Differences between my chinese new year and jess christmas...

My Chinese New Year is a big differences from Jess Christmas.I ate steamboat on Chinese New Year,but Jess family do not eat steamboat during Christmas. I received lots of Hong Bao ,but during Jess's christmas,he only received a box of water color from leslie and a dollar from his parents.
In Christmas,there is a believe that christmas would come in the midnight to give away presents ,but in Chinese we do not have such a believe and just gets Hong Bao.Also during chinese new year ,only married couples give out Hong Bao but during Christmas, people from all ages can exchange presents. Jess parents actually went for shopping just before Christmas,but during chinnese new year the adults would usually cahnge into some new notes and put it in a red packet.These are mostly the reasons about how i celebrate Chinese New Year and how Jess' family celebrate Christmas.

Interesting facts of Chinese New Year by Kangwei & junyi

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later and the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. - celebrate the onset of the New Year by eating the communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.

The first day of the Lunar New Year is "the welcoming of the gods of the heavens and earth."Many people abstain from meat on the first day of the new year because it is believed that this will ensure long and happy lives for them.
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.

The third and fourth days are for the sons-in-laws to pay respect to their parents-in-law.
The fifth day is called Po Woo. On that day people stay home to welcome the God of Wealth. No one visits families and friends on the fifth day because it will bring both parties bad luck.

On the sixth to the 10th day, the Chinese visit their relatives and friends freely. They also visit the temples to pray for good fortune and health.


The seventh day of the New Year is the day for farmers to display their produce. These farmers make a drink from seven types of vegetables to celebrate the occasion. The seventh day is also considered the birthday of human beings. Noodles are eaten to promote longevity and raw fish for success.

On the eighth day, the people have another family reunion dinner, and at midnight they pray to Tian Gong, the God of Heaven.

The ninth day is to make offerings to the Jade Emperor.
The 10th through the 12th are days that friends and relatives should be invited for dinner. After so much rich food, on the 13th day you should have simple rice congee and mustard greens (choi sum) to cleanse the system.

The 14th day should be for preparations to celebrate the Lantern Festival which is to be held on the 15th night.

Facts and opinions about hari raya

Do you know what is hari raya and how and why it is celebrated?

Well lets start off with the meaning of Hari Raya. Hari Raya means day of celebration. The malay term for this muslim festival is called Eid ul-Fitr. The main greeting used by Muslims in Malaysia and Singapore is "Selamat Hari Raya" which means "Happy Eid" in Malay. Another greeting is "maaf zahir dan batin" which translates loosely to "I seek forgiveness (from you) physically and spiritually", for Hari Raya is a time to reconcile and renew relationships with others.

On the eve of Hari Raya, Muslims will recite the takbir, which is held in mosques and surau (smaller place of worship). In some communities, there will be congregations reciting the takbir from house to house.In big cities and towns, shopping malls and commercial centres will hold big promotions and price discounts for festive shoppers as people purchase clothes and supplies. Decorations are hung in public areas and Hari Raya songs will be played in shopping complexes. The media, such as the television will host various programs in conjunction with the celebrations.

Many people also traditionally return to their hometown generally from big metropolitan cities to rural areas. This is known as balik kampung — literally going back to one's home town to celebrate Hari Raya with family and friends. At many times, the flux of vehicles on the roads nationwide increased the number of car accidents, including deadly ones, occurring during the festive season. Road safety campaigns are often launched by the authorities ahead of the festivities in the effort of lowering the discomforting number of accidents.

Days before Hari Raya, house compounds, particularly those in the countryside will be lit up with oil lamps known as pelita or panjut. This display of oil lamps will reach its height on the 27th night of Ramadan, called the Tujuh Likur night. 'Likur' literally meaning a figure between 20 and 30, hence 'tujuh likur' means twenty seven. Originally during the early days of the arrival of Islam among the Malays, the purpose of lighting the oil lamps was to attract spirits and angels to descend to people's homes during the night of Lailatulqadar. However after ages has passed, such misconception is regarded counterfactual as much understanding of Islam were obtained. Nowadays the oil lamps are lit solely for decorational purposes.

On the morning of Hari raya, Muslims will attend Eid prayer and consecrate together harmoniously while taking the chance to meet and greet each other. Once the prayer is done, it is also common for Muslims in Malaysia to visit the grave of their loved ones. During this visit, they will clean the grave, perform the recital of the Yasin — a chapter (surah) from the Qur'an and also the tahlil or prayers for the deceased. All these are done in hope that their loved ones are blessed by God and they are spared from the punishment in the grave.
The rest of the day is spent visiting relatives or serving visitors. Hari Raya is a very joyous day for children for this is the day where adults are extra generous. Children will be given token sums of money, also known as duit raya from their parents and elders.

During the night, there are often celebrations with sparklers and firecrackers, albeit restrictions on playing firecrackers enforced by the authorities. Most firecracker stocks are purchased and smuggled illegally from black markets. Safety issues, especially among children are raised and alarming cases relating to injuries caused by playing firecrackers are often reported, which initially led to the banning of playing firecrackers. Despite of the enforcement of banning firecrackers, more Malay children turn to home-made firecrackers such as meriam buluh (bamboo cannon) as alternatives to commercial fireworks. Usually the lighting of firecrackers begins a few days before the end of Ramadan, and continues for about a week afterwards.

As a muslim, i enjoy Hari raya because i will be able to receive a lot of money and i will also be able to get rid of any sins i have done by asking for forgiveness from my elders. i also enjpy hari raya because i am able to eat cakes, sweets, biscuits and various delicacies like ketupat or rice cake and a meat cuisine called rendang are among. Some of these delicacies can only be found during Hari Raya so i really enjoy eating during Hari Raya.

Comapre and contrast by Kang Wei

Jess’s Christmas

1) Jess’s parents went to Millsburg Plaza for their last-minute shopping.
2) Jess’s parents gave a dollar to each member of the family.
3) Jess’s parents bought a racing-car set for Jess, bobby socks for Brenda and a pair of panty hose for Ellie.
4) Jess’s good friend, Leslie bought a box of watercolours for him as Christmas present while he gave Leslie a puppy which did not cost any amount.
5) Jess’s younger siblings believe in Santa Claus coming to their house and give them presents.

My Christmas

1) My parents do not do their shopping at the last-minute and instead they did their shopping a few days before Christmas.
2) Unlike Jess’s parents, my parents do not give me money for Christmas.
3) My parents let my brother and I chose the Christmas presents we wanted.
4) Like Jess, I also have good friends who traded Christmas presents with me too. I do not usually expect the presents to be really great.
5) I do not believe that there is Santa Claus and I know that Santa Claus is just a fairytale.

Difference & similarity on how i celebrate chinese new year & jess's celebration of christmas by junyi

I am sure everyone who read this blog want to know more about festival so let me tell you the difference of chinese new year and christmas first...

Normally , Chinese new year last for 15 days but as for Christmas it it last for 12 days . secondly , during Chinese New Year, couple like my parent will give other children red packet and the people who just found their work, will give their red packet to the elderly like my grandmother ONLY . As for Christmas, Christian usually do some exchanging of present with each other like what jess in (Bridge to Terabithia)did by giving a cute dog to leslie while leslie gave him a box of colour pencils. Thirdly, White mean the color of joy, holiness, and light, is the proper liturgical color for the Christmas season. But for CNY , people usually wear red as it mean auspicious and will bring good luck to other .Finally During Chinese New year , we would have lion dancer to get rid of the bad luck but Jess and leslie did not do that and we will eat (wanlu)steamboat as It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations. But jess and his family did not eat steamboat ... =X.

So these are some of the differences I and Jess have when we celebrate our festive seasons.

Comparisons between me and Jess by Shahrazaf Khan

Comparisons between Jess and Me

Firstly during hari raya, I would receive packets of money but during Christmas, jess received presents. Also during hari raya only the married, like my parents, will be giving out money while the non-married, like me, will receive the money but during Christmas presents can be given from the old to the young and also from the young to the old, like what Leslie and jess did to each other. During hari raya I would also kneel down in front our parents and elders and ask for forgiveness for all my mistakes that I have done throughout the whole year but jess just thanked his parents for giving him those presents. Little kids like jess’s younger sisters believe in Santa Claus and think they receive presents from him but little Muslim kids know that they receive their money only from married people. During christmas the whole house will be decorated just like hari raya but during christmas people have a christmas tree in their house. So these are some of the differences i and jess have when we celebrate our different festive seasons.

Happy Chinese New Year !!! by JunYi

I'm sure every chinese celebrate chinese new year anually. This is a occasion celebrate in many diiferent way . Let me share with you how i celebrate this occasion.... =X

On the eve of Chinese New Year, i went to the school to celebrate the joyous event . After that , i went home to take a nap . Time sure fly fast when you were sleeping, when i woke up it already 11.30 pm and i were left with half an hour to tidy up then at 11.59pm i and my family count down . At 12 pm sharp ,we went to the corridor to light the electronic firecrackers then we went to eat our reunion dinner =D. It was delicious. soon , my mother placed the "suan"on the cardboard. we stayed up till 4am then we went to sleep as its a traditional that the later we sleep, the longer our parent can live.

The next morning, we woke up at about 9am and i saw my parent were putting money into the red packet (hong bao) and they called me go And take a bathe as we were going out soon. After bathing , we dressed up in our new outfit and they gave my sister , brother and I $28 dollar each . After that at about 10 am i went to my paternal's grandmother house at kallang to collect red packets and chit-chat with my cousin. Then i go to my maternal's mother side at about 1pm it is also located at kallang and we ate alot of tibit and BBQ pork (rou gan).A few hours later we went to my elder sister 's babysitter who babysit her 10 year ago .we had fun playing with her daughter 's son who came from New Zealand and we ate the steamboat cooked by her it was so delicious. After that we went home happily and counted the money in the car and i had about $200 and this is how i spent my Chinese New Year

On the 2nd lunar day , i went to my parent's shop to see the lion dance (chye qing) which mean to bring in good luck then i went to my friend house at 1pm and had alot of fun play uno and "Truth and dare". About 3.30 pm my parent and sister came to fetch me and we went to my uncle 's house to eat and have fun by gambling money ^v^and i lost about 20 dollars but on the 3rd lunar day , there is no activities so i stayed at home to finished those homework that need to be done.

On the 4th lunar day, during the night ,we went to a restuarant near bedokto eat reunion dinner and i sit with my grandmother as you know sometime old people are quite troublesome and complain alot of your behaviour so my cousin and i do not dare to eat alot of food to prevent getting nagged T_T. when i eat the (yu sheng )i knew it was different from the one i ate previous year so i asked the waiter , he told me it a teochew style.after that i felt very dissapointed as the fun is going to end due to school opening the next day.

On the 8th lunar day, which is on friday, my family and I went to jalan bersak to eat dinner with my aunt and cousins and we ate delicacies from (pu tian)found in China. It was delicious.