Every country, nation, culture, every family has various traditions.

In China Spring is filled with various days to celebrate: people take time to visit Peach Gardens during Peach Blossom; they honour their late family members by Sweeping Tombs during Qing Ming Festival ; they celebrate Labour day on May 1st…

It happened so that every Spring our family has a new tradition to celebrate: our Anniversary. And it happens that it falls on Qing Ming Festival which makes it even more memorable.

Let me tell you a story…

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Once upon a time. There was a girl and a youth. They grew up in very different parts of the world. They were very different, but had one thing in common: they were Baha’is.

Some time in 2001, the girl travelled all the way to India to attend a Baha’i conference in Bangalore, followed by volunteering at the Baha’i Academy in a town of Panchgani. There she met the youth for the first time: they were paired up for the Equality dance during a Dance Workshop practice. The youth and the girl danced, his feet kept stepping on hers, her palms were sweating. They parted their ways after that but by some chance they occasionally kept in touch over email and chat as good friends.

The same year the girl moved to China where she remained working and going on with her life. The youth  moved back to Tanzania.

In late 2006, young man moved to China, to a completely different city. And around the end of 2007 the young man and the girl started communicating more and more. Finally, at the beginning of 2008 the young man confessed his feelings to the girl, which spun her world around, turned it upside down and made her realize she, in fact, had the same strong feelings for him.

They met after 7 years in Beijing. The young man proposed right away and she accepted. They married on April 5th, 2008 – two souls, born and raised in different countries, meant to meet again and start their family in China.

This is our love story. And every year we remember and remind ourselves to cherish what we have.

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We don’t do any fancy celebrations. My husband always has some amazing videos made from pictures throughout the years put together. We treat ourselves to a nice meal and dessert. Since we have children, we make the best out of spending this day as a family.

Our wedding was very simple yet very memorable to us. Dearest friend, Elika Mahony, offered her beautiful home for us to hold the Baha’i ceremony.

Originally we hoped to have the ceremony at her lovely garden. But the day before it became quite cold and even snowed a bit. So the ground was wet.

To our surprise, when we came to Elika’s house, the cherry tree she had planted there blossomed overnight. And the day was more or less warm and sunny!

We had our ceremony with prayers, vows and ring exchange. So while everyone else was celebrating QingMing Festival, burning paper gifts and praying to the ancestors, we were celebrating our union and the beginning of new life together!

Then we had some finger foods (it was a blend of Russian, Indian and Persian cuisines) and refreshments.

It was a simple gathering of dear friends and families together. We didn’t aim for anything fancy and so it was just that – simple and cozy.

This year we are celebrating our 5th anniversary and we hope to have many more years together.

What are your Spring Traditions? Is there something you always do with your family or friends? Tell me about it!

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This post is a part of Multicultural Blogging Carnival. Please, visit Kid World Citizen on April 11th to read more posts on Spring Traditions.

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