We celebrated Chinese New Year in our assembly on Tuesday morning. Matthew and Ming-Yi from Year 3 marked the special occasion by telling us how they celebrate at home and in China.
Ming Yi
Before the festival houses are cleaned, lucky red decorations are hung over doors and around rooms, and new clothes are bought.
Matthew
It's a time when Chinese people visit their temples and they especially remember their ancestors.
Ming Yi
We celebrate by eating special food. We enjoy having dumplings and noodles as well as spicy fish, beef and tofu. Dumplings are a favourite new year food and have different fillings, each of which have a different meaning: for example, dumplings filled with sugar will bring a sweet life. Sometimes there's money inside the dumplings.
Matthew
Everyone wishes everyone else 'Happy New Year'. It's a time to be thankful for the last year, to look forward to what may happen this year and to hope that it will be a good one.
Ming Yi
People gather in family groups and visit friends. It's a time of great fun with the giving of gifts, flowers, sweets and lucky money, as well as feasting, dragon dances and fireworks.
Matthew
People get together in teams for dances. One of the most well-known is the dragon dance, where one person wears a dragon mask, and the people following on behind, under a long piece of cloth, are the dragon's tail. There can be twenty or thirty people inside the tail. Dragons were thought to be friendly and helpful and that's why people dress up as dragons today.
Ming Yi
Chinese New Year can be a noisy time because people light firecrackers. A long time ago this was thought to chase away ghosts and monsters.
Matthew
Everyone decorates their houses with special bunting and lanterns and puts new year messages around the doors. When it is dark we take the lanterns out and go for a midnight walk.
Ming Yi
For me I look forward to working hard in class and doing well in my tests.
for my family I wish for peace and happiness.
For the world I want to help protect people from illness and for COVID to finish.
Matthew
For me I want to enjoy my sport and hope to make the Under 10 hockey team.
For my family I wish for a happy time and good luck for everyone.
For the world I want to stop global warming and to help protect animals in the Antarctic like the emperor penguin.