Yesterday (2008/5/20) we have had a new President. It’s the President of Taiwan. My hope to the new president is not to depend on China economically too much. Our new President is handsome and has lot of female fans. He was born in Hong Kong but elected as a President here. After 921earthquake in the year of 1999, the politics change a lot in Taiwan. Followed in 2000 the former 50 years-long ruling party was firstly changed. Yesterday it was changed back again.
Yesterday was also a holiday in Indonesia. It’s Waisak, a traditional Buddhist day. Famous Buddha landmark as Borobudur must be crowded then. Although most people there are Moslem, the country still celebrates the Buddhist holiday. There are 5 religions accepted in Indonesia, Islam, Catholic, Christianity, Buddha and Hindu. Each has its own holiday to celebrate their day. When a religion celebrating its day, other religions will respect and enjoy it as a holiday. Those are Waisak for Buddhist, Nyepi for Hindu, Idul fitr/ lebaran for Muslim, and Christmas for Christian, of course. It is similar to Malaysia. As I know, Malaysia has a lot of holidays due to the 3 main people's different background. But it is unlike Taiwan. Although there are a lot of Christian including Mormons, Christmas is not an official holiday still.
In Taiwan, we need to work and go to school as usual on 12/25. There is no official holiday for certain religion except the Chinese traditional days. For example, the famous Chinese New Year vacation and the tomb sweep festival on 4/4. Now we don't even take a break on mid-autumn festival since Saturday has become a holiday several years ago. So we have fewer holidays since Saturday become a full-day holiday. Only First day of the year (1/1), Peace Day (2/28), Tomb swept festival (4/4), Labor's Day (5/1) and National Day (10/10) left. That's all.
How is tomb sweep? Well, it is truly a traditional one. Chinese used to go to sweep the tomb of their ancestor or dead relatives to remember them one time a year. On the day, all relatives will come together to the tomb of their common ancestors or relatives, they work together to clean the tomb which is full of weeds, and then show their respect to them and apply something as sacrifices to them. Looks like to worship them. It is a distinct opportunity for relatives to gather together. After that, they may go back to one relative’s home nearby, there they may talk to each other and eat something. It is such a special day other for the Chinese. Besides, it is very easy to meet traffic jam everywhere.
We didn't go back to hometown to sweep tomb this year. That’s because we have other activity in church. Besides, we don’t want to meet traffic jam for long time since we have a one-year-old baby in car. I choose another special way to remember my dead grandfather in church’s Taipei temple. It is church's way to submit pedigree to the temple for eternity purpose. It is rather than a traditional way to constantly remember where we are from. Mormon Church emphasizes on ancestors so much by searching names of a generation up to another generation.
…..
Today (2008/5/21) is also a special day. At about 8 o’clock in the morning, our little daughter Joanne firstly walked independently. She totally walked 5 steps by herself to her Mom. That's great! But the bad is that I didn’t record it through a digi-cam in time, as I was washing dishes in kitchen then, when Diana and Andrew screamed at it.
Yesterday was also a holiday in Indonesia. It’s Waisak, a traditional Buddhist day. Famous Buddha landmark as Borobudur must be crowded then. Although most people there are Moslem, the country still celebrates the Buddhist holiday. There are 5 religions accepted in Indonesia, Islam, Catholic, Christianity, Buddha and Hindu. Each has its own holiday to celebrate their day. When a religion celebrating its day, other religions will respect and enjoy it as a holiday. Those are Waisak for Buddhist, Nyepi for Hindu, Idul fitr/ lebaran for Muslim, and Christmas for Christian, of course. It is similar to Malaysia. As I know, Malaysia has a lot of holidays due to the 3 main people's different background. But it is unlike Taiwan. Although there are a lot of Christian including Mormons, Christmas is not an official holiday still.
In Taiwan, we need to work and go to school as usual on 12/25. There is no official holiday for certain religion except the Chinese traditional days. For example, the famous Chinese New Year vacation and the tomb sweep festival on 4/4. Now we don't even take a break on mid-autumn festival since Saturday has become a holiday several years ago. So we have fewer holidays since Saturday become a full-day holiday. Only First day of the year (1/1), Peace Day (2/28), Tomb swept festival (4/4), Labor's Day (5/1) and National Day (10/10) left. That's all.
How is tomb sweep? Well, it is truly a traditional one. Chinese used to go to sweep the tomb of their ancestor or dead relatives to remember them one time a year. On the day, all relatives will come together to the tomb of their common ancestors or relatives, they work together to clean the tomb which is full of weeds, and then show their respect to them and apply something as sacrifices to them. Looks like to worship them. It is a distinct opportunity for relatives to gather together. After that, they may go back to one relative’s home nearby, there they may talk to each other and eat something. It is such a special day other for the Chinese. Besides, it is very easy to meet traffic jam everywhere.
We didn't go back to hometown to sweep tomb this year. That’s because we have other activity in church. Besides, we don’t want to meet traffic jam for long time since we have a one-year-old baby in car. I choose another special way to remember my dead grandfather in church’s Taipei temple. It is church's way to submit pedigree to the temple for eternity purpose. It is rather than a traditional way to constantly remember where we are from. Mormon Church emphasizes on ancestors so much by searching names of a generation up to another generation.
…..
Today (2008/5/21) is also a special day. At about 8 o’clock in the morning, our little daughter Joanne firstly walked independently. She totally walked 5 steps by herself to her Mom. That's great! But the bad is that I didn’t record it through a digi-cam in time, as I was washing dishes in kitchen then, when Diana and Andrew screamed at it.
Cy
No comments:
Post a Comment