Dear Mu Mu, Tell Me About Chinese Festivals

Dear Mu Mu, Tell Me About Chinese Festivals Written and illustrated by Ms. Cicely’s 3rd grade art class

Dear Mu Mu, tell me about your holidays in China. My favorite holiday that we celebrate in the United States is Christmas.

Dear Ruby, We have several holidays that we celebrate in China, but instead of holidays we call them festivals. My favorite festival is Chinese New Year, but we call it Spring Festival. Something that we do on Chinese New Year is eat foods that we consider lucky. The lucky foods are noodles, egg rolls, and shrimp. Noodles symbolize long life, egg rolls symbolize wealth or bars of gold, and shrimp symbolizes happiness because they look like a smile.

Dear Mu Mu, on Christmas we eat milk and cookies, cakes, meats, potatoes, and other foods. We might make a gingerbread house out of gingerbread and candy.

They smell nice!

Dear Ruby, on Chinese New Year we have parades with dragon puppets, fireworks, and lots of bright decorations. It is very bright and colorful.

Dear Mu Mu, on Christmas we decorate with bright Christmas lights and Christmas trees. We have a parade too. It is a Christmas parade and it goes right through our downtown.

Dear Ruby, Chinese New Year ends on the 15th day with the Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival is where we release lanterns. This symbolizes letting go of the past.

It is very beautiful.

Dear Mu Mu, our Christmas celebration ends on New Year’s. On New Year’s Eve at midnight it becomes the new year. Some people stay up to ring in the new year by watching the ball drop in New York City and celebrating. Sometimes we watch fireworks too!

Dear Ruby, another festival we celebrate in China is the Dragon Boat Festival. At the Dragon Boat Festival, people race in boats that look like dragons. The races are fun to watch!

During the Dragon Boat Festival, we eat a special snack called Zongzi. Zongzi is a Chinese rice ball snack wrapped up in bamboo leaves. It can taste sweet!

Dear Mu Mu, another holiday we might celebrate is Easter. On Easter, small kids believe an Easter bunny delivers us a basket filled with toys and candy. We also hide colorful eggs called Easter eggs. We go and find them. We might eat a chocolate bunny or jelly beans for a snack.

Dear Ruby, another festival we celebrate in China is the Mid-Autumn Festival. On the Mid-Autumn Festival we gather with family and watch the full moon. We eat a special food called moon cakes. Moon cakes might have a sweet filling or a meat filling.

Dear Mu Mu, in the fall of the year we have Thanksgiving. We gather together with family and we eat a Thanksgiving meal. We might eat turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli, and corn. For dessert we might have pumpkin pie. It is yummy!

Thank you for telling me about your festivals in China! They sound awesome!

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