By Susan Duan

Every one of you out there reading this newsletter probably thinks that you know all there is to know about Chinese holidays, but have you ever realized how we celebrate them so differently here in America?

Take for example, the most famous one of all…Chinese New Year, of course. Chinese New Year also called the Spring Festival, is the 1^st of the year on the lunar calendar, which means that it falls around the end of January-beginning of February on our calendar. What do you do to celebrate? I can tell you what my family does, we have a get-together with friends and eat traditional home-made dumplings. Well, back in China it’s a totally different ball game. They get time off from work and school to celebrate the arrival of the new year (kind of like our winter break, but it’s mostly for Christmas, not New Years). Before the New Year arrives, houses have to be cleaned and supplies bought in preparation for the big feast. Red scrolls are hung on the main door for good luck, because the Chinese believe that red is the luckiest color. They have good wishes on them welcoming the new year. Children go around and wish their elders a happy new year, receiving little red pouches filled with money in return (like the ones Chinese School gives us every year). Everyone gets new clothes, and on New Year’s Eve there is a family feast complete with dumplings, fish, and other yummy dishes. Also, at 12:00 am on New Year’s Day, there are fireworks to start the year off with a bang. If you think that’s the end of the celebration, well you’re wrong. On the 15^th, everyone goes out at night to see the lanterns hung up all over houses for the Lantern Festival (it’s like Christmas lights, only for New Years). They also eat special sweet dumplings while viewing the moon.The 15^th marks the first full moon of the new year, and the end of the spring festival.

There are many other Chinese holidays that you might celebrate, at least to some extent, here in America. April 5^th is the Tomb Sweeping Day where in China, people visit, clean, and bring gifts to their ancestors graves, remembering them. This one is kind of hard to accomplish here in America, but you could think of your relatives an ocean away, or give them a call. May 5^th, according to the lunar calendar, is DuanWuJie, or the Dragon Boat Festival, commemorating the great patriotic poet, QuYuan, who died on that day. People eat zhong zi, a special kind of sticky rice that is wrapped in leaves, and race dragon boats, row boats whose heads have been carved out to look like a dragon’s. In my family, we usually eat zhong zi to celebrate, but it’s from a grocery store in Chinatown. Finally, we get to the Moon Festival, aka the Mid-Autumn Festival that takes place every year on the lunar calendar’s August 15^th. This is one of my favorite holidays because you get to eat moon cakes! Usually, in China, families get together for this holiday and tell stories while eating mooncakes and fruit, and enjoying the full moon. Those are all the main holidays in China that you all probably know something about.

So, I’ve covered all the Chinese holidays that we celebrate over here, but what about American ones? Have you noticed that all of us Chinese-Americans celebrate both sets of holidays? I mean who hasn’t exchanged Christmas gifts, sent Valentine cards, gone Easter egg hunting, watched fireworks on July 4^th, or eaten Thanksgiving turkey? All of you probably have, am I right? That’s what being a Chinese-American’s all about, learning and understanding both cultures, and integrating both into your life. That is the Chinese-American way.