phrase "may there be surpluses every year" (traditional Chinese: 年年有餘; simplified Chinese: 年年有余 sounds the same as "may there be fish every year."

In mainland China, many families will banter whilst watching the CCTV New Year's Gala in the hours before midnight.

Red packets for the immediate family are sometimes distributed during the reunion dinner. These packets often contain money in certain numbers that reflect good luck and honorability. Several foods are consumed to usher in wealth, happiness, and good fortune. Several of the Chinese food names are homophones for words that also mean good things.

After researching about Chinese New Year, I think that I do not believe what they wrote.For example,it is said that it is believed that the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes ready for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and window-panes a new coat of red paint. Homes are often decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets. Purchasing new clothing, shoes and receiving a hair-cut It also symbolize a fresh start. I feel that what they wrote is very supertitious as one should work hard to achieve his or her own goal and not depend solelyon luck.


Christmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days. The nativity of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini system of dating, is thought to have occurred between 7 and 2 BC. December 25 is not thought to be Jesus' actual date of birth, and the date may have been chosen to correspond with either a Roman festivalor with the winter solstice.^[

Modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, Church celebrations, and the display of various decorations—including the Christmas tree, lights, mistletoe, nativity scenes, and holly. Santa Claus (also referred to as Father Christmas, although the two figures have different origins) is a popular mythological figure often associated with bringing gifts at Christmas for children. Santa is generally believed to be the result of a syncretization between Saint Nicholas and elements from pagan Nordic and Christian mythology, and his modern appearance is believed to have originated in 19th century media.

Christmas is celebrated throughout the Christian population, but is also celebrated by many non-Christians as a secular, cultural festival. Because gift-giving and several other aspects of the holiday involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, Christmas has become a major event for many retailers.

After researching about Christmas, I feel that they are right to say that Christmas has become a major event for even non Christians as gift-giving and several other aspects of the holiday involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians. Christmas has become a major event for many retailers as Christmas Day is a day of giving. That is why a lot of people buy a lot of presents for each other, which will take this opportunity to sell a lot of gifts.