1 . Christmas is a very important festival in the west. However, different countries celebrate Christmas in different ways.   

In England

Christmas is celebrated on December 25th. Christmas dinner is usually a roast turkey with Christmas pudding for dessert. Christmas decorations must be taken down on the twelfth day after Christmas otherwise it brings bad luck for the rest of the year.   

In Australia

In Australia, it never snows at Christmas because Christmas is in the summer holiday. A traditional Christmas dinner is often held in the backyard for BBQ’s, picnics in the garden or even on the beach. People call the Christmas season the “silly season”. Christmas is a deeply religious festival. The Christmas season officially begins on December 8th. Christmas Eve is known as the “Good Night”.   

In Germany

In Germany, people hold special markets every December that specialize in selling decorations and other Christmas related goods. People make and drink a special wine, which is called “mulled wine”. Christmas goose is also needed by many people. Families gather together on Christmas Eve to open their presents.   

In Russia

Russian Christmas is very interesting because they celebrate Christmas twice and Christmas on December 25th is not for many Russians with religious beliefs. They celebrate Christmas on January 7th to commemorate (纪念) the birthday of Jesus. However, even more influential is still on December 25th when the streets and main venues of Christmas decorations are colorful. Christmas goose is traditionally eaten by people on Christmas Eve.

2 . Do you love seeing beautiful lanterns outside? The best time to do this is during the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the first lunar (阴历) month. This year it is on Feb22, marking the end of Spring Festival celebrations.

Lanterns are a big part of the festival. One story says that the bright lanterns show respect for gods. Another says that people light lanterns to celebrate the declining (消退的) darkness of winter.

Watching lanterns is a great event. You see lanterns in any sizes and shapes you can imagine, from animals to plants and flowers. To make this activity more fun, people paste (粘贴) riddles (谜语) on the lanterns. “Ten plus ten, still is ten, ten minus ten, again is ten.” Guess what? It is a pair of gloves.

In some places, people like releasing sky lanterns, which are called Kongming lanterns. A sky lantern is a small hot air balloon made of paper, with an opening at the bottom, where there is a small fire source. When the bright lights fly high in the sky, people bless family members and make wishes. Releasing river lights is also a way to bless for each other. Usually, the lights are in the shape of a lotus (荷花).

In old times, the Lantern Festival was also romantic. At that time, young girls were not allowed to go out very often except during certain festivals. Therefore, looking at lanterns gave young people a chance to meet each other. A line from Xin Qiji, a poet during the Song Dynasty, shows this: “Anxiously, I searched for her in thousands, hundreds of ways. Suddenly I turned, and there she was in the declining light.”