This week the whole nursery has been celebrating Chinese New Year! The children have been making dragons, performing dragon dances, making red envelopes, joining in with noodle-play and cooking Chinese food.
Within the nursery, we have a family who originate from Hong Kong and celebrate Chinese New Year. They were kind enough to offer their time to talk to the children and staff in our Inventors and Adventurers rooms about this big event and how they will be celebrating this year - even though they were spending the rest of the day cooking a big meal for their friends!
Here are some facts Annabelle and her family taught us about Chinese New Year:
It is also called Spring Festival and has a 4000 year history
2018 is the year of the dog
Special clothes worn for the celebration are usually red because this colour represents happiness and luck. Houses are also decorated in red to bring good fortune
Red envelopes are given as gifts (always in pairs) and must contain an even amount of money
Celebrations usually involve a big family dinner with numerous dishes on offer - Annabelle's family had already cooked a big meal for 14 family members and were celebrating again by cooking for 10 friends!
There will always be clementines on offer as these represent happiness, good fortune and wealth
The first three days of the celebration are the most important and after around 23 days it ends with the lantern festival, which is when everyone lights lanterns to guide in the new year.
We would like to say a big 'Thank You' to Annabelle and her family for sharing their celebrations with us and for bringing us traditional Chinese treats to eat! Yum! We loved hearing you talk about your heritage and traditions.
We would also like to say Kung Hei Fat Choi (Happy New Year) to everyone!
Within the nursery, we have a family who originate from Hong Kong and celebrate Chinese New Year. They were kind enough to offer their time to talk to the children and staff in our Inventors and Adventurers rooms about this big event and how they will be celebrating this year - even though they were spending the rest of the day cooking a big meal for their friends!
Here are some facts Annabelle and her family taught us about Chinese New Year:
It is also called Spring Festival and has a 4000 year history
2018 is the year of the dog
Special clothes worn for the celebration are usually red because this colour represents happiness and luck. Houses are also decorated in red to bring good fortune
Red envelopes are given as gifts (always in pairs) and must contain an even amount of money
Celebrations usually involve a big family dinner with numerous dishes on offer - Annabelle's family had already cooked a big meal for 14 family members and were celebrating again by cooking for 10 friends!
There will always be clementines on offer as these represent happiness, good fortune and wealth
The first three days of the celebration are the most important and after around 23 days it ends with the lantern festival, which is when everyone lights lanterns to guide in the new year.
We would like to say a big 'Thank You' to Annabelle and her family for sharing their celebrations with us and for bringing us traditional Chinese treats to eat! Yum! We loved hearing you talk about your heritage and traditions.
We would also like to say Kung Hei Fat Choi (Happy New Year) to everyone!