Chinese Holidays

                                                                                     Chinese Holidays
                                                                                      ~Blog post #1~
                                                                                      April 13, 2015
                                                                                   By: Michael Huiras
            Chinese people celebrate many different holidays. From an American’s perspective, the Chinese holidays might seem weird or strange. However, I always believed that the Chinese holidays were extravagant. They are extremely festive due to the dancing, fireworks, parades, etc. Almost every person in China participates in the holidays, making it a bigger celebration.

            My favorite Chinese holiday is the Lantern Festival, which celebrated the first full moon of the lunar year. During the Lantern Festival, people go out at night and release the floating lanterns into the sky. There is a lantern parade and a lion dance to celebrate the joy of this holiday. Growing up my family and I would always participate this holiday. We loved the lantern idea and still do to this day.

            One Chinese holiday that I didn’t know about is the Duanwu Festival, which is celebrated on the 5^th day of the 5^th month. The Duanwu Festival is a festival that occurs every year and it contains many events and traditions. The main event for the holiday is the dragon boat race. Many people gather around to watch it. It provides a tremendous amount of excitement for the viewers. Also, the Chinese people usually eat dumplings wrapped in Zongzi, which is lotus leaves. These dumplings are very popular on this day because it has been a tradition for many years. The Chinese people also drink yellow rice wine on this day. Drinking the wine is another tradition to help boost the spirits at the event.