FESTIVALS AND CELEBRATIONS

Festivals and celebrations of all kinds have been held everywhere since ancient times. Most ancient festivals would celebrate the end of cold weather, planting in spring and harvest in autumn. 【小题1】

Festivals of the Dead

Some festivals are held to honour the dead or to satisfy the ancestors, who might return either to help or to do harm. For the Japanese festival Obon, people should go to clean graves and light incense in memory of their ancestors. The Western holiday Halloween is now a children’s festival, when they can dress up and go to their neighbors’ homes to ask for sweets. 【小题2】

Festivals to Honour People

【小题3】The Dragon Boat Festival in China honors the famous ancient poet, Qu Yuan. India has a national festival to honour Mohandas Gandhi, the leader who helped gain India’s independence from Britain.

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Harvest and Thanksgiving festivals can be very happy events. People are grateful because their food is gathered for the winter. China and Japan have mid-autumn festivals, when people admire the moon and in China, enjoy moon-cakes.

Spring Festivals

The most energetic and important festivals are the ones that look forward to the end of winter and the coming of spring. 【小题5】In some Western countries, Easter is an important religious and social festival for Christians around the world. It celebrates the return of Jesus from the dead and the coming of spring and new life.

People love to get together to eat, drink and have fun with each other. Festivals let us enjoy life, be proud of our customs and forget our work for a little while.

Following a design shown on her cell phone, Ruan Xiyue, 35, quickly sketched a manned spacecraft on a gourd (葫芦), completing the first step of gourd sculpture, an intangible (非物质) cultural her it age of northwest China’s Gansu Province.

Coming from a family engaged in gourd sculpture for almost 90 years in Lanzhou, Ruan is not satisfied with just perfecting her technique. Instead, the fourth-generation inheritor (继承人) aims to bring traditional craftsmanship closer to young people through marketing and sharing.

Dating back over 1, 600 years, gourd sculpture was first developed as a decoration on people’s portable wine pots made of gourds. The pronunciation of “gourd” in Chinese, which resembles that of “luck and fortune”, partly explains its lasting popularity.

For Ruan, the fragrance of gourds is the smell of home. Upon graduating from college, she started learning gourd sculpture from her mother, sitting for hours every day practicing calligraphy and painting, which she views as the essential training to become a qualified sculptor. Later, Ruan developed innovative products such as gourd mirrors and gourd necklaces to tap the market potential, believing they can help the craft reach more people.

Her family opened a gourd sculpting studio in 2010, displaying their works as well as a history of the art. Ruan likes talking with visitors to the studio, and their interactions inspired her to launch a curriculum for people to experience the craft in 2016. According to Ruan, around 800 people attend the courses every year. Among them are students eager to learn something new, and young parents who bring their kids along to enjoy some lovely family time. “Many participants told me that our courses enable them to know more about the history of Lanzhou, and help make the city’s memories last longer,” said Ruan.

Under Ruan’s influence, her mother is now live streaming on social media everyday sharing her stories of gourd sculpture with viewers across the country. “Sharing is inheriting,” said Ruan. “When we share our skills and knowledge with more people, the traditional culture will naturally be spread on a wider scale,” said Ruan.

Having No Sense of Humor

A sense of humor is a quality that is usually considered valuable in a social context. If you are worried that you may not have it, don’t panic just yet. 【小题1】. If you find you are naturally unfunny, worry not! Work instead on accepting the unique person you are and showcasing your other talents.

Remember that everyone is different.

You might sometimes feel like you are the only one who isn’t witty or funny, but remind yourself that everyone is different, with different strengths and weaknesses. 【小题2】, and not all of them have a sense of humor.

Practice self-acceptance.

【小题3】, or there may be other reasons. Having no sense of humor doesn’t make you a bad person or mean there’s something wrong with you.

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Determine what you are good at and what brings out your personality. Think about your most joyful activities as a child, or what you were doing the last time you lost track of time. You may have a hidden gift that hasn’t been discovered yet.

Though it may seem that the dominant culture likes and accepts humor, it’s totally okay that some people don’t. 【小题5】. While funny people serve a great purpose, so do serious people.