Friday, February 14, 2014

When Western Valentine's Day meets China’s Valentine’s Day (Feb 14, 2014)

Feb 14, 2014, China’s Lantern Festival (last day of Chinese New Year celebration), it is also known as the western Valentine’s Day. It is said to take 19 years to have this “meeting” once. The next  time will be in year 2033.
valentines
Coincidentally this is my 19th year in the United States, since I first came to WA in 1995.  Wow!
Valentine's Day in the US is not just to celebrate love between male and female.  It has broad meaning of love for all.  So schools will have all kinds of parties to celebrate love among students/friends, between teachers and students.  Children show their affection to their parents and relatives.  A husband  will get his wife a box of chocolates and beautiful roses to show his love.  images3VFCBHCQ
On China’s Lantern Festival Day, families will get together to enjoy Lanterns at night after eating Yuan Xiao or Tang Yuan (the sweet dumpling).  Young people will go to watch Lanterns and pray a romantic love story happens.
When you look at both holidays, they have the same meaning of celebrating either romantic love or just great love between  people.  When West meets East, the culture is connected – It is my wish that  LOVE between people lasts forever!

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