Thursday, February 28, 2008
My experience with Jess
Written by:Lee Yeong Chan including the korean festival too. Forgot to put my name.
My experience with Jess
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Experiences with Jess
When Hari Raya is coming, my family usually celebrates it vibrantly unlike Jess' family which celebrates Christmas by quarelling about presents. It is tradition for my family to accept our gifts with a smile but Jess' sister complains about having something not of the same value. Hari Raya is usually celebrated with friends and family coming to visit but for Jess, they celebrate it without inviting anyone.
For his family, his whole family scrimped and saved to buy presents for one another but for me, only uncles or aunties who are married are made to give us money as they have a stable income.
There were no sayings of Jess decorating his house but for my family, we will stay up late on the eve of Hari Raya just to make sure everything is ready for the big event. We will decorate our houses with beautiful lights and lots of delicacies to eat!
Jess' family do not have any type of feast but we do! It is always made by my grandmother who cooks from the recipes passed down form my great-grandparents.It is usually made for guests who arrive at our houses. The food is also to say thank-you for coming to our house. It is kind of like a reunion dinner like Chinese New Year.
Done by,
Nur Khaliesah
Research on two festivals which me and my team mates have celebrated
Another thing that is interesting about Christmas and Chinese new year is that during Christmas,people would normally exchange presents with each other to celebrate Christmas and during Chinese new year,we would receive red packets instead of presents from the elders.
During Christmas and Chinese new year,it is also a time for Chinese and Christian to gather together and celebrate the festival together like a big family and we will play together and chat with each other during Christmas or Chinese new year.
Nevertheless,the Christian and the Chinese would gather around and wait when it is near to the time for the countdown.When the countdown is over,we would say auspicious words to each other and wish each other good luck and the atmosphere would be very high as it means a new year has come which means we should put all the sad things that happened in the previous year behind us and start off with a fresh new year.
I think that Christmas and Chinese new year is about the same as it both means that a new year is coming and we will all have a new hope for the new year and put all the unpleasant things that happened behind us.The differences between the two festivals is probably the culture,the way they think and the way they celebrated it,these and probably the things that make the two festivals look differently.
Done by,
Gan Ding Zhan,Lee Yeong Chan,Chris Ng,Nur Khaliesah and Ng Hui Mei
How does Korean celebrate their Chinese New Year
When I celebrated Sul Nal, our relatives gathered to our house as my dad is the eldest son. Before it is Sul Nal, they would come to our house one day earlier and spent their night on our house.
The next day, we wear our special korean costume which is called 'Han Bok'(한복). Then every children will bow to the adults and adults will give us the money.So in my family there were my dad's mom, dad, mom, my dad's brother and thier wifes. Every children will collect money from them. After that, adults will say something good thing to us for instance, this year study hard or be healthy.
When everthing is finished, we played this game called 'Yoot Nol Yi'(윷놀이).Yoot No Yi is a traditional board game which our ancestors use to play during Sul Nal. This game is very easy to play. First we divide our teams. Then you just have to throw the dice which looks like a wooden stick. It has two side, one side is flat the other side has a bump. So number of space u move will be determined on which side will the dice fall. In this game there is four chess in each team which have to go around all the steps. When you move your chess, you can stack up your chess together and go around all the steps which is faster but dangerous because once your opponent are same step as uyou your chess have to start from the beggining. Also you can move your chess seperatly.However it will take a long time for your four chess to reach the final but safer. Sometimes we bet on our moneys too to make the game more interesting and making everybody to focus into the game. With greater money on betting , we have more pressure when we throw the dice.
After playing Yoot Nol Yi, my mom and my aunts will start to cook on their food. There is this traditional food called 'Dduk Ggook.' (떡꾹) This is a soup made out of a rice cake. We believed that once we eat the rice cake, we would get one year older so it is tradition to eat. Usually my mom and my aunts refuses to eat the Dduk Ggook as women dislikes getting older.
Finally when we finish our food, we would usually play games,chat,and watch tv.I guess this is how I celebrated my Sul Nal and most of the koreans too!
My experiences with what Jess experienced with his family during Christmas!
During Christmas,Jess would normally exchange present with his friends but in Chinese new year,we do not exchange presents instead we receive red packets from the elderly.
During Christmas,Jess normally will receive presents from their parents during Christmas but we received red packets for Chinese new year.
During Christmas,Jess's family do not clean their houses to celebrate Christmas unlike we who do spring cleaning before the Chinese new year.
During Christmas,Jess and his family should be happy and preparing to celebrate Christmas by decorating the house but Jess and his family did not do this,we would decorate the house with plants decorations and in a happy mood to celebrate Chinese new year.
During Christmas,Jess's family did not spent a lot of money on buying present or shopping unlike we who spent a lot of money buying new clothes and shoes for Chinese new year.
During Christmas,Jess's family did not invite anyone to visit them or visiting their relatives but we do invite people to our house for gathering or pay visit to our good friends or relatives.
During Christmas,Jess's family did not have a reunion dinner together or having a meal together,we would normally have a reunion dinner with our family.
During Christmas,Jess's family is still quarreling with each other but we should not quarrel during Chinese new year because it will bring bad luck to everyone.
Done by,
Gan Ding Zhan
A festival celebrated with my family!
Done by,
Gan Ding Zhan
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
A memorable Christmas of mine !
Done by :
Ng Hui Mei (Lisa)
Monday, February 25, 2008
FESTIVALS!!!
a)This picture shows my family celebrating HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI!! It shows the ending of our fasting days, so we CELEBRATE!! It is a very happy day as this is where my whole family will get together and visit our relatives' houses. The best part is to get "hong baos" from family elders. =) It's also a family bonding session between us cousins talking about how we coped with everyday living. To me, the rapport between ourselves get closer every year. It also means celebrating any happy event enjoying what you have and to learn to cherish it as it may leave you one day. This will forever be the festival that always comes first in my mind for family togetherness.
Done by,
Nur Khaliesah