Festivals By Jordan Ament & Maddie Margiotta

Festivals of China There are many Chinese festivals. We chose 2 for you to learn about. The Harvest Moon Festival, and Chinese New Year! People at the Harvest Moon Festival burn moon papers that have rabbits and toads on them. According to Chinese mythology, a rabbit and a 3- legged toad live on the Moon. They are the moon’s companions. The Harvest Moon Festival is held in China, on the 15 th day of the 8 th lunar month. The year 2012 is the 4,709 th Chinese New Year. You have to make sure your house is 100% tidy for the dragon on Chinese New Year. Now let us take you on an adventure of festivals!

Chinese New Year Cleaning, Cleaning, and More Cleaning Chinese New Year is all about the cleaning. You have to get to get new furniture, you have to dust the house, and clean yourself even! For an example, you have to get a Chinese New Year haircut! Chinese people do all that cleaning just for the dragon!

The Luck and the Bad Luck of Chinese New Year If you want to be lucky, go to China! But watch out, bad luck might be coming your way! Chinese people say that on Chinese New Year, if you wash your hair, you wash all the luck out of your hair. Don’t cry on Chinese New Year either, or you will cry for the rest of the year! OK, you learned about the bad luck. Now let’s hear some things about the good luck! Put on some red and yellow. Those are the lucky colors! Have you ever realized the dragons are red and yellow in the Chinese New Year festival? That’s because those are the lucky colors! Children get lucky money from their families in little red envelopes too!

The Dragon The dragon is the best part of Chinese New Year. Chinese people use dragons for a good fortune. The dragon has strength, loyalty, and wisdom! About 65 people dance in the dragon costume on Chinese New Year. That’s a lot, right?

Harvest Moon Festival The Harvest Moon Festival has 3 very important parts. They all go together and create sort of a moon. Moon everything! Do you care? Well, if so, read to find out how it sort of creates a moon. Full moons are a very important part of the Harvest Moon Festival. On the evening of this great festival, people climb up mountains and hills to see the full moon clearly. They carry fish and bird- shaped paper lanterns. They then thank the full moon for the harvest they’re having. Some people burn moon papers that have pictures rabbits and toads on them. According to Chinese mythology, a rabbit and a 3- legged toad live on the moon. They are the moon’s companions.

The 2 nd important thing is moon cakes, and now you will learn about them. First, they have almond paste, red bean paste, or egg. According to my classmate, the red bean paste cake is best, because it is sweet. As for the egg, she is not such a fan. She likes the batter! She has never tried the almond paste, but she thinks it will taste like almonds! (I agree!) Moon cakes are baked in molds (shapes to put the moon cakes in, so when they are done, they are in the shape of the mold that they were put in), and an egg yolk glaze gives them a shiny look. Most of the time, moon cakes have flower and leaf designs on them. Moon cakes are always stacked 13 high, one cake for every month of the Chinese calendar.

The last important part is the moon cake legend. Listen closely, because you are about to hear the legend of how the moon cakes saved China. A long time ago, people from foreign countries ruled China. The Chinese wanted these people to leave their country: China. At the Harvest Moon Festival, they hid messages inside the moon cakes and passed them around to let everyone know a secret plan to gain back the control of China. At the arranged time, they gathered together and succeeded in overthrowing their cruel rulers. Because when it comes to working together, the Chinese always succeed. They are like a family.