"> Hi everyone, the topic for today's blog is festivals. What are the festivals that we celebrate? For the Chinese, we celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year which marks the start of a New Year on the lunar calender. Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is often called the Lunar New Year.The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th.
According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian or "Year" in Chinese. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, the Nian never came to the village again.
How is Chinese New Year being celebrated?
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. Members of the family who are married also give red packets containing cash to junior members of the family, mostly children and teenagers.
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 dumplings Tangyuan (simplified Chinese: 汤圆; traditional Chinese: 湯圓; pinyin: tāngyuán), 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.
Other festivals
Hari Raya Aidilfitri is being celebrated by Muslims.The term "Hari Raya" literally means "Day of Celebration" — it is also occasionally used to refer to Eid ul-Adha in the form of "Hari Raya Aidiladha".
Deepavali is being celebrated by Hindus. Diwali (or Deepavali) is a major Hindu holiday, and a significant festival in Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism.[3] Adherents of these faiths celebrate Diwali as the Festival of Lights. They light diyas—cotton-like string wicks inserted in small clay pots filled with coconut oil—to signify victory of good over the evil within an individual.
In my opinion, Racial Harmony Day is being created to serve the purpose of strenghtening stronger bonds between the various blogs in Singapore.
That's all!
Source-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year
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