Pages

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

“Chinese New Years” by Michelle L.



Ever since I was little, I would always look forward to this one holiday known as Chinese New Years. It is a day where children and unmarried adults receive red envelopes from their elderly, containing varying amounts of money.  So to those who have an extremely large family branch, consider yourself lucky. However, it is not a simple holiday to celebrate. Since Chinese New Year is coming up on January 28th this year, our family follows a tradition that we do every year.  Before Chinese New Years, my family cleans up the whole house. They believe that this allows our household to be cleansed of bad spirits that were lingering around throughout the year.  Then on the day of Chinese New Year, our family prepares to go to visit our grandparents and we would then go to a temple together.
            I remember when I was little my mom would always dress me up. She would brush and braid my hair and put me in a red and golden chinese dress.  I would always dread wearing that dress, but I was happy to know that if I wore that dress my mom be happy as well. As we drove towards my grandparent's house, I tried my best not to fight with my siblings but it was difficult trying to keep our hands to ourselves.
When we arrived, my siblings and I would immediately run to the door because we were eager to get our red envelopes. However, before receiving our envelopes we'd have to congratulate our relatives on their successes and give them a few wishes. So as they sat on the living room couch, my siblings and I approached the front of the living room to give them their wishes. At this moment, my hands were shaking, sweating, and my eyes were shifting left to right. I couldn't find the words to speak. My mouth opened, but no words came out, but I noticed my sibling we're nervous as well. As I took a glance my grandparents, my aunts, and my uncles were staring at us with big smiles on their faces. Not wanting to disappoint them, I took in a deep breath and bowed. Following right after, my siblings did the same. We chanted in unison,"Gung hay fat choy! " Along with many other wishes saying how we wished for them to live a strong and healthy life and for many great fortunes to come their way. As they applauded our efforts, they handed us our envelopes.  My siblings and I were extremely ecstatic to receive them. We bowed and said thank you. Running into a room, I slowly opened the envelopes, I peeked inside and noticed I had about $10 to $20 in each envelope.  Afterwards, everyone brought out delicious food that varied in steaming hot noodles and dumplings. Everyone was having a fun time, trying to see what they have been up to.  A few hours have passed and my family decided that it was time to visit the temple.
We rode in the car, driving to a Temple that was placed on a small mountain. I can't recall its name, but I remember hundreds of stairs that led to this glamorous, golden statue of the Buddha with many other gods besides it. The Buddha statues reflected in the sunset beautifully, mixing with the hues of red, orange, and yellow.  Our parents handed us a chinese incense stick, telling my siblings and I to pray for prosperity and success, happiness and health, protection and peace, and for any of our desired wishes to come true. As I did so, I also apologized for all the sins I have done.  And so, as I recall this time, I feel happy and thankful to know that I have a roof over my head and a family who loves me and expects a lot from me.

29 comments:

  1. I love your piece Michelle. I know when the holidays come around we are always reminded of what we are thankful for because that is the same thing that happens to me during Christmas. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I thought this piece was truly illuminating. I only know of the tradition from stereotype and non educational movies, and to hear of a true experience showed me so much, especially from how you saw it as a child. This piece was nice too just because it reminds of any holiday spent with your family, just in a different manner.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This piece was so sweet and informative about Chinese New Year. I love how you described all of your traditions and talked about what you like about the holiday. I liked that your focus in this piece changed, at first you talked about being excited about the red envelopes and you then stated how the holiday made you realize everything that you are grateful for. Amazing work!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a wonderful piece! I loved how you introduced this culture to us and how well you recalled it in your childhood memories. Your use of diction gave a complete imagery on how it looks like in your tradition. Also, this piece did an amazing job on being a personal reflection. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for the informative and personal glimpse into celebrating the Chinese New Year. I have always been curious about the day but have yet to explore the culture behind it. Your piece explained how the day impacts you very well and I hope to continue to learn more about it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I also celebrate Chinese New Years, but in Vietnamese it's called Tet. Me and my family celebrate it every year and I really love the tradition. Thanks for sharing your piece, Michelle!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've only ever seen people celebrate Chinese New Years through snapchat, but never really knew was going on so thank you for enlightening me! It's interesting to learn about other people's cultures and understanding the meanings behind the holidays they celebrate. It seems like a day full of fun and love! I appreciate you for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This was a great piece which conveys the beauty of family traditions. They keep large families intact together. Your piece truly captures the stillness of family bonding. Overall, your story conveys the importance of maintaining close relations with your family. - Jerico Dizon

    ReplyDelete
  10. Being Chinese myself and having to go through the celebration, but also trials and tribulations, of Chinese New Years, I find your piece very relatable, Michelle. You created a vivid image of a nostalgic memory that I hold with your descriptive words that refreshed me of my culture. It is also intriguing to see how another family spends their day as compared to mine on Chinese New Years. The tone you set up for your piece is very honored, and in context to be a part of such an important tradition and embracing the aspects of the celebration. I really appreciated this piece for shedding a light to this tradition.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your piece was so insightful and informative, I never realized that there were so many different traditions behind Chinese New Year. I love learning about different cultures and celebrations so your piece was very fun to read. Nice job!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love this piece! From the holiday to the discrete details you use to describe the holiday more, I adore it! Even though I have never celebrated the holiday, I still like the tradition your family and you have. Excellent!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you for sharing this piece and giving us the insight on your culture. It was reading interesting and informative as well as well written. You described your whole day to us and it flowed really well. Also, even though you were talking about the traditions that play throughout this holiday you incorporated how you feel about it and your excitement. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  14. This was a very beautiful and informative narrative. I love the imagery and detail to the traditions and rituals of this holiday. i like how I now know and understand more about the Chinese New Years. The narrative made it very interesting to learn about a different culture from my own. I admire that you value and follow wonderful traditions from your culture.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is pretty informational, I never knew too much about the Chinese new year but I can find some cultural similarities from being Pakistani. Every Eid ( Islamic holiday) we basically do a special prayer at the mosque and when I was younger the adults use to also give use money in envelopes, but sadly I was never allowed to keep it haha. Great job, I feel like I learned something new today!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I always love learning about different cultures from first perspective sources to thank you for educating us on Chinese New Year! I enjoyed your entire piece from beginning to end and appreciate my knew found knowledge of another unique culture. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love how this story shows off the Chinese culture compared to how it is in the United States. New Years is celebrated so differently here so to hear how it is in other cultures is really interesting. Thanks for sharing a part of your culture it's really cool to see how different holidays can vary from culture to culture.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I really liked your story! My family also celebrates Chinese New Years since my grandma is Chinese but in a less formal way. I really enjoyed being able to learn more about the holiday and how it's actually supposed to be held. I'm always really excited to receive the red envelopes and spend time with my family so I understand your excitement about this holiday. Great Job:)

    ReplyDelete
  19. I really liked the detail and how you included moments from your childhood talking about Chinese New Year and family traditions. I never really knew about Chinese New Year, but I feel like after reading your piece I took away some knowledge I hadn't had before. Good job Michelle!

    ReplyDelete
  20. This piece was very informative on the Chinese New Year. I did not understand Chinese New Years, but you cleared it up for me.I am happy that I got to learn more about the Chinese New Year. Thank You!

    ReplyDelete
  21. This writing is very fun to read! The details/information, the organization of the story, and different images you used to describe the traditions and rituals of Chinese New Year helps us readers to keep reading and feels as if like we were there when you celebrated Chinese New Year. It seems that your culture is really fun and we all should preserve and follow our traditions of our culture.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thank you for sharing and showing us into the celebration of Chinese New Year and as well for sharing the traditions that follow. I loved the detail you used and the perspective it was told from as it made it a quite fun and interesting piece to read and learn from. Great Job!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thank you for writing about Chinese New Year! i have always been interested in the holiday but never truly understood what went on. I really like how you wrote about the holiday from your point of view as a child. It reminds me of being a kid and excited for christmas and knowing you have to be on your best manners because you'll be around family but being tempted to fight with your siblings because they are annoying for no other reason than the fact that they are your siblings. I would have never thought you would have to clean your house to rid it of spirits. Thank you so much for writing about this it was fun to read about and i really appreciated it.

    ReplyDelete
  24. I loved this piece! You shared an experience that not everyone has had the chance to do. I,personally, have never experienced chinese new year, but your piece makes me wish i had the chance to do so. It was informative and also contained parts of you in the piece. Great job!

    -Kynoa V

    ReplyDelete
  25. Great job Michelle! I loved your piece it reminded me of holidays that I celebrate with my family. It was great to understand more about Chinese new year.Your use of detail made a very clear picture in my head of what this holiday is about.

    ReplyDelete
  26. This piece was very entertaining by educating thee reader about a holiday that isn't so commonly explained nor talked about. By using your point of view, you did well in recreating the tone of merriment and excitement that one would feel as a child experiencing all the festivities. Overall a great job!

    ReplyDelete
  27. I couldn't pass up reading a piece that explains their culture. I find it so important and beautiful learning about the ways of life from other people, and I'm sure many can agree. The way you told how your family specifically celebrates this holiday was really amazing and the imagery and diction used in this piece made me feel as though I was right there in the living room. I could almost smell the Chinese incense sticks, too! Awesome job girl!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I love this piece because I envy those who talk about their culture and are very proud of it because that shows a sign of great respect

    ReplyDelete
  29. I enjoyed this piece so much due to the emotion you expressed when it came to this family tradition and the members that made its special. I find myself wishing that I to had a tradition that would come around every year and connect my family in a way not much else could. The use of details were great and vividly painted a picture of what 'Chinese New Year' entailed. Overall, I really loved this piece and its intention for those reading.

    ReplyDelete

Remember, make your comment positive, supportive, and specific to the piece you're commenting on. No anonymous comments! :)