This week and next week we are exploring the continent of Asia! Today we looked at the globe and made observations about the differences and similarities between Asia and Europe on the globe. Both are made up of many unique countries, but Asia is much larger in size than Europe.
To begin, we are exploring China, specifically one of its biggest cultural holidays — Chinese New Year! Chinese New Year, also called Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is an important holiday celebrated in Chinese communities around the world. This 15-day celebration usually happens between January and February and is a celebration of removing the bad and welcoming in the new and good. Families clean their homes to get rid of bad luck, decorate with red lanterns, banners, and paper art to bring good luck. On New Year’s Eve, everyone gets together for a big dinner with special foods like dumplings and fish, which are believed to bring good fortune. At midnight, people set off firecrackers to scare away bad spirits.
Kids look forward to this holiday because they get red envelopes with money inside, called hongbao. They also wear new clothes, usually red, to bring in good luck. Children help decorate, sing songs, and sometimes perform dances. They also love the Lantern Festival at the end of the celebration, where they carry lanterns and try to solve fun riddles written on them.
We talked about how, like with anything in a culture, holidays and traditions change a bit with time. These days, Chinese New Year is celebrated all over the world. Some people send red envelopes using their phones, and families may travel or watch New Year shows on TV. Even though things have changed, the holiday is still full of love, family, and hope for a lucky new year.
Lanterns are a big part of the fun. In the past, lanterns were made of paper and lit with candles. They often had lucky words written on them. Now, lanterns come in all colors and shapes—even glowing dragons! Big cities hold lantern festivals with amazing light displays. Whether simple or fancy, lanterns are a beautiful way to light up the new year. To learn more about this part of the tradition, we read a book called Playing with Lanterns by Wang Yage. In the story, a girl named Zhao Di celebrates the Lantern Festival in her village. She and her friends light paper lanterns and parade through the streets each night. On the last night, they follow the tradition of smashing their lanterns to mark the end of the New Year celebration. The story shows the joy and tradition of the holiday through the perspective of a child.
After reading about Zhao Di and her experience with the holiday, we had a class discussion about what we had learned about Chinese New Year. Finally, first graders got to make their own paper lanterns! They began by decorating with either red and gold (traditional colors of paper lanterns and symbols of good luck) or by creating their own design that they felt represented the spirit of the holiday – happiness, newness, or positive change. Some used bright colors or images of spring, and others created designs using the traditional colors. After folding, cutting and stapling, each student had created their very own 3D paper lantern!
