The Spring Festival free essay sample

I shall pass through life but once. Any good therefore that I can do, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it. For I shall never pass this way again When I first entered the field of nursing my main ambition was to master the art of bed side nursing. After completing my bachelors degree in nursing I felt I had been adequately prepared to meet the challenges of hospital nursing. Naive right! My first nursing Job was in a surgical intensive care step down unit at Manchester General Hospital. I worked hard, made my fair share of mistakes, and was amazed at how much I learned from my patients and my peers. I learned as much about ursing during those first few years as I learned while in school. I had no idea that I knew only the academics of nursing but very little of the art of nursing. As my experience grew, my eyes and my heart were opened to new and challenging revelations about my profession and my aspirations as a nurse. I now feel a deeper and more profound respect and responsibility to my profession, my peers and patients. My desire to pursue a masters degree in nursing is to fulfill my aspirations to complete my nursing education. By earning an advanced degree in nursing I am anticipating more and challenging experiences, that would help my continued growth nd development not only as a nurse, but also as a human being. I know now that earning a masters degree will only be the beginning of my continued education. Although I have been extremely satisfied and fulfilled with my career in nursing I feel like I am capable of more. As I pursue my education in nursing, I hope to open the doors to new and exciting opportunities for myself and my patients. The Spring Festival BY btxtan007 Wishing is free, so why not do that†Ã¢â‚¬ Shoulian Zhou(my paternal grandmother) When I was younger, I asked to my grandma that why people eat rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival. She told me about Chinese traditional food and its beginning in our five thousands years old Chinese culture. My grandma said that our ancestors created lots of festivals such as The Spring Festival, The Lantern Festival, The Dragon Boat Festival, Moon Festival. The Dragon Boat Festival was created to commemorate the poet quyuan who Jumped into the Han river and committed suicide when he heard that Qin troops finally conquered Chus capital. We eat moon cake only on the day of the Moon Festival that was created to commemorate a love story between Chang E and Hou Y. However, they can only meet each other on the 5th day of the eighth month of the year. People celebrate that day and make moon cakes to commemorate the story that wish for the lovers to have a round happy endind like the moon cake. However, even if we eat food in festivals, we eat the most of Chinese traditional food during the Spring Festival. The Spring Festival has a special meaning for Chinese; It is the oldest and most important of all the festivals and tied to the natural year. The celebration of the Spring Festival goes back thousands of years. The Spring Festival represents the desire for new life. However, Chinese people like to make wishes at this time. My grandma told me that wishing is free, why not do that? So the Chinese like to celebrate the Spring Festival by making wishes. However, the reason that we call it the Spring Festival is that the day marks the beginning of spring and the end of winter. My grandma told me that she used the lunar calendar instead of the solar calendar. Usually, the spring festival begins on the first day of the lunar calender and ends on the fifteenth day after the lunar new year. Throughout history, the Spring Festival has had different names at different times. By far the most popular name is Yuan Dan, which means beginning nd morning, implying the beginning of a new spring and a new year. In the past, the actual time of the Spring Festival also varied. During the Han Dynasty the beginning of spring was the Spring Festival, but during the Northern and Southern Dynasty, the entire spring was viewed as the Spring Festival. After 1949, it was decided that January 1st on the solar calendar would be Yuan Dan and January 1st on the lunar calendar would be the Spring Festival. In recent years, with the development of technology, the way that people celebrate The Spring Festival has been changed to different ways. In particular, the way people celebrate the Spring Festival and the way people think of the Spring Festival have been chenged. My grandma tells me that, traditionally, they celebrated the Spring Festival in the following ways. First, Spring Cleaning is the activity from December 23rd in the Chinese calendar. They began to clean their houses to bid farewell to the old year and usher in a happy and fresh new year. Second, Red couplets(red posters with black Chinese calligraphy, colored New Year paintings) were posted on the doors of peoples houses. Before the upcoming new year, people in different families had to repare the tools in order to make the couplets. I remember that my father took me Generally, the things you write on the couplets are propitious, because the couplets stand for your wishes in the upcoming new year. Third, fireworks were symbols of the Spring Festival in the old times. The most vivid impression in my memory is that my dad bought me a lot of fireworks and taught me how to fire them. I was so scared while handling the match and lighting. My hand shook and I felt nervous. Although the temperature was very low outside, I felt warm when I made it. I watched the eautiful fireworks and cheered with my father. Finally, the most important thing we had to do in the Spring Festival was stopping by relatives. In my childhood, all of my relatives lived in a small city. On the night before the New Yeart, parents and elders have a special dinner together. Children play outside the house. After that, we stop by relatives and friends. Generally, celebrating with family and friends is the most important thing. No matter wherever they are, how busy they are, the Chinese will get onto the roads going home to spend the festival season with their family members. At present, China is a developing country, that is the reason that everything is changing rapidly such as the economy, peoples lives, even the way people celebrate the festivals. Many things have changed. First, the society is becoming modernized. We feel more and more stressed. Sometimes, people can not go to their hometown and stay with family during The Spring Festival due to their Jobs. For example, one year, my fathers Job prevented him from going to his hometown . He could only go there after the first day of the New Year. Not going home was impossible for people in the old times. Second, he custom called Spring Decorating has been changed. Today, we buy the red lantern from the market or the mall instead of making them by hand. Then, we hang flower-decorated red lanterns in front of our houses. Office buildings and stores are also decorated with red lanterns. In order to solicit business , some resturant hang numerous red-lanterns, because it creates a scene of bustle and excitement to customers. Chinese people always like propitious things and colors. The color red symbolizes happiness, prosperity and good luck in the New Year. In this way, The Spring Festival is becoming more commercialized. Third, however, we can only eat dumplings during the Spring Festival in old times. Making dumplings is not a easy thing. We need lots of people to stay together and make them. And the materials of dumplings are expensive. Eating dumplings was an extravagant thing in the old times. I can even remember how excited I was when I ate dumplings in childhood. However, nowadays we can eat dumplings whenever we want, because we can buy dumplings in market. Therefore, people cherished the opputunity of eating dumplings in the past. However, nowadays people lack the enthusiasm of eating dumplings. Whats more, people go to concerts or other out-door activities instead of stopping by relatives. Since China is developing rapidly in economy and technology, the traditional customs are changed Therefore, peoples behavior have changed according to the environment they are in. For example, the Spring Festival as I introduced it previously, and the Moon Festival, which is coming up very soon are very different from the ways we celebrated them before. For example, if we take this festival 400 years ago, there will be several people who gathered on balcony, and program on that day either. Instead of appreciating the moon with poetry, Chinese people nowadays prefer pop music and concerts. For example, the UGA Undergraduate Student Chinese Association is planning to host a gathering party for the Moon Festival on this Friday. On that day, they will have a short stage performance about the moon, and some of the pop music will be there as well. As we see, the form of the celebratiion of the festival varies. It could be poetry in 400 years ago, or pop music today. However, if we observe carefully, the essence of the festival is never changed. It is all about the gathering and sharing Joy with family and friends.