1 . St. Patrick’s Day, Ireland’s National Day, is celebrated on 17th March every year, marking the anniversary of the day on which he passed away. St. Patrick is the most famous saint of Ireland. Born in Roman Britain, he was enslaved in Ireland at the age of 16, but he successfully escaped. Later, he returned to Ireland and brought his religious beliefs to its people.

On St Patrick’s Day, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. People would dance, drink, and feast on traditional meals of Irish bacon and cabbage. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years.

Interestingly, however, the first parade held to celebrate St Patrick’s Day took place not in Ireland but in the United States. On 17th March 1762, Irish soldiers serving in the English army marched through New York City. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as with fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.

Over 100 St. Patrick’s Day parades happen across the U.S., with New York City and Boston hosting the biggest. In 1848, New York Irish Aid societies joined to create the official New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the world’s oldest civilian (平民的) parade and the largest in the U.S. It draws over 150,000 participants and nearly 3 million spectators (观众), lasting over five hours. Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Savannah also celebrate the day with major parades.

Today, people of all backgrounds celebrate St Patrick’s Day, especially throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. It is also celebrated in many other locations far from Ireland, including Japan, Singapore, and Russia.

2 . Engaging with the past

Imagine you’re at home, you start a role-playing game where you can enjoy views of the Nanjing Qinhuai Lantern Festival, completing set tasks along the Qinhuai River. This is one way for video games to enjoy the traditional Chinese culture without having to travel there.

    1     Perfect World Games, an online gaming company, recently invited a group of heritage experts including Chen Haitao, a designer from the Dunhuang Academy; and Zhou Xianguang, an inheritor of Longquan sword intangible (非物质的) cultural heritage — to Beijing to discuss new ways to promote traditional Chinese culture.

This year, Zhou was invited to submit designs for swords in its online mobile game Jade Dynasty. They kept the features of swords that were used during the Tang Dynasty but absorbed fairy and knight-themed elements from the game.     2     That enabled players to know another aspect of Chinese heritage. Zhou says, “Since games are welcomed by young people, we can make them familiar with traditional culture as they play.     3     ”

The trend toward combining games with cultural heritage started decades ago.     4     Traditional culture once served merely as a background to the gameplay, and failed to offer a detailed experience. Now the company digs out details and divides them into small sections, and focuses on their unique cultural points, so players can gain a deeper experience.

    5     Some overseas players also have a strong interest in Chinese culture, but may find it too difficult to understand. So the company tries to convey the culture in ways they are familiar with to help them better understand.

3 . Ever thought making a baby cry or even chasing after cheese would become a widely celebrated festival? Check out the most unusual, unique festivals from around the world.

Each year on 31st August, residents of Nejapa gather around to throw fireballs in memory of the 1658 El Playon volcanic eruption. Participants divide themselves into two teams to paint their faces like skulls and begin the festival by throwing fireballs at each other. Though dangerous, Las Bolas de Fuego has been running for more than 100 years now.

Viewing: Free Entry

Florida Underwater Music Festival held in July has been running for more than 25years, welcoming divers all over the world with the aim to create awareness for coral preservation. The event houses ocean-themed songs streaming live from underwater speakers along with musician-divers playing odd instruments giving a visual treat for all.

Participation: Ticketed Event

200 kilometres from Seoul, Boryeong is widely popular for its mud. cosmetics (化妆品). What began as marketing event in 1998 later turned into a famous festival, drawing in millions of visitors every year. The annual festival held in July runs ten days straight housing a series of activities such as mud pools, mudslides and mud skiing.

Participation: Ticketed Event

With the aim to bring good luck to the area and its people, the Lopburi Province prepares a grand feast made up of 4,000 kilograms of fruits and vegetables that feed 2,000-3,000 macaque monkeys every year. The festival first occurred in 1989, run by a local businessman who thought of this unique way to pay gratitude to monkeys and also bring in tourism — luckily for him and the monkeys, it worked!

Viewing: Free Entry

5 . The traditional Chinese solar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Grain Buds (小满), the 8th solar term of a year, begins on May 21 this year, and ends on June 5. It means that the seeds from the grain are becoming full but are not ripe. Let’s see what we can do during the “Grain Buds” period.

Eating herb of common sow thistle

Grain Buds is a season for eating the herb of the common sow thistle, which is one of the earliest edible potherbs in China. It tastes a little bitter, but also sweet. People in Ningxia Hui autonomous region like to eat it mixed with salt, vinegar, peppers or garlic. It tastes delicious and helps people feel refreshed. Some people boil the herb with water and then squeeze out the juice, which can be used to make soup.

Key period for flower management

This time is a good period of the quick growth of flowers. It is also a season when plant diseases and pests are at an all-time high, which makes caring for your garden even more critical. Flowers need a lot of water and extra care to stay healthy. Weeding should be done as they grow quickly and have to be extirpated in order to keep the soil loose and from competing with the flowers for nutrients.

Celebrating silkworm deity birthday

Silkworm rearing is a traditional byproduct for people in regions south of the Yangtze River. People in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces regard this season as the birthday of the silkworm deity. Those who engage in the silk industry thank the deity by offering sacrifices and staging performances. They pray to the deity for blessings and a boom season for the silk business.

7 . With a leather book cover, a golden overhang, made from colored paper and edges of the book painted red, the French version of An Introduction to The Analects of Confucius《论语入门》is a classic from the Age of Enlightenment in France. The book is about the political ideas, ethical thoughts and moral concepts of China more than 2,000 years ago. Francois Bernier, the author of the book, would never have expected that the French version of the Chinese classic translated by him could be brought to China more than 300 years after he finished it.

The French version of An Introduction to The Analects of Confucius is a national gift. 2019 marked the 55th anniversary of the establishment of China-France diplomatic ties. On March 24 of that year, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Nice, France. Before their meeting, Macron presented Xi with the original French version of An Introduction to The Analects of Confucius published in France in 1688.

As a classic of traditional Chinese culture, The Analects of Confucius《论语》was introduced to Europe as early as the 17th century. Commenting on the influence of Chinese culture in France, Macron said the thoughts of Confucius had deeply inspired French thinkers such as Voltaire and had a long-lasting influence on the French Enlightenment (启蒙运动).

After hearing Macron’s introduction, Xi said he would take this precious gift back to China’s National Library. President Xi once said that the rich philosophical ideas, humanistic spirit, edifying thoughts (教化思想) and moral concepts of China’s fine traditional culture can provide useful inspiration for understanding and transforming the world, for governing the country, and for moral construction.

8 . Primary and secondary school learners, university students, and guests were invited on Wednesday and were treated to a colorful celebration at the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi, to mark the beginning of the year of the dragon which officially starts on Saturday. The place featured beautiful decorations with red and gold colors and lucky symbols.

Visitors got an opportunity to participate in cultural experiences including painting, papercutting and pot throwing as well as experiencing Chinese cuisines like spicy hotpot, steamed stuffed buns (包子) , Chinese hamburgers, dumplings and barbecue among others. They were also treated to heartwarming performances including face-changing, lion dance, dragon dance, drumming, Chinese opera, Chinese songs and a talent show featuring Chinese traditional clothes as well as a mixture of Chinese and Kenyan fashion.

Leah Muthoni, a student at the University of Nairobi lauded the Chinese cuisines served at the event, especially noodles and dumplings. She also appreciated the decorations, drawings, pictures and performances. Similar feelings were also shared by George Mwita, another student from the University of Nairobi who greatly enjoyed the pot throwing game.

In his welcoming speech, Professor Stephen Kiama, the vice headmaster of the University of Nairobi who doubles up as the Kenya director of the Confucius Institute, hoped this year will be a good year of development because the Chinese dragon horns represent power and strength, while the drums represent courage and energy.

Kiama said the Confucius Institute at the University of Nairobi has achieved a lot since its establishment in 2005, including winning the Confucius Institute of the Year Award seven times and pioneering the establishment of the Bachelor of Arts in the Chinese language in Kenya. “Last year, with the joint efforts of the various parties and stakeholders we established the first bachelor of education in Chinese in Kenya and we admitted the first group of students,” he said. Kiama hopes that this year the Confucius Institute will gain more force with the blessing of power, courage and vitality from the year of the Chinese dragon. He said the Confucius Institute offers a good platform for cultural exchange between China and Kenya through events like the Chinese Lunar Year celebrations. Kiama hoped that the relationship between China and Kenya would further be strengthened by the blessings of the year of the dragon.

In Chinese methodology (方法论) , the dragon has the power to control seasons, time and harvests, and it’s seen as a symbol of wealth. The Chinese consider dragons to be powerful. sympathetic, wise, kind and warm.

10 . In 1240, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II built Castel del Monte on a lonely hill in central Puglia, where he had a perfect view of approaching enemies. He probably never imagined the enemies might be tourists one day. But these days, the old castle has been polished clean, and hundreds of multicolored Pullman buses snake up the winding roads to its grounds, now filled with T-shirt stands, Coca-Cola signs and a 200-car parking lot. All this thanks to the fact that UNESCO has designated (认定) it a World Heritage Site in 1996.

Officially, UNESCO honors places that exemplify an area’s ancestry, with the purpose of ensuring they are preserved. Unofficially, this designation is a kind of fairy dust that often turns little-known cultural sites into overnight tourist sensations. This is both a gift and a cuss. Lisa Mastny, senior adviser to the World Watch Institute, says tourism is double-edged for places considered of “outstanding value to humanity. It offers many poor communities the chance to obtain financial rewards, but also threatens the very resources —human and natural—upon which the industry is ultimately built”.

There is growing awareness that assigning UNESCO designation is worthless — or worse, harmful — without some kind of follow-up preservation program. “In the early days there wasn’t much attention given to what would happen once these site s became World Heritage. But that’s changing slowly,” says Joseph King, director of the sites unit at the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM). In Africa, a 12-year training program is currently underway to teach locals not only how to preserve their immovable cultural heritage, but how to use it for economic development. In Eastern Europe, where tourism is a relatively new thing, cities are looking for help in figuring out where to draw the line between preserving historical centers and promoting urban development.