To start off, here are some general informations on Christmas. It is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ and there are 12 days of Christmas. I always longed for a 'white Christmas' since young . It has always been my dream to see snow falling from the sky, rather than ice on the ground. The possibility of having snow in Singapore is extremely low, almost zero. One of the interesting details is that on Christmas, most hotel and shops would sell turkey which I love to eat most. Decorations are put up in most shops and some houses on these days. Parties are organised and presents are exchanged among families and friends. Presents are my favourite part of Christmas as I would get new toys or games. Labels: MK 32APPENDIX 1.6a
a)
Last year, my classmate, who is also my friend, invited me to his church for a celebration. Out of curiosity, I asked him what this celebration is about and with much enthusiasm, he told me that it was Easter and he started to explain what it was. This day is when Jesus Christ was resurrected and went up to heaven. This day varies as the day of Good Friday always changes over the years. I realized that this day was always neglected by the people. Being free and nothing on my schedule, I agreed to go with him to his church. We decided to meet outside the school and then made our way down there. The name of the church was Moriah Bible Presbyterian Church. When we went inside, I thought that I was the out one out as I was a Buddhist. But I was wrong. To my astonishment, I saw my cousin there (who was also a Buddhist).we started to sing songs of hymns praising God and was amazed by mood of the church people and the tone of their singing. We then listened to the message by the pastor. I feel that the story of Jesus is very touching as He sacrificed Himself for our sins. After the service I joined him for dinner and felt a little awkward when he and his family was praying and I was not praying at all. But I went home with an exciting experience to share with my family.
b)
By comparing and contrasting my individual experiences with what Jess experienced with his family during Easter, it is partly different and partly similar. First of all the differences, I went to my friend's house to have Easter dinner with their families but Leslie did not make a trip to Jess's house to have dinner. Secondly, my friend and his families does not really care about the way they look or wore when they go to the church. First of all similarities, my friend's parents allow me to join them when they go to church and so did Jess's parents allow Leslie to follow them. Secondly, both Leslie and I felt that the story of Jesus Christ was very interesting. Thirdly, both Leslie and I tried singing the songs that praise God eventhough we did not know much of the lyrics of the song.
c) The two festivals that my friends and I normally celebrate are Halloween and Chirstmas. First of all I shall talk about Halloween. When the word Halloween is said in front of me, the first few things that would come to my mind are 'Ghosts, devils, candy, jack-o'-lanterns, etc' and my opinion is that people go around the neighbouring houses wearing scary masks and costumes and saying,'Trick or treat!' , then they got candy just like that.
Here are some general information about Halloween. Halloween is celebrated on 31 October and it has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints. Halloween is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores.
While celebrating Halloween, I could just notice that the day is often associated with the colors orange and black, and is strongly associated with symbols such as the jack-o'-lantern. One of the interesting details is that I heard people say that on Halloween, the REAL demons and devils comes alive and haunts the streets but I think that is just a story to scare little children. Another interesting time is when my friends and i were trick or treating, we went to my neighbour's, Old Mrs Granston house to get delicious candies. When she gave us a bowl of sweets and candies, her dentures suddenly fell into the bowl of candies and we immediately ran off with a nauseous look on our faces.
Many people carve faces on pumpkins on Halloween but this practice is not practised in Singapore as it is difficult to obtain a whole pumpkin. I have also noticed that after carving the faces on the pumpkins, people place candles in the pumpkins, giving it a creepier look.
BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA
-The Writers-
