El Monte - Rosemead Adult School
2014-2015 ESL Level 6 Class
Mrs. Grubb & Mr. Miyahara
Celebration Essays
Caiyan, Chen
Level 6 rm 112
11-13-14
Chongyang Festival in China
The Chongyang Festival is held on the 9th day of the 9th Lunar month. Nine is a number that is regarded as “Yang” which means masculine (the opposite is “Yin” means feminine such as the number six). “Chong” means double. This is where the name Chongyang comes from. Nine in Chinese sounds like forever. So double nine makes people associate Chongyang with living forever. Therefore, Chongyang festival represent ones health.
In ancient times, people carried the cornel during the festival. Cornel is a medicinal fruit, one of the many fruits used in traditional Chinese medicine. Also, people drank chrysanthemum wine and ate Chongyang Gao. I my town, people traditionally eat “Fa Gao”, which is a steamed sponge cake, on this special day. Also, a family will climb a mountain called “Deng Gao”. “Gao” means high in Chinese. By doing these activities, it is thought that you'll make improvements in your life and move to a higher level.
But now, Chongyang has a newer meaning, In the year 1989, Chongyang Festival was designated as Senior’s Day – a day to respect the elderly. It is a good day for some companies to organize for retired people to go to climb mountains or participate in other outdoor activities. It is a great way to wish them health and happiness.
In conclusion, Chongyang may have changed it's original meaning to some extent. However, it is still a day to celebrate good health by doing something active.
Danfeng Shen
Nov.06, 2014
Level 6, Evening Class
Mrs. Maria Grubb
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival
As the globality of many things, many foreign holidays have also become popular in China, like Father’s day, Mother’s Day, Christmas Day and so on, there are still some holidays special to China. Two of these important festivals are: Chinese New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival. Here I want to share with you the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Han Calendar. According to the historians’ study, they pointed out that the origin of Mid-Autumn should be around the end of Sui, the thirteenth year of the Tang Dynasty, on August 15. Peiji, who served in Tang’s Army, invented the moon cake from the concept of the moon, and distributed them to the army as salaries. At the same time, the moon cake also solved the food problem caused by substantial absorption of the rebels who against Sui. After the Tang Dynasty, Mid-Autumn Festival has become a benefits for all. From Ming and Qing Dynasties, China's Mid-Autumn Festival has become a major traditional festival.
Around the Mid-Autumn Festival, there are many kinds of moon cakes to be found in the stores. Most people will buy them as gifts for parents, family, and even customers of their business. Then they will come home to be with their family. They will share the moon cake and watch the largest round moon that night. Other than the moon cake, there are other special foods that will be eaten that night. In my hometown, we eat Ravioli or Tangyuan (a round food made with flour and a filling) to celebrate the family's reunion on this special day. In the Northern areas of China, they will eat dumpling for much the same reason. Some town, will eat grapefruit.
Most activities happen at night. In southern China, each house hangs a lantern. Many towns will have a beautiful market with various lantern on the night of Mid-Autumn. Normally, the lanterns are made by local people with some fantastic designs. When I was a child, I remember that many teens will do special thing during this time without any punishment. After dinner, they go to a place where they light a pile of firewood. Some cities play a very interesting game called "dengmi". They write riddles on lanterns and have other people try to guess the answers. According to ancient times, some families use dengmi to chose a spouse for their children.
I believe the reason why Mid-Autumn Festival has continued to be such an important day for the Chinese, is because it symbolizes happiest and best wishes for the whole family to be together in love.
Jose Luis Magana
November 20, 2014
The Three Kings
The day of the three kings, or as it’s known in Spanish “Los Tres Reyes Magos” is a Mexican holiday that is celebrated on January 6 of every year.
The story begins with the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas Eve. That is when the three kings begin their journey to find baby Jesus. They followed the bright star that takes them all the way to Bethlehem where Jesus is born. The Kings names in Spanish are: Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar. They arrive where Jesus is born on January 6. They bring gifts like gold and other things to baby Jesus. Ever since that day, January 6 has been an important day and holiday to the Mexican people.
Little children believe that if they behave all year long, the three Kings will pass by and leave them a toy. That is why during the night of January fifth, children put their shoes outside their homes. They do so in hopes that the Kings will leave them a surprise. Of course, the children are not disappointed. They think that because they have been good, the three Kings must have stopped by their house in the night.
Another tradition on day of the Kings, is to make a special bread called “Rosca de Reye.” This bread is only baked for January 6. Inside one of the breads there is small little dolls, that represents baby Jesus. Whoever gets the baby, has to make dinner for the whole family any day they want.
In conclusion, “Los Tres Reyes Magos” is a special holiday in Mexico that celebrates the three Kings and baby Jesus.
Gloria Carias
11/20/14
New Year’s in Honduras
The guest of honor gets blown up! No, not really. The people of Honduras have a unique way of celebrating the New Year. It all starts a few days before the 31st of December. Teenagers and children in the neighborhood create a life-size doll or mannequin of an old man. This mannequin represents the year that is about to end, the “A`no Viejo.”
The mannequin is fashioned from whatever materials the children can gather. He is dressed in old clothes collected from the neighbors and stuffed with this many pyrotechnic devices as possible. There are no guidelines, so each A`no Viejo reflects the creativity of each neighborhood team. Sometimes they are made to look like politicians or other famous (or rather infamous) public figures.
On the eve of December 31, young Hondurans like to proudly pose with the mannequin they have crafted from items like old clothing, a plastic football, and a used mop. It’s a fun time to be in Honduras.
At the stroke of midnight on December 31, the A`no Viejo is set ablaze. The pyrotechnics it set off in a loud and bright display that the neighbors gather around to see. This is echoed throughout other cities, towns and neighborhoods in the country, since every neighborhood has its own A`no Viejo.
A`no Viejo is meant to symbolize the bad and forgettable events of the past year. In this way, the burning is a symbolic way to “burn away” the bad memories of the past. Also, it’s simply great fun to watch!
Enma Mayorga
11/20/14
Holy Week
In my country of Guatemala, we celebrate the Holy Week. The Holy Week is the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Being a very Catholic country, this holiday is perhaps the biggest one of the year. It has certain processions and specific food.
The Holy Week in Guatemala runs from Palm Sunday to the following Saturday, with the majority of the celebrations held on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. During these days, it is not unusual to see crowds of people in the streets. Since people generally have time off of work, they attend multiple processions in the cities. Floats are built for these processions. They are often built of wood with carrying handles on either side for men to lift. These men are called “cucurruchos” and wear all purple. It is not unusual for these floats to have detailed carvings of flowers and birds. Many also have scrollwork around the edges, making them even more beautiful. People will also make a huge carpet decorated out of sawdust & fruits of different colors. During the height of the celebration, people usually only eat fish, vegetables and “tore,” a sweet bread with a filling of sweet pur’e.
I hope to someday go back to Guatemala for the special events happening during Holy Week.
Martin Jimenez
11/20/14
The Celebration of My Town
In my little town, San Isidro in Mexico, there is a celebration called the “Virgin Maria’s Day”. This celebration is unique to my town, because her image appeared in a big rock on a mountain close to the city.
The celebration starts early in the morning around 5 o’clock. Some people start collecting whatever kinds of food like meat, corn, vegetables or seeds. Most of these types of food are harvested in the same town as the celebration. At noon, people go to church and pray to the Virgin Mary yeah. By the same group that collected the food, is now cooking it. They often make foods like mol’e (a Mexican sauce), corundas (special Mexican tamale from Michoacan) and Pulque (a type of Mexican beer.)
When people have finished praying in the church, everybody goes to “San Poli” , which is the mountain where Virgin Maria’s image appeared. We sing “Mananitas”, which is a Mexican happy birthday song, to celebrate Virgin Maria. Then we eat, and continue singing with Mariachi music followed by Mexican Banda music.
Later at night, the older women of the town will pray to Virgin Maria, while children are having fun with activities like hitting a piñata. To finish, a group of dancers will dance to Aztec music until early next morning; all this to honor Virgin Maria.
In conclusion, this is the most important celebration in San Isidro. Although the city only has about 500 people, each year we make a special event to come together to celebrate Virgin Maria in this special way.
