La Tomatina & The Chinese New Year
La Tomatina is a very famous Spanish festival. People celebrate it every year on the last Wednesday of August.
On the morning of the festival day, people gather at the city center. At 11 o’clock tons of tomatoes arrive. They put the tomatoes in very big boxes. People take tomatoes and throw them at one another. Soon tomato juice covers everyone. People shout and have great fun. The fight continues for two hours. After two hours the fight finishes and then big trucks come to the city center. They wash people and streets with water.
Every year thousands of tourists go to Buñol, Spain to join the tomato fight. They say that it is great.
The Chinese New Year is a very important festival for Chinese people. The date is not the same every year. People generally celebrate it between 21 January and 19 February.
Every year the Chinese calendar has an animal’s name, for example 2016 was the Year of Monkey and 2017 is the Year of the Rooster.
Chinese people decorate their houses and towns with coloured lanterns and flowers. They clean their houses and also everything in their houses. They throw away old things from their houses. They think that when they clean and decorate their houses, they throw away ‘bad luck’.
They always stay at home that night. It is very important to be together with your family. They cook very delicious food and have a big dinner together. On New Year’s Day all Chinese people wear new clothes. They generally prefer red because red means good luck. Older people give money to children in gold or red envelopes.