Moon Cake Festival Essay

Mardi Gras is a big deal mainly because Louisiana is the only state that celebrates it. As always, there is a famous dish that comes along with this holiday and it is King Cake. King Cake is a dessert that is made up of bread, filling, and colorful icing. King Cake was created in the mid-1800s and was made to celebrate the 12th night after Christmas. This dessert represents the coming of the three kings or three wise men (Dave). There are many simple steps to creating a King Cake. After creating the strips of dough for the King Cake, some braids then bakes the strips together which creates the unique look to the dessert. Some people may wonder what makes this thick piece of bread a dessert. Well, after the dough bakes into its unique form, someone splatters icing all over the cake and covers the dough in Mardi Gras colored sprinkles (purple, green and gold). Sometimes King Cakes will be made with different kinds of filling such as, cream cheese, strawberry, apple, or other types. The Mardi Gras colored sprinkles that are on King Cakes symbolize powerful words. Purple stands for justice, green stands for faith, and gold stands for power. The meanings of the colors were created in 1892 during the Rex Parade (Dave). The world’s largest King Cake was baked in 1998 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and it weighed 350 pounds (Dave). There is a secret ingredient that someone inserts in each King Cake and that is

Mardi Gras, first introduced to New Orleans in the early 1730s, is now one of the most celebrated holidays by many natives in Louisiana. Several events are planned for the celebration, beginning in late October or November, which leads into the Mardi Gras season. Mardi Gras involves a series of events and products like Mardi Gras Balls, delicious cakes that are famously known as King Cakes, and parades every day beginning in January and ending on the day that is designated Mardi Gras Day, also known as Fat Tuesday. Fat Tuesday is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the Catholic holiday that marks the beginning of Lent. During the parades, the people riding on the floats throw beads, candy, and stuffed animals, sometimes even other things, to those who have come from all around the world to witness a true New Orleans Mardi Gras. Some companies will even shut down their businesses to celebrate this holiday, even though it is not a national holiday. By

In a world of political discourse with racism and hate running rampant, a few great men and women came together to bring unity and harmony like never before: in the form of massive music festivals. In the late 1972, the black community came together for a concert known as Watts Summer Festival. In 1969, the largest music festival of its time was held, and was known as Woodstock. Later that year, the Rolling Stones put together a massive free concert in San Francisco known as the Altamont Concert. All of the concerts and music festivals were not aimed at making money or becoming famous, but about the unity of people through the art of music.

• Lundi Gras is French for Fat Monday. It is the day before Mardi Gras. • The colors of Mardi Gras are purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. • King cake is the pastry of Mardi Gras.

It was much of a debate on whether I would be attending this year’s Shaky Knees music festival, but after realizing that I would not see all my favorite artists/bands (The 1975, Wolf Alice, and The Japanese House) all in the same festival again, I made sure I went to the Friday performances. Wanting to get a good spot for my first act, The Japanese House, I made sure to get to Centennial Park early, around 11, giving myself time to grab my wristband from Will Call and ask questions regarding their camera policy. Thankfully getting in with my “nonprofessional” DSLR wasn’t an issue and the whole day I wasn’t asked about a press pass. Some were even surprised that I was allowed in with it as they were told different. I suppose it was just a good

The Full Moon Ceremony is an important process for aboriginal women to get together in honor of the grandmother moon to bless the water. June is the strawberry moon, for it is the strawberry harvest season, and it reminds

These festivals are held eight times throughout the year to mark the changes in the seasons. These festivals include Winter Solstice, the shortest day, Summer Solstice, the longest day, and spring and Summer Equinoxes. Witches also honor their deities at monthly rites known asesbats, which are held on the full Moon, when the mind is thought to be more magically powerful. Sabbats begin at sunset and end at sunset the next day. Along with Sabbats there are festivals also known as rites, these are held at night.

Census Bureau in 2013, most Vietnamese residents immigrated to California (40 percent), and Texas (12 percent). They regularly live in the community where predominantly Asian residents reside. These areas include Los Angeles, San Jose, and San Francisco. These three cities have the most Vietnamese immigrants compared to the rest of California. The Asian immigrants often live near markets, schools, and small businesses. I have lived in Garden Grove in Los Angeles, home to the largest Vietnamese immigrants in California, as well as throughout the United States. There are frequently interesting fairs at Phuoc Loc Tho mall on Bolsa Avenue. I can buy any kind of Vietnamese food in there. One interesting Vietnamese holiday is the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is organized in the middle of the eighth month in the lunar calendar. While children go around the streets with their lanterns, adults will prepare moon cakes for their kids. There was also a big parade along Bolsa Avenue during the Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival. Lively atmosphere likes spring flowers are assembled to decorate Nguyen Hue Flower Street to emulate the festivals in

There are many important traditions that were kept until this day. From generations to generations, the Lunar New Year was kept the same and we did not change anything about it or how we celebrate it. But the Lunar New Year, it is not only celebrated in the Vietnamese culture. It is also celebrated in many other Asian cultures, such as Korea and China. Korea celebrates their New Year on the same day as the American New Year is celebrated. I can tell that the most well known and popular holidays in the Viet culture is the Lunar New Year. Vietnamese culture called Lunar New Year as Têt. “In the Vietnamese old cultural beliefs, families believe that their activities during Têt must involve happiness, joy, and good luck.” Many families would have to prepare themselves ahead of time. Others would tell their children to behave on the day or week to avoid bad luck for the whole entire year. Vietnamese family take this old beliefs very seriously because it helped and motivated us that we have good lucks by our side throughout the year. That is why even before the beginning of Têt, families must prepare by cleaning and even painting their home in anticipation of spring, settle old debts and disputes, and pledge to behave nicely and work hard in the New Year. People also traditionally buy new clothes to usher in the New Year. Family goes visit our ancestors, like going to temple to pray or grave. The night before the New Year, families perform a ritual where incense sticks are burned, inviting the spirits of their ancestors to join them in celebration. “This is also a time to bid farewell to the family's Kitchen God (Ong Tao), who then returns to heaven to report on the family's behavior in the past year to the Jade Emperor.” This old belief will continues to spread throughout the country to new generations and will never be forgotten. During a Korean New Year, family comes together to celebrate. Family does

Asia is such a large continent that being Asian already means you are part of a culturally diverse community. As an Asian American, you are mix of two cultures. We celebrate the lunar new year with huge family gatherings, gift exchanging, and food. Lots of food. Whether it be dumplings, kimchi, mattar paneer, mee goreng, or pho, our native cuisine will always make it to the dinner table. During the lunar new year, my family always prepares a huge hot pot, stuffed with shiitake and enokitake mushrooms, vegan fish balls, tofu, carrots, cabbage, ramen, bean sprouts, beancurd, and many other delicious foods. My grandparents hand us red envelopes and we bow to them to show our respect.

Brynn Hardie 30 January, 2017 Mrs. Heidi Baccigalopi HISTORY Today I will be talking about the history of King Cakes and Mardi Gras. The King Cake is a brioche-style cake traditionally made throughout the State of Louisiana during the weeks prior to Mardi Gras.

When the party ends the bride throws the bouquet of flowers to all her single friends, the tradition says that whoever catches the bouquet will be the next to marry. The couple leaves the party together heading to their honey moon.

The Chinese New Year can be called the Lunar New Year as well as the Spring Festival (Mazzei, 2016).

Fish also play a large role in the celebrations. The word for fish, “Yu” sounds like the words both for and abundance. The fish is usually served whole, with head and tail, which mean having a good beginning and ending for the coming year. These round dumplings which is called JiaoZi signify family reunion. Its shape look like a bag the has many gold coins inside. This dish is called Lion’s Head Meatball. They are cooked with oversized meatballs and some vegetable soup. The lion represents power and strength in Chinese culture, while the oversized meatballs symbolize family reunion. Duck symbolizes fidelity in chinese culture. Also, sweet and sour pork is popular with families hoping for a lot of grandchildren because the Cantonese word for “sour” sounds like the word for grandchild. Cakes have a special place in Chinese New year celebrations. Chinese people called them NianGow. NianGow is made up of rice flour, wheat starch, water and sugar. Their sweetness symbolizes a rich and sweet life. The family will then end the night with firecrackers.

Chinese New Year is the most widely celebrated tradition in Asia. The tradition is usually celebrated on the first day of the first month on the Chinese Lunar calendar. This tradition is rooted in centuries-old customs and is one of the most popular public holidays in China. Apart from China, this tradition is also celebrated in many Asian countries like Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan. There are many values and rituals tied with this tradition. For example, people would wear red clothing, decorate the house with red paper, and give children "lucky money" in red envelopes. According to legend, it is said that red can drive away bad luck, which is why the color red is highly emphasized. In myths, our ancestors would