Difference in Celebrating My Birthday Zebin Chen

Here I would like to describe different period in which my birthday is celebrated in varied ways. When I was a child, everything was pre-arranged by my parents. Eight years passed, things were changed when celebrating my birthday. After attending high school, I spent large amount of time on birthday with my friends. However, when entering college, I express my thankfulness for my parents on my birthday.

In China, particularly important is the One-Month-Old Feast and One-Year-Old Catch of Babies. These two ceremonies are unique Chinese characteristics and have great significance in the baby’s growth. The baby wears dog hat tiger shoes on his One-Month-Old Feast, which indicates that the baby will be lucky for the whole life. My parents treat my One- Month -Old Birthday seriously and invite their friends and relatives to a ceremony to celebrate the occasion. I don’t have any memory about that and all of my knowledge is based on my mother’s description. They also held a One-Year-Old Catch for me. They lay out brush pens, ink sticks, paper, abacus, copper coins, flowers, foods, toys. And, then I was put in front of these articles and told to pick one up. The family can then make predictions about the baby’s potential interests, future career and development by watching what he picked up, for example if the baby picked up brush pens or paper, it indicates the baby will be a calligraphers or writer. However, my parents never told me what I had picked up. Maybe I picked up food there and eaten them at the same time.

When I was at an age of eight, there had been a new member, my younger brother, in my family. I complained to my parents for they spent too much time on my brother and ignored me in my eight –year-old birthday, which is one month after my brother was born. Relatives and friends often pay special attention to him. I was sad because I believed he may share the love of parents and use the articles which belong to me. My mother had a heart-to-heart talk with me and said that it would not be shared, but there would be one more person who cared about you and could bring happiness to you, the one who you can share your view, express your feeling with and instruct for help. My brother made me laugh all the time and made me forget sorrowful things. He sang the birthday song and danced with the music for my 12-year-old birthday, which was a sign for I was a teenager. I was moved because it took him a long time to practice singing and dancing. He was only four years old at that time. This experience shows me the meaning of ‘‘brother’’.

When I was a high school student, I and my friends got together to celebrate my birthday. We even went on a trip or went to mountains to celebrate it. The experience impressed most was traveling to Luoyang with my friends. We went to the White Horse Temple, which was one of the oldest Buddhist temples in China and known as the cradle of Chinese Buddhism. And we traveled to the Longmen Grottos, which was famous for Buddhist images and statues. We enjoyed a wonderful time here. However, my parents were worried about me while I was not aware of that. I learned to explain to them and tell them details before I leave. As a college student, I worked for two months as a tutor to get salary to buy a gift for my parents to express my thankfulness for them. It was a special celebration for me.

Different ways in celebrating my birthday can be regarded as the trace to show my growth. It is the period that everyone could experience.


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