SOAKING UP HOLIDAY SEASON IN SHENYANG
Whether East or West, kids or adults, everyone loves holidays and vacations, as the pursuit of happiness is the nature of human beings, despite cultural differences. In terms of how to celebrate holidays, each culture has its own style. That’s why Christmas is the most important holiday for European countries and Chinese people celebrate Spring Festival in a grand manner.
Spring Festival and Christmas have a lot in common. Both are well-prepared in advance for a festive atmosphere; both cater for family reunions with grand feasts: and for kids, both mean new clothes, lovely gifts, and delicious food.
In recent years, while celebrating the traditional Chinese festivals such as Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Day, many Chinese citizens also enjoy western festivals. Don’t be surprised if you find a Christmas market in the snowy December or have your door knocked with a shout “Treat or trick”.
When children can enjoy holidays across cultures, what will they expect and how will they react?
January 6, Shenyang
When holiday season was on its way, I counted down the days until we would get our Christmas gifts!
l did wonder whether Shenyang might be too far away for St. Nikolaus to bring them, but my friend Annie said that he had never forgotten her in the past. I also worried people might not celebrate Christmas here in Shenyang because I haven't seen many churches. But Christmas celebrations are actually a grand event here at HuZ. In early December, St.Nikolaus came to school with a big sock bag to deliver his seasonal greetings and gifts for us. That's the announcement that Christmas season is coming.
This Christmas is quite meaningful for me, not just because it's my first Christmas in China. We handmade some products for charity sales at a Christmas handcraft DIY event at school. The earnings will be used to help autistic children in Shenyang.
A week before the Christmas holiday, we had a grand Christmas party. lt's actually a community event that all parents are invited to. Our campus was packed full that day! There were loads of gifts wrapped under the big Christmas tree at the entrance, surrounded by baked cookies, a crafting station, a tombola station, a picture station, and, of course, with secret Santa, and a buffet for parents. Each class has its own program, and teachers perform as well. Choir Club had many programs, as singing is such a festive tradition. We worked so hard every week after school to prepare for the Christmas celebrations, and it was definitely worth it - everyone loved our performances! The festive atmosphere felt like we were in Munich.
Not only did we sing at the school's Christmas celebration, we also performed at BBA's Christmas party! when we sang the Christmas songs, the audience sang with us. Then, before we left the stage, St. Nikolaus surprised us by bringing us all presents - we were so excited! I also got a chance to say hello to Mum's colleagues. We took lots of photos together, which people loved as we were dressed in traditional Christmas costumes.
Dad and Mum decided we should not go back to Germany for the holiday season, so we decorated our home here in Shenyang. Even though we could only find a plastic Xmas tree rather than a real one, we put some LED lights and ornaments on it and it looked really nice, just like our one back home.
For our three-week winter vacation over Christmas and New Year, we explored the city and its surroundings. Skiing is not something that you can miss in winter, especially in a north city like Shenyang. There are a few ski resorts less than a one-hour drive from downtown, different ski routes for beginners, intermediate and advanced. We also went skiing with Nicolas' family for 2 nights in Jinlin Province. Nicolas and I tried the cat jump with the help of the ski coach. It was hard but fun! We tried again and again until we got a perfect pass.
Winter sports seem very popular in Shenyang. Lara and l also enrolled in a 2-day ice climbing camp. l found climbing on the vertical frozen waterfall really hard, but it was worth it. The waterfall was really beautiful - we took loads of photos. l also made new friends and was able to speak to them a bit in Chinese!
February 2, Shenyang
Holiday season used to be a 3-week break back in Munich, but this year, we had 2 holidays! After our traditional Christmas and New Year holiday, we had Chinese New Year for the first time. It was great to learn about and experience traditional Chinese customs and interesting to compare the culture here with traditional European culture. When I talked about this in my blog, I got more comments than ever. Comments from German readers included, "Thank you for sharing your experience of celebrating Chinese New Year. I will try dumplings next time I'm at a Chinese restaurant," and "I wish I could see the Lion & Dragon dance for myself, but your picture and video were really impressive." A Chinese student studying in German also said, "It's great to see our traditions from a German perspective. It made me miss my hometown more!"
Dumplings are common on holiday menus, including Winter Solstice (a few days before Christmas Eve), Xiaonian (Goodbye to Kitchen God Day), Chinese New Year's Eve, Welcome the God of Wealth Day, and the Lantern Festival. This is because the shape of dumplings resembles wealth. They're seen as a blessing for the coming year. Chinese history and culture are immersed in daily life here, so the festive celebrations mean fun, great food, and a lot of local folklore, customs, and heritage. The rich culture over here is definitely beyond what I had imagined. When I shared these observations and experiences on my blog, I also attracted more followers!
The red lanterns in the school's hallway create a cheerful atmosphere for the whole season. They are not just ornaments; they have riddles inside them. After working out the riddles, we had to go to Ms. Li, the Chinese Literature teacher, to check if we were right. Each time we were, we got a traditional Chinese scissor-cut bookmark. The average in my class was 2, but I got 3! I will share the bookmarks with Leah when we go back to Munich, as we both love reading.
Dad and I love Chinese calligraphy. So when we received the Spring Festival Couplets as a present from Amy, Mom's friend in Cycling Club, whose husband is a well-known calligrapher, we were so excited. Amy said it was tradition to put the couplets on both sides of your front door before Chinese New Year's Eve, along with a big red square piece of paper with "Fu (happiness)" placed in the middle. This is to bring good blessings to our family. It's a really lovely tradition.
We saw more while we took a visit to “Puhe” Fair, on the eve of Chinese New Year. The fair has more than a century of history from a commodity trading market to a phenomenon that we could encounter all sorts of traditional Chinese folk custom. Mum’s colleague, Mr. Wang, said it is a good chance to see many traditional aspects of Chinese culture, as some folk customs are no longer visible in daily life. We felt the charm of local culture among the hustle and bustle.
I really appreciate Dad and Mum's efforts to help us experience life in Shenyang. I probably don't know everything they have done, but I am grateful for the opportunity to step out of our everyday life and do something different. I am so proud of us.