Dinner on Spring Festival

The Spring Festival is a special holiday for Chinese people. In Chinese culture, the day after the Spring Festival is the beginning of a new year. On that day, each family will celebrate it in their own way. Based on the Chinese culture, family should gather together on the Eve of the Spring Festival and celebrate the holiday together. Moreover, the dinner on Spring Festival is very delicious. It contains fish, chicken, beef, pork, carrot, corns….the most important and indispensable food on the Spring Festival’s dinner is the dumpling. In Chinese culture, the dumpling is a representative of the luck. Eating Dumpling on the Eve of the Spring Festival is the symbol of get good luck in the coming year. So that’s why the dumpling is the most important food appears on the dinner of the Spring Festival. Another tradition of the Spring Festival is light the fireworks on the midnight. This kind of tradition is based on a legend. Long time ago, there is an atrocious monster. This monster is ugly and carnivorous and it only appears on the Eve of the Spring Festival. Unfortunately, no one can kill this monster so that everyone is afraid of this monster. One day, a smart person comes up with a great idea: drive away the monster instead of kill it. Because the monster is afraid of fire and light, so people decide to light the fireworks all night on Spring Festival in order to drive away the monster and this idea works pretty well. So after long time’s evolution, it becomes a tradition of the Spring Festival. Among all the festivals and holidays, the Spring Festival is the most meaningful festival for me. I will never forget the food I eat and the happiness I get in the Spring Festival.

Last year, 2011, is a great year for me. I took the SAT test and get a very high score; I received the offer of the University of Denver and also the scholarships; I celebrated my 18^th birthday with my friends and my family. Most important, last year is the last chance for me to celebrate the Spring Festival with my family in China. I will never forget the day January 23^rd, because it is the date of the Spring Festival in 2011. In the morning of that day, my mom and grandma got up early to prepare the big dinner. They cleaned the fish, cut the vegetables, sliced the beef and pork, bowled the sweet porridge… Around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, everything was ready and the food looks tempting. The fish was in the center of a round plate with some carrots as a decoration; the beef was covered by gravy; the sweet porridge was contained by a beautiful glass bowl. We lighted part of the fireworks before we started the dinner. Then we started eating and sent wishes. My mom wished me have a great grade in college while my grandmother wished me have a happy time in my college. I wished my grandmother becomes healthier and my mother becomes more beautiful. The dinner on the Eve of Spring Festival always lasted two hours. My mother, father, aunts, uncles, grandparent, sisters and brothers all gather together on my grandparent house. We eat together, talk together, and laugh together. These two hours must be the happiest time I had in my life.

Now I am a college student in United States. Because I have no chance to go back to China on the Spring Festival of this year, so I celebrate it with my friends here. Although we cooked the same food as I had last year, I still feel that something is different. Not only the taste of the food, but also the emotions and feelings. The friendship is totally different from the love of parent, family. Wherever we are, our parent will always care about our health and feelings. The dinner on the Eve of Spring Festival is really significant and unforgettable for me because I can feel and touch the love from my family. This kind of love has no shape, no color, but it really exists in this world. When I feel lonely and lost, I will always tell myself: “Don’t worry, you have already had the warmest family in the world, what else can stop you moving forward?” I really want to thanks to my parent and grandparent because they give me the power and strength to solve the problems I meet in my life. And because their love is always in my back, I am not afraid of anything.

The dinner on the Eve of Spring Festival is really important for me. Not only it tastes delicious, but also it brings me the love of my family. I know I am an eighteen years old girl, so I should grow up and become more and more independent. But no matter where I am, my family will always be the last stop of my life.