Learn about different New Year's Eve Traditions!

Around the world, January 1 is a day to celebrate with family and friends the coming of a new and exciting year! Individuals often chose to make certain resolutions or promises in order to make the coming year as wonderful as possible. Yet, there are many different ways that the New Year is celebrated in America. Chinese Americans celebrate a Chinese New Year, which is an exciting fifteen-day celebration of family gatherings, festivals and fireworks. (This Chinese New Year is on February 9, and is called "the Year of the Rooster.") On the fifteenth day, there is a Chinatown parade called the Festival of Lanterns with a great dragon dance, marching bands and floats. There are many different cultures and religions that have their own way of celebrating the New Year. It is both fun and rewarding to learn more about different cultures' New Years' traditions!

In the PBS series Postcards From Buster, Arthur's best friend Buster is touring North America and Mexico with his dad who is a pilot for the rock group, Los Viajeros. On each trip, Buster gets to make all sorts of new friends and learn fascinating things about different places and cultures. Buster is thrilled to be able to get to know different families and share some of their cultural experiences. Luckily, Buster's mom has given him a video camera so that he can remember all of his exciting adventures!

Postcards From Buster is not only an exciting and engaging show for young viewers, but it is also extremely educational. As Buster learns about different people's cultures, religions, and languages, viewers will share his experiences and learn tons about the different cultures of North America. The show also supports language development at an elementary school level. As Buster learns new things about people and their customs, new vocabulary is introduced to viewers. Buster himself is also eager to learn and speaks at a level that children his age can understand and model.

VIEW

Kids can take off with Buster on his exciting trips around America, Canada and Mexico daily on WHYY TV12 at 3:30 p.m. Join Buster on Friday, January 14 as he travels to San Francisco! In this episode, Buster is fortunate to meet two Chinese-American girls who share with him some of the customs of Chinese New Year. Viewers will feel part of Buster's adventure as they learn tons about Chinese New Year and its great Festival of Lanterns.

DO

Compare New Year's Traditions!

Although different cultures can have very different ways of celebrating certain events, often times they have some customs or ideals in common. Compare the way you celebrate the New Year to the way Chinese Americans celebrate!

Make a T-Chart

• Title a piece of blank or lined paper "How do kids celebrate New Years?"
• Put a line through the paper in order to divide the sheet into two columns. Label one column "Chinese New Years Celebration" and the other column "My New Years Celebration"
• After your child has watched the episode, have her chart the similarities and differences between both New Years celebrations.
• Ask your child to think about the different customs such as food, clothing or festivals as well as the differing behaviors such as languages or family roles. Encourage your child to think about the significance of these rituals and what they mean to the culture.
• Ask your child to describe her observations to you. What do the customs have in common? How do they differ?
• As your child watches more episodes, have her explore more customs and traditions by making many different T-Charts.

Activity provided by Postcards From Buster Online.

READ

My Chinatown: One Year in Poems by Kam Mak
Through poetry, Kam Mak shares his experiences of growing up in Chinatown, which is a small city within a city. Recommended for children ages 4 to 8.

Celebrating Chinese New Year by Diane Hoyt- Goldsmith and Lawrence Migdale
Children can follow ten-year-old Ryan Leong and his family as they begin their pre-New Year preparations for Chinese New Years in San Francisco. Recommended for children ages 4 to 8.