MASLENITSA IN RUSSIA: LOOKING FORWARD TO SPRING
Maslenitsa originated from Orthodox Church. It is celebrated during the last week before Great Lent, the seventh week before Pascha (Easter).
During Lent, meat, fish, dairy products and eggs are forbidden. Lent also excludes parties, secular music, dancing and other distractions from the spiritual life. Thus, Maslenitsa represents the last chance to eat dairy products and enjoy social activities.
Nowadays, it has become a national festival. Every year between February and March, with the advent of Maslenitsa, the Russians celebrate ceremonies to say goodbye to the boring winter and receive the bright spring.
During this year's Maslenitsa, six-year-old Mikhail, along with other children, was frying pancakes and making a scarecrow "Lady Maslenitsa" with the help of his teacher.
On the last day of the festival, "Lady Maslenitsa", representing winter, should be burned while people eat golden pancakes which symbolize the sun to hail the warm spring.
Mikhail's mum Oksana Ivanova also took him to the Red Square in central Moscow to see the Maslenitsa folk market.
Larisa Tkachuk, director of the kindergarten which Mikhail attends, said they would teach children knowledge about many festivals including Maslenitsa.
"We will teach them folk dancing, dressing, to play traditional instruments and to know traditional food. All this will help cultivate children's patriotism and enhance their love and respect for national history and culture," Larisa added.
DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL IN CHINA: CARRYING ON ANCESTRAL SPIRIT
The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar. It is one of the most important festivals in China.
Celebrations include eating zongzi, large rice wraps, and racing dragon boats and commemorating the death of Qu Yuan, a patriotic poet living in the Warring States Period of the Zhou Dynasty.
For the children in Zigui, Hubei province, where Qu was born, they celebrate the festival by writing and reciting poems.
At this year's Dragon Boat Festival, 12 students from a primary school in Zigui, dressed as ancient boy attendants at school, recited Qu's famous poem Ju Song to remember the poet who threw himself into river thousands of years ago as the State Chu he had served was destroyed.
For Zheng Yi, a 13-year-old student in Zigui Middle School, writing poems has become one of her habits.
In reality, writing and reciting poems are very common in Ziguibecause Qu Yuan set a good example for later generations.
RAMADAN IN AFGHANISTAN: LEARNING PEACE
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain, from dawn till sunset, from eating, drinking, smoking, and indulging in anything that is in excess or ill-natured.
Ramadan and the Festival of Breaking Fast are the days 13-year-old Farid expects most during the year. "I like Ramadan, because I can eat well."
His father is a teacher at Kabul University with a monthly payment of 300 dollars. Although the five-member family is not very rich, Farid's mother tries to make rich breakfast before dawn and delicious dinner after sunset during this period.
After Ramadan, during the three-day Festival of Breaking Fast, Afghans go and visit their relatives and enjoy delicious food, especially desserts. People can forget temporarily the annoyance the war has brought to the country.
But Sharif, a ten-year-old boy, is not that lucky. His father died in the war. The family can hardly survive with the little salary his mother earns. During Ramadan, when rich people are enjoying dinner, on the table of Sharif's home, there are only nangs (pancakes) and tea.
Sharif often goes to mosques nearby to have some free food donated by rich people. He appreciates the food very much. He said,"If I become rich, I'll donate a great amount of money to poor people."
According to government data, due to the wars in the country, among its population of more than 30 million people, 30 percent donot have enough food or clothing, including 3 million children.
Islamic culture tells people fasting can purify the soul and teach people to be kind. Ramadan is considered the most propitiousand honorable month in the year. But in reality, bombs often destroy the originally peaceful atmosphere.
In Afghanistan, children are often disheartened by the unbridgeable gap between their ideals and the reality. For them, the arrival of peace is a prerequisite for their enjoyment of festivals.
Festivals are celebrated in diverse ways, by dancing, praying, thinking, playing games and reciting poems. They can also take thesimplest form, as simple as a child's heart.
Let festivals belong to children. Let the sharing of happiness be the theme. Let colorful festivals tell children that they are important and they play an indispensable role in social life.
