New Year Party
On New Year’s Eve, our class had a party. The atmosphere was good. It was out of the ordinary from the very begining. The boy student from one bedroom gave an unusual performance. We saw a boy named Li Xinmin turn off all the lights in a sudden snap. Then with three resounding crow of a cock echoing in the hall, the hall was again brightly lit in a snap.
Then, the representative of the bedroom Zhu Guozhang asked us to guess a line of a poem related to the above situation. He added that Li Xinmin alone was born in the year of the dog and the other three were all born in the year of the chicken. They left us all in confusion. And it was our monitor who was quickwitted. He shouted our, "The day breaks as the cock crows three times at dawn." The hall After that, they had another item. This time Li Xinmin was placed in the middle of the circle. While he was standing there, the other three stood around him, each bowing down to him at an angle of 120 degrees. It was an idiom. This time I got it right:"The dog stands out among a group of chickens."
Then we all sang and played games until it was eleven o’clock at night. The old man on night watch came to turn off the lights. We had to tear ourselves away from the party.
From this activity, I discovered that many of our classmates are really talented singers.
New Year's Day is one of important days for many people in the word during the year.Most people spend the New Year'sDay in hotels.January 1st is considered as the New Year's Day.most companies,shops,school,and government offices are closed during that time.People prepare for New Year's Dayfrom late December.Firt,people spend a few days to clean their houses completely.Some families then put up some new painting from November to be sent in January.The New Year's meal is also prepared from the end of December.During the New Year's Day,people usually do not cook and relax at home. On New Year's Eve,it is common to have a bag dinner with family members or friends at home or in hotels and hear bells which informs us of the coming New Year.On New Year's Day,people fiest greet each other. Some people wear new coats and visit temples to pray for happiness and health theoughout the New Year.Children are busy with getting the gifts from their parents and relatives.
yuandan is the first day of the lunar calendar. it is the day when the earth has circled the sun for one round and is beginning another circling. it represents a new beginning when people send off the old days and welcome the new ones. as the first day of the year, yuandan has been considered to be the most important festival since the ancient times.
custom
1. kaisui(beginning of the year): according to the chinese traditional custom, starting from haishi(9p.m. to 11p.m.)of the last evening of the twelfth lunar month, each family must prepare offering s to deities at the altar. at the same time, they too prepare food for the new year day: the whole family will then stay awake together to attend to the year(called shou sui). after haishi, zishi(11p.m. to 1a.m.)will come, and this is the arrival of new year(yuandan). at this moment, people begin the celebration with fireworks. vegetarian and sweet foods will then be placed are the altar for offerings, and incense be burned to welcome the deities. in the ancient times, it was believed that haishi connected the two years and thus was called kaisui.
at the same night, some families will follow the instruction in tongshu and place preparing altar in the direction of the "fortune deity" during the "fortune time" to receive the deity. if the direction of the "fortune deity" is at the "ill position", people will choose to receive "happy deity" or "noble deity" instead.
2. there is an apparent difference in the custom of food taking on yuandan between the chinese in the northern and southern regions. the northern chinese has the habit of taking jiao zi(dumpling made of flour with vegetable and meat wrapped inside). some people may put a sweet or a coin inside jiao zi, hoping to have a sweet year after tasting the sweet and a wealthy year after tasting the coin. on the other hand, the southern chinese have the taboo for killing on yuandan. therefore, they do not take meat in tee morning of yuandan, so as to avoid bloodshed or mutual slaughter. in order to evade misfortune, they have the first meal of this day without meat. instead, they take vegetarian food for the sake of virtue.
3. what is special during the new year is that parents or elders will distribute red packets(ang pao or ya sui qian)to the children. people in the ancient times were more particular in giving away the red packets: the distribution took place on the eve of new year so that the kids could suppress the past year and enter the new year. ya sui has the meaning of overcoming the unpredictable future. representing the wishes for the healthy psychological growth of the children, ya sui qian symbolises the elders' hope to see their children overcome all the unpredictable elements brought by the "year".
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome. With most countries using the Gregorian calendar as their main calendar, New Year's Day is the closest thing to being the world's only truly global public holiday, often celebrated with fireworks at the stroke of midnight as the new year starts. January 1 on the Julian calendar currently corresponds to January 14 on the Gregorian calendar, and it is on that date that followers of some of the Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate the New Year. New Year's Day is a postal holiday in the United States.