Changing festival culture

Have you ever thought of what you would lose if you moved to another country that you have never been to before and the festival culture were quite different from your native country? I have lived in the United States for one year. I studied here and I’ve tried my best to integrate into the society, and I found that to adapt to the different festival culture has been a very hard time for me during this year. What I felt I have lost most was the festival culture and the accompanying traditions.

The first day I arrived to the United States was the traditional Chinese festival: Mid Autumn Festival, and I found that it was quite different from China. In China, this day was so liveliness. People would eat moon cakes, and children would light their candles and put them into a lantern. Then, they would play on the street. The street would be lighted all night. On the other hand, Chicago was so quiet on this day. Although the Chinese would eat moon cakes, the street was so quiet. I can’t feel any ambience of the festival until I saw the poster of the moon cakes in some Chinese store. I was so upset that first time and I felt I had lost the connection of my native festival culture.

The Chinese New Year came after I had lived in United States for four months. This was the second traditional Chinese festival that I spent in United States, and I certain had a different feeling of the traditional Chinese festival that I was accustomed to. In China, this is the

most important festival of the whole year. People would wear their best and new clothing during these days, and adults would give lucky money in the red envelope to the children. This money means that they wish their children health and happiness. In these days, fireworks crackled across the sky, and people would dance the lion dance. However, as compared with china, the United States looks like lonely planet. I only saw a lion dance and dragon dance in Chinatown, and western people do not celebrate this festival. I lived in China for twenty years, and I celebrated this festival each year until I came to the United States. It just like you need to eat every day, but one-day god tells you that you don’t need to eat anymore. The Chinese New Year was a difficult time for me in the passed year.

The third traditional Chinese festival that I spent in the United States was past the Dragon boat Festival. This festival that in United States are closest to what I knew from my years in China. In China, the festival was a big festival too. In this day, people eat zongzi, which is traditional Chinese rice pudding, and people play dragon boat races to honor the memory of an ancient Chinese poet Quyuan who jumped into a river to show his honesty in the old China. On the other side, the Chinese who live in United States would eat zongzi too, but there missed the dragon boat races. That made me very disappointed because the races are very exciting, and I watched it each year. This was the third time I felt I had lost the connection to my native culture.

I have lived in the United States for one year, and I’ve tried my best to integrate into the society. This was a very unforgettable moment in my life. Because I learned a lot of things like how to write an essay, and I improved my English skills. However, I felt I lost the connection of my native festival culture. Though people celebrate them in the United State, they are still a little different from China, and that has made spend a lot of time adapting. Therefore, this year has been an unforgettable difficult time for me in my new country life.