My family and I celebrate Chinese New Year every year. Chinese New Year falls on the first day of the first month of the Lunar calendar, so the dates change every year. I read the legend that a long time ago, there was a beast called "Nian" or "Year". "Nian" would come on the first day of New Year to eat animals and people. The villagers protected themselves by putting food in front of their doors on the first day of New Year. After the "Nian" ate this food, it did not attack anymore people. The people also lighted fire crackers to scare away the beast. We don't have fire crackers in Singapore anymore because they can start fires easily.
My older brother and I look forward to Chinese New Year every year because we can collect red packets with money in them. These are called "hong bao", which are given by relatives who are older than us and who are married. We also get to eat many goodies like 'love letters', pineapple tarts and other delicious stuff. We also go visiting on the first 2 days of Chinese New Year. My family and I usually visit my grandfather, grand-uncle, grand-aunt and my mummy's teacher from Secondary school. At every place, we get to see different relatives and friends and eat different cookies and food. I especially like to go to my grand-aunt's house because she cooks very well and I like her curry.
The Malays in Singapore celebrate Hari Raya. The month before Hari Raya Puasa, the Muslims would fast for a whole month to prepare for the celebrations. This month is called 'Ramadan'. During the celebrations, they would wear their traditional costumes. They also have many Hari Raya goodies that are only made or sold during this time. I usually see many Muslim people going around Singapore visiting their friends and relatives like we do during Chinese New Year.
The Hindus celebrate Deepavali - also known as Diwali. The word "Deepavali" literally means “row of lighted lamps.” During this festival, lamps are lit as a symbol of hope and celebration for mankind. Popularly known as the “Festival of Lights,” Deepavali signifies the victory of light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance. The main focus of Diwali is to strengthen ourselves personally and with others.
The Eurasians celebrate Christmas and New Year (English). Christmas season is when the Christians remember the birth of Jesus. This is important for them because they believe that Jesus was God's Son, and He was sent to save the world by dying on the cross after much suffering. Many people have Christmas parties and eat turkey.
I think the celebration of the various festivals help to strengthen racial harmony among the various races in Singapore. This is because we get to experience the celebrations when we have friends of different races. Sometimes, we also celebrate together with them even though we are not of the same race.
It is important to be tolerant of people of other races. We should also learn more about their practices and culture so that we know why they do the things they do. For example, Chinese people used to burn joss papers and burn off patches in fields, making them look ugly. If people of other races didn't understand that this was done out of respect for their dead ancestors, there could be more quarrels and complaints. The government now has proper places for burning joss paper to respect this tradition of the Chinese, but also to make sure that other races don't need to complain about them spoiling the scenery.
No comments:
Post a Comment