ATTENTION
Ms Jumiah . scroll down and click here
to see the other posts. Thank you.

Part B:

Compare to Jesse, I think I am considered very fortunate than him. During my festive season, I got along with my family very well but Jesse did not had fun as his parents did not pay as much attention to him than his siblings. My parents will not side whoever in my family everyone is equal. During christmas, Jesse is unable to buy a present for leslie as he has financial difficulties. It's also sad for Jesse that he has to work during Christmas. But he get to celebrate it with his best friend! For me, I think Christmas is about sharing and being with your loved ones!

Caroline =D

Point B

During christmas, Jesse doesn't go to church and I don't go to church too as I'm a buddhist. For me, my christmas is almost like Jesse's as we exchange presents on that day. Unlike Jesse's sisters, I do not pester my parents on this happy occasion to buy me presents. I always believe that we should just take whatever that is given to us and be satisfied with it and not ask more.

Also, Jesse's family is poor but I'm much more luckier than Jesse as I was able to afford christmas presents for my family and friends. Unlike Jesse's family, they had to save up hard to afford presents. During christmas, Jesse also needs to work in the farm but I do not need to work and I could just relax and watch TV with my family. Jesse prefers to celebrate christmas with his best friend, Leslie, as he doesn't like to be around his family but I celebrate my christmas with my family as they are the ones I would love to celebrate a joyous occasion with.

Despite all the differences, we, Jesse and I, had a really great and happy time during christmas and we both experienced the joy of giving and sharing.

Huan Ting :D

Point B

My Christmas is quite different compared to Jesse’s mainly because I celebrate it in church instead. As Christians, we do not take presents as the first priority while Jesse does. He thinks hard just to get a present for Leslie. I feel luckier compared to Jesse as he need to save up money just to get a present for his friend. Comparing to Jesse’s experience, my Christmas is definitely more enjoyable as he celebrates it with his friend and not with his family members while I celebrate it with my families and relatives.
During Christmas, my siblings and I do not ask for presents from our parents but Jesse’s sisters do. Christmas to us Christians are important as we celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth while Jesse treats it as a present giving day.
After all, both of our Christmas are somehow similar in a way that we exhange presents to each other and enjoy the joy of sharing.

Sharon Long

Point A

Chinese New Year is a special festive season for all chinese. Of course for my family, it's no exception either.
Usually, the whole family would gather around on the eve of the Chinese New Year to have a reunion dinner but for my family, my sister didn't join us for the reunion dinner this year. As she is married already, she has to go over to her in-laws' place to have the reunion dinner. For us at this side, my mom personally cooked many delicious dishes and we all had a good time together.

On the first day of Chinese New Year, I woke up quite late as the routine was abit different from last year. After saying our greetings to my parents and receiving red packets from them, we made our way to my second uncle's house to have lunch. My second aunt and third aunt also came to join us. We greeted them with oranges and we all sat down to ate the delicious dumplings made by my second uncle's wife. For lunch, we had steamboat :D it was delicious as there was a big spread to choose from! After gorging ourselves, we were really very full and decided to sit down and enjoy the movie on channel 8. It was getting late into the afternoon so we bid goodbye to my second uncle.
The next house that we went to was ah ma's house. She isn't really my biological grandmother even though we call her ah ma. She is my cousins' grandmother but we had to visit her too as my mom wanted to visit her as a way of respecting her. Over there we only stayed for a short while and i received a red packet from ah ma too :D.
It was my brother's birthday that day so he received much more red packets than me and that is also the reason why we had to leave ah ma's house early. My sister arranged a gathering at night in her house to celebrate my brother's birthday and she had invited my second uncle and his wife, second aunt and third aunt. We sang the birthday song and cut the cake. The cake was delicious ! It was chocolate banana cake! How lucky my brother was. Everybody went home after chatting awhile and i too, went home with my family.

On the second day, I had to wake up earlier as we had to reach my second aunt's house to have lunch. Upon reaching her house, my sister, my bro-in-law, my brother and me almost lost our way as we haven't been to her house in a long time. After eating our family's traditional dishes passed down from generation to generation, we could stay and rest at my second aunt's house for the whole afternoon.
After that, our whole family went to my mother's very close friend's, aunt sao ping, place to eat dinner. I love eating dinner the most over there as the food there is really delicious and there is a wide variety. Even though we have the same food every year at aunt sao ping's house, we don't get sick of the food as we only eat it once a year. We watched and slacked at her house till around 7.30p.m. and we had to make our way back home already. As later on, my whole family would be watching Jay Chou's latest film, KUNG FU DUNK! I was very excited ! We enjoyed the movie and went home to sleep as we had a eventful fortnight.

Overall, I had alot of fun and I enjoyed myself during this Chinese New Year. I quite liked this year as it was relaxing than the previous years during Chinese New Year as we had to rush around like mad. Chinese New Year is also a festive season that bonds families's ties as we don't really see much of our relatives everyday. I hope the next Chinese New Year would be this relaxing and eventful.

Huan Ting :D

Point b

Jess had financial problems and was unable to afford a Christmas present for Leslie. Unlike him, I do not need to worry about buying a present for my friends. Like him, I do not go to church and just go my friends and relatives' house and exchange presents. Even during Christmas, he still need to work at the farm, while I just stay at home, relaxing. The thing both of us have in common is that we both enjoyed ourself. We also get the joy of sharing.

Jaslyn Lim

MY FOUR DAYS OF CHINESE NEW YEAR

1ST DAY-

After collecting hongbao's from my relatives, I went home to pack my laggauge. I will be going to thailand! I feel so excited, thinking about the fun I am going to have. Packing the finish laggauge, I slept for 5 hours and made my way to he airport. My flight time is around 7am. I took the budget airline and reach thailand around 9am. My first impression of thailand was okay. The air there is a bit dusty but there wasn't any litter around so it was very clean. My family checked into a hotel near their 'night market'. We went looking around and the first food I had there is something crispy and spicy, it had spices that simply makes you never forget it again. Very original and nice! I went to 'Platinum', a shopping centre which sells wholesale clothes. The clothes there are very fashionable and cheap! I bought loads of clothes enough for me for like 3 years, but no one is stopping m to buy more! During dinner my aunty in thailand briught us to a traditional restaurant called “once upon a time”. It serves traditional dishes and the way we eat is very traditional too. We had to sit on the floor to eat!
My favourite dishes is the pineapple rice, green curry, and the fried fish. I was so full that I almost vomited! The mosquito was also full! Had a late night. Sleep.


2ND DAY-

In the morning, we had a free buffet provided by the hotel. It was quite nice actually, it's international. After eating, the tour guide brought us to a half-day tour. We boat around the river, it was so clean! We reach a port and there were fish around so I took some bread and feed it. The port was actually a temple, it was huge and magnificent. It was boring to tour, unfortunately. So I visit the temple ate some food, coconut with bird's nest! Life is good. At night, my aunty brought us to eat dinner in a huge boat! We ate finish and the boat tour around the city at night, all the light and breeze is perfect! I also found out a lot, like the language, a women says 'sawatica' but a man says 'sawaticup' and an ah gua says 'sawatiha'. I believe that they are more feminine than women. That's all for day 2.

3RD DAY-

3rd day was quite boring, saddly. We just tour around again, visited their temple, wax museamand water market. The wax there is so real, every single wrinkle, colour tone was very detailed.
The whole day was so tiring! But at least I get to buy the things I want. Ate dinner. Watch a star night movie in my hotel! But in thai subtitle. Sleep.


4TH DAY (LAST DAY)-

I am beginning to miss thailand. We went to seafood restaurant to eat our last meal. It was so good that I forgotten that I am not supposed to eat so much! When I got to the airport, I was feeling very upset! =(
While my family eat, I suddenly vomited! In the plane i'm so tired but I can't sleep as I keep vomiting! When I got back to singapore, I went to a doctor and he say I had food poison! Those days were miserable. I shall not eat oysters and clams ever again! So this is how I spent my chinese new year. All good things come to an end... thank you for reading. Bye bye! =)


Caroline Teh

Point B
Compared to Jesse’s experience of Christmas, I experienced a happier festive season with my family than Jesse did.
Jesse even thought that he was adopted as he was treated badly by his sister which didn’t happen to me. Although my sister sometimes did treat me badly, but it was not to the extent of Jesse’s sisters actions.
During Christmas, Jesse needed to worry about what to give Leslie as his family is struggling with money. In my case, I have no worries at all. I am considered quite lucky compared to him. Jess also need to do some work for his family while I just relax on Chinese New Year.
But on top of all that, we both had an enjoyable festive season with our families.

Rouming

point c

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the lunar new year, especially by people outside China. It is an important holiday in east asia. 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.
Celebrated in areas with large populations of ethnic chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had a strong influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These include Koreans, Mongolians, Nepalese, Bhutunese, Vietnamese, and formerly the Japanese before 1873. In Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillippines, Thailand, and other countries with significant Chinese populations, Chinese New Year is also celebrated, largely by overseas chinese, but it is not part of the traditional culture of these countries.
Mythology


Hand-painted Chinese New Year's poetry pasted on the sides of doors leading to people's homes, Lijiang, Yunnan, China.
According to legend, in ancient china, the Nian was a man-eating beast from the mountains (in other versions from under the sea), which came out every 12 months somewhere close to winter to prey on humans. The people later believed that the Nian was sensitive to loud noises and the colour red, so they scared it away with explosions, fireworks and the liberal use of the colour red. These customs led to the first New Year celebrations. Guò nián, which means to celebrate the new year, literally means the passover of the Nian.
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.

The Chinese New Year celebrations are marked by visits to kin, relatives and friends, a practice known as "new-year visits" New clothings are usually worn to signify a new year. The colour red is liberally used in all decorations. red packets are given to juniors and children by the married and elders. See Symbolism below for more explanation.
All these festivities may vary from region to region and from family to family.

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 .
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. In northern China, they have dumplings for this dinner. Dumplings symbolize wealth because their shape is like a Chinese tael. This meal is comparable to Christmas dinner in the West. 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 times, many households hold parties and even hold a countdown to the new lunar year.

First day of the new year
The first day is for the welcoming of the deities of the heavens and earth. Many people, especially Buddhist, abstain from eating meat 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 Yearas well as to chase away bad spirits from the areas. Members of the family who are married also give red packets containing cash to junior members of the family, mostly children and teenagers.

Second day of the new year
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'll 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", 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.
Fifth day of the new year
In northern China, people eat jiaozi (dumplings) on the morning of Po Wu. This is also the birthday of the Chinese god of wealth. In Taiwan, businesses traditionally re-open on this day, accompanied by firecrackers.
Seventh day of the new year
The seventh day, traditionally known as renri, the common man's birthday, the day when everyone grows one year older.
It is the day when tossed raw fish salad, yusheng, is eaten. This is a custom primarily among the overseas chinese in southeast asia, such as Malaysia and Singapore. People get together to toss the colourful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity.
For many Chinese Buddhists, this is another day to avoid meat.



Chinese New Year's celebrations, on the eighth day, in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, british columbia, Canada.
Ninth day of the new year
The ninth day of the New Year is a day for Chinese to offer prayers to the Jade emperor of Heaven in the Taoist Pantheon. The ninth day is traditionally the birthday of the Jade Emperor.
This day is especially important to Hokkiens and Teochews (Min Nan speakers). Come midnight of the eighth day of the new year, Hokkiens will offer thanks giving prayers to the Emperor of Heaven. Offerings will include sugarcane as it was the sugarcane that had protected the Hokkiens from certain extermination generations ago. Tea is served as a customary protocol for paying respect to an honored person.
Fifteenth day of the new year
The fifteenth day of the new year is celebrated as Yuánxiāo jié, otherwise known as Chap Guo mei in Fujian dialect. Rice dumplings, Tang yuan , 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.



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 and chicken, 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" sounds the same as "may there be fish every year."
In mainland china, many families will banter whilst watching theCCTV 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.
Icons and ornamentals
Icons
Meaning
Illustrations
Fish
The koi fish is usually seen in paintings. Decorated food depicting the fish can also be found. It symbolizes surplus or having additional savings so as to have more than enough to live throughout the remaining year. It coheres with the Chinese idiom.



yuan bao ingots
The gold yuanbao symbolizes money and/or wealth. Yuanbao shaped ingots were the standard medium of exchange in ancient China.



lanterns
These lanterns differ from those of Mid Autumn festival in general. They will be red in colour and tend to be oval in shape. These are the traditional Chinese paper lanterns. Those lanterns, used on the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year for the Lantern Festival, are bright, colourful, and in many different sizes and shapes.



Decorations
Decorations generally convey a New Year greeting. They are not advertisements. Chinese calligraphy posters show chinese idioms. Other decorations include a new year picture, chinese knots, and papercutting and couplets.

Dragon dance and lion dance
Dragon and lion dances are common during Chinese New Year. It is believed that the loud beats of the drum and the deafening sounds of the cymbals together with the face of the dragon or lion dancing aggressively can evict bad or evil spirits. Lion dances are also popular for opening of businesses in Hong Kong.
'


Fortune gods
Cai Shen Ye, Che Kung,etc.

I get red packets. -Jaslyn
Chinese New Year bonds families! -Rouming
Chinese New Year allows our family to gather around to enjoy a reunion dinner and strengthen family ties. - Sharon
Chinese New Year is the time where we can get altogether and celebrate the joyous festive season - Huan Ting

Point C

Christmas

Christmas, also known as Christmas Day or Christmastide, is an annual holiday falling on December 25 or January 7 that honors and celebrates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. His birth, which is the basis for the transcultural Western calendar, has been determined by modern historians as having occurred between 8–4 BC, and is traditionally told to have taken place in a stable within the city of Bethlehem. The specific date of celebration for Jesus' birth is traditional, and is generally believed to have been influenced by the dates of pre-Christian festivals—usually the Roman festival of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti—rather than having been based on historical data or reference.
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. The jolly mythological figure Santa Claus, or Father Christmas, is also a major aspect of Christmas; he is traditionally believed by millions of children as being a bringer of gifts on or before Christmas Day. Santa is generally believed to be the result of the syncretization of Saint Nicholas with elements from pagan Nordic and Christian mythology, and owes his modern appearance mostly to 19th century media.


Christmas is celebrated throughout the Christian population, but it is also celebrated by many non-Christians, usually because of its cultural status and its non-sectarian winter-related traditions. The holiday is widely celebrated around the world, including in the United States, where it is celebrated by 96% of the population.
The word Christmas originated as a contraction of "Christ's Mass". It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038, compounded from Old English derivatives of the Greek christos and the Latin missa. In early Greek versions of the New Testament, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ. Since the mid-16th century Χ, or the similar Roman letter X, was used as an abbreviation for Christ. Hence, Xmas is often used as an abbreviation for Christmas. After the conversion of Anglo-Saxon Britain in the very early 7th century, Christmas was referred to as geol,the name of the pre-Christian solstice festival from which the current English word 'Yule' is derived.

I feel that Christmas is a time of giving. - Jaslyn
It feels good when you receive presents from your friends and relatives. -Sharon
Christmas is about sharing and giving, so it doesn't really matter how many presents you get. Most that matters that is you have enjoyed yourself. -Huan Ting

point A

Chinese New Year was the recent festival that i celebrated with my family. The whole festival actually consist of fifteen days. That is why married adults can still give red packets to children after the Chinese New Year holiday.

Every Chinese New Year eve, all of the Chinese will have their annual family reunion dinner. I had one of my reunion dinner on the Chinese New Year eve itself and the other on 4th February. On one of the reunion dinner, I remember that my father did not need to pay for his share of the dinner as he came in late and the staff did not realise that someone came in. I remembered when I was young, one of my teachers said that one should stay up late if they want their parents to have a long life, so I stayed up late.

The first day of Chinese New Year, we went to my grandmother's house. A lot of my mother's cousins came, and naturally I do not really know them as I only see them once a year. I was happy as I received a lot of red packets. I could see that my grandmother was very happy as she was smiling happily. I think she felt happy as they visited her on Chinese New Year and even gave her a red packet.

I think that festivals like Chinese New Year is very important, as it bonds families. They bonds families as people go house-visiting. I am now looking forward to the next Chinese New Year.

Jaslyn Lim (:

point A

Chinese New Year is a very special occasion for every Chinese.

Point A

On the 7th of February, which was last thursday, the Chinese celebrated Chinese New Year. As I am also a Chinese, I celebrated the festival too.
The day before Chinese New Year, I was attending school. As my hometown is not in Singapore but in Malaysia, after the Chinese New Year celebration organised by the school, I rushed back to Malaysia. My parents were afraid of my safety when going back to Malaysia, so they came to Singapore and fetched me back to Malaysia. One reason why I MUST go back to Malaysia is to eat reunion dinner with my family. Eating reunion dinner is one of my favourite time during Chinese New Year because I can eat many 'delicacies'. This year there is a slight change to the usual reunion dinner that my family had for the past few years. My sister's friend came!(It's a guy. I think he is my sister's boyfriend but my sister denied this) That was the first time she brought a guy home! I was surprised at first. At about 7pm we started eating. After eating, we watched television in the living room and my mother prepared lots of deserts for us! As the next day is a big day, we slept early. We did not sleep soundly as there is a custom of letting firecrackers off at Midnight. The firecrackers woke us up and we did not fall back into sleep until they stop playing with firecrackers which was at about 3am. What surprised me most was that there were no police on patrol that night. For the past decades, it had been a practise of the police of Malaysia to patrol the streets and fine people for playing with firecrackers.
7th of February came at last. My family woke up at around 7am. After which we get ourselves ready for the big day ahead of us. My sister friend(which i thought was her boyfriend) came around 8am, dressed handsomly. We took 6 mandarins and of course my parents took red packets which were meant to be given out to our relatives. Not to be forgotten, our passports. My sister's friend drove my mother's car and my father drove his car. As my mother is a Singapore PR, she cannot drive Malaysia registered car to Singapore. On top of that, my father's car cannot take allof us as it was not a big car. That was why my sister's friend was driving my mother's car that day. We went to Singapore at about 8.30am. Normally the Singapore custom will be full of cars and motorbikes but that day very few of cars and motorbikes were seen at the custom. So, the whole journey was smooth. We went around Singapore, visiting relatives. We would present them with the mandarins as a blessing we would give them. When we meet people we knew, we would say some auspicious words to them like Gongxifacai or Caiyuanguangjin. The last place we went was my 2nd aunt's house as most of my relatives will gather there. The place where i would get the most red packets is my 2nd aunt's place. There me, my siblings and my sister's friend helped ourselves to a wide varieties of Chinese New Year delicacies includind pineapple tarts, love letters, peanut biscuits and many more! While we are feasting on tidbits, the adults went to the kitchen and chat among themselves. I don't really knew what were they talking as they spoke in dialect. I also played with my cousins' children(are they called my grandcousins?) who were almost the same age as me and my younger brother. As my parents wanted to stay until very late at my aunt's house, my sister,her friend and I went back oursleves because we were very tired from the whole day activities. As for my brother, he was happily enjoying himselves playing with electronic games. During the journey back home, I counted the amount of money I received but money does not matters as much as the fun I had the whole day. My sister, her friend and I reached home at about 5pm. My sister's friend had to go back his home for some unknown reasons. I changed into my home clothes and entered my dreamworld, dreaming of the fun I had have.


Rouming