Christmas

Christmas is a holiday observed mostly on December 25 to commemorate the birth of Jesus. The date is not known to be the actual birth date of Jesus, and may have been chosen to correspond with either the day exactly nine months after some early Christians believed Jesus had been conceived, the date of the winter solstice on the ancient Roman calendar, or one of various ancient winter festivals. Christmas Day is celebrated as a major festival and public holiday in most countries of the world, even in many whose populations are not majority Christians. Around the world, Christmas celebrations can vary markedly in form, reflecting differing cultural and national traditions. Countries such as Japan and Korea, where Christmas is popular despite there being only a small number of Christians, have adopted many of the secular aspects of Christmas, such as gift-giving, decorations and Christmas trees. For many Christians, participating in a religious service plays an important part in the recogntion of the season.

Deepavali

Deepavali or Dewali (popularly known as the festivals of light) is a 5-day festival from Mid-October to Mid-November (celebrated by the followers of Hinduism, Shikhism and Jainism). The date of Deepavali is judged by the position of the moon. Diwali is part of the word Deepavali which means 'row of lamps'. Deepavali involves lighting of small clay lamps filled with oil to signify good over evil. Before Deepavali, the celebrants decorate their houses with oil lamps. During Deepavali , the celebrants wear new clothes and distribute sweets and snacks to family members and friends.

Hari Raya Puasa

Hari Raya Puasa is a celebration during which the muslims celebrate the end of the fasting month. Before Hari Raya, Muslims will fast (not eating from dusk to dawn each day ) for a month. During the fasting month, Muslims will prepare for Hari Raya by buying new traditional costumes like Baju Kurong, Baju Kebaya etc. They will also prepare or buy traditional cuisine such as briyani, baulu etc. They would clean and decorate their houses so that their houses are welcoming to visitors. Every night, during the fasting month, the males go to the mosque for a special prayer called " Terawih ". On the last day of the fasting month, everyone will be busy applying final touch-ups to their houses. On the morning of Hari Raya, the males go to the mosque for another special Hari Raya Puasa prayer. While the women and girls stay home and prepare food so that when the men come home, they will eat together. Then, the family members will ask for forgiveness from members of the family and make their way to their paternal or maternal grandparent's houses where they would meet their reletives too.the children collect money from thei homes and prepare for the next day of visiting.

Chinese New Year

Please take note : The followings are some photos of the manderin oranges,red packets and some new year greeeting cards !

Chinese New Year is a very special and the longest, most important celebration for the Chinese. It is called Chinese New Year, Lunar Year or Spring Festival. It is mostly called Lunar Year because it is based on the lunarsolar Chinese calender.

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Chinese New Year traditionally begins on the new moon and the first month of the Chinese calender which is called "zheng yue" in Chinese and ends with the full moon on the Lantern Festival on the 15th day. Days before the actual day of Chinese New Year, families will do spring cleaning because they believe a clean house will bring in good luck and bad luck will go away.They do not use brooms and vacuum machines because they believe it will sweep and vacuum away good luck. They will decorate their windows and doors with red color paper-cuts and couplets. The Chinese believes that red is a theme of happiness, wealth and longevity. They do not allow the color black to be worn or used in this period of time because they believe it is inauspicious.

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They also shop for new clothes because they believe that in a new year, they should wear new clothes and make or buy new year goodies. On New Year's Eve, Chinese will gather together and have a reunion dinner, like having steamboats and the chinese will have a dish called "yu sheng". In this dish, there are vegetables and raw fish. While mixing them, the Chinese will say some phrases like " bu bu gao sheng" which means to be in a higher ranking in work/school in the new year. In the past, they will end the reunion night with fire crackers.

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On the day itself,the children will wish the parents a healthy and happy new year. After having a bath, chinese go to their relative's houses to pay them a visit. Married couples will give out red packetscontains $4, $8, $10 or $20. These numbers represents the value of wealth. Children will go to their elders to give them 2 manderin oranges. The chinese believes that giving manderin oranges is auspicious. In Chinese New Year, the most to the children that vital ritual from all the other rituals is the sacrifice to the ancestors, a ritual which unites the living and the ones who passed away.

Introduction

Hi people ! Greetings to everyone ! This blog is set-up by Achievers . Achievers is the name of our group which consists of the group memebers as follows : Liyana , as our group leader
Sabrina , as our secertary
Maeisha , as our researcher and , last but not least , Yutong , as our group's noise-manager !