January 1st is New Year’s Day. People all over the world celebrate it. On New Year’s Day there is a one-day holiday in most countries. The real celebrations for New Year always happen on the night before on New Year’s Eve. There are a lot of interesting customs in the West, and there are a lot of differences from country to country.

New Year’s Day is a family get-together and it is also a time to get together with their friends. Many people have parties to welcome New Year. At these parties, there are all kinds of food and drinks, and people often sing and dance until the arrival of New Year.

On New Year’s Eve when midnight comes, people often say “Happy New Year” to each other and wish good luck to each other. Champagne (香槟酒) is a favourite drink for New Year. In many western countries, fireworks are let off at midnight to celebrate the New Year.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is an old traditional festival in China. Everybody likes it because it’s a family get-together. You see it is called “the Mid-Autumn Festival”,so it often comes in September or October. It is on the 15th of the 8th lunar(阴历的) month. Now,let’s say something about this interesting festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a very important Chinese festival. A few days before the festival,everyone in the family will help to make the house clean and beautiful. Lanterns will be hung in front of the house.

On the evening there will be a big family dinner. People who work far away from their homes will try to come back. After dinner,people will light the lanterns which are usually red and round. Children will play with their own toy lanterns happily.

At night the moon is usually round and bright. People can enjoy the moon while eating mooncakes which are the special food for this festival. They can look back on the past and look forward to the future together.

Mother’s Day first began in America. A mother was very kind. After she died, her daughter wanted to remember her so she wanted to make a day for all the mothers. In 1913, America decided to make the second Sunday of May to be Mother’s Day and every family had to put up a national flag to show their love to mothers. Later, it became an important festival to remember and praise (赞扬) all the mothers in the world.

In China, some people want to make our own Mother’s Day. Mother Meng is very famous in China. She loved her son very much and did a lot for her son. Chinese people think she was a great mother, so people want to make lunar (阴历的) April 2nd to be the day. Because Mother Meng’s son—Mengzi was born on that day.

On Mother’s Day, children often help their mothers do some cleaning and they also buy gifts for their mothers. Some mothers even go for a trip and have some other activities to celebrate this day.