You know you’re a teacher when…

You know you’re a teacher when you’re sad that Monday is a holiday, and especially sad that it’s a non-make-up holiday.  If you’ve been around here for awhile you’ve become familiar with the Chinese infatuation with make-up holidays.  The logic usually goes, “Guess what, you have Friday off!  And we’ll make up all the classes from Friday on Sunday!”  While this logic does seem to contradict the definition of a holiday, in some ways I’ve actually grown to appreciate the system.  As a teacher, it’s incredibly useful to have a make-up day if it means that all of your classes remain on the same schedule.  The fact that this Monday is a non-make-up holiday means that I somehow have to cram an already tight curriculum into an even shorter schedule in two of my three junior listening classes.  And that, in my opinion, is not worth the pleasure of a one day holiday–a sentiment that I am quite certain my students do not share.

This coming Monday is Qing Ming Jie (Tomb Sweeping Festival) in China.  This holiday always falls on April 4, 5, or 6 and is a day for honoring the dead, and in particular for honoring ancestors.  Families visit grave sites to clean them and to offer gifts and sacrifices.  It’s a holiday that has been celebrated for more than 2,000 years in China.  It’s official observance was canceled after 1949 in the hopes of rooting out the “superstitions” of the people.  However, in 2008 the holiday was officially reinstated as a part of the movement to protect traditional culture from being swept away by modernity.  The beliefs and practices associated with this holiday, as well as its close proximity in date to a holiday that celebrates an empty tomb, provide ample opportunities for conversations this time of year.