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Fruits for Offerings: What to Use and Avoid in Buddhist and Ancestral Prayers

Do you know which fruits are appropriate to offer to the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and your ancestors – and which ones should be avoided?

When I was young, praying to the gods and ancestors on important days was a significant event in my household. I vividly remember two whole sugar canes with roots, each tied with red threads and adorned with a yellow paper lantern. Alongside them stood a table filled with plates of fresh fruits and flowers for the Buddhas, and another with meats, biscuits, and cakes for our ancestors. A tall stack of joss paper was always prepared for burning, symbolically sent to our ancestors for use in the afterlife.

Fruits for Offerings What to Use and Avoid in Buddhist and Ancestral Prayers

Supernatural Games that Open a Gateway

Do you know any supernatural games that open the gateway to a dark, hostile and incomprehensible world? Have you played them before or heard anything about it? Read on and let me tell you more about it.

Some of you might have read that in some of my true ghost stories and Chinese superstitions, I have often referred to examples in Mr Zhou’s Ghost stories. If you are not familiar with Mr Zhou’s Ghost stories, it is a radio segment hosted by Singaporean actor/DJ Dennis Zhou and DJ Nana/Chen Lina, every Friday from 11 pm to 12 midnight (except during Chinese New Year periods and holiday season), at Singapore Love 97.2fm. You can also listen to their podcasts from November 2017 till present with MeListen and Spotify apps.

supernatural Games That Open Gateway

Take a Look at Traditional Chinese Funeral Mourning Clothing

Today, I want to take you back in time—to a tradition that is quietly, and rapidly, fading away: traditional Chinese funeral mourning clothing.

Take A Look At Chinese Funeral Mourning Clothing

Exhuming Your Loved Ones: Family Views

This year Qing Ming Festival/Tomb Sweeping fell on the 4th April 2024. It saddens me that yet again, I have not been able to pay my respects to my dad and my grandparents on this festival. There are a couple of reasons for this: my family are in Singapore so it takes some preparation to plan a long haul trip from Britain. Also, it is not easy to fly over due to school term and travel costs.

Exhuming Your Loved Ones Family Views

Chinese Culture: Pregnancy Taboos

On Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories live radio last Friday, guest speaker Genesis (Top 3 finalist for Be A Podcaster) shared a story about her relatives’ pregnancy. This prompted me to ask my mum about the pregnancy taboos she followed when she was younger.

These taboos are largely considered old wives’ tales. Whether you choose to believe them is entirely up to you—they are shared here for cultural interest and entertainment purposes.

Chinese Culture Pregnancy Taboos

Chinese Table Manners To Observe

Once a month, I meet up with a group of Chinese friends from different backgrounds — the PRC, Taiwan, Malaysia and, of course, Singapore.

One habit that always catches my attention is when someone sticks their chopsticks vertically into a bowl of rice or food. For me, that is a huge no-no. Let me tell you why.

Chinese Table Manners To Observe

Why you should never hang clothing out overnight?

I hadn’t heard of this taboo of never hanging clothing out overnight until I heard from Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories podcast. Some people believe that hanging clothing at night will attract wandering spirits to get attached to the clothing. It will cause us to have bad luck. I will list a few examples later in the post.

Why you should never hang clothing out overnight?

Chinese Four Colour Cards

Four colour cards or 四色牌 was my grandmother’s favourite game to play when she was still around. Every Saturday afternoon, her sisters and her children, like my mum and aunties, will gather around her house to play. It was a regular thing even on Chinese New Year. There was always a big group of at least six to eight of them sitting around the big round table to play with at least two sets of Four Colour cards (224 cards) mixed.

chinese four colour cards game

Over The Moon is on Netflix & Cinema

Netflix’s highly anticipated Chinese animation, Over The Moon, has arrived on its platform since 23rd October 2020, just in time to watch with your children this half term! To celebrate the release of the brand-new animated film, Netflix has been working alongside Chinatown districts to display a series of magical lanterns illuminating in Gerrard St and Newport Place, London, and The Arcadia, Birmingham until 15th November 2020.

over the moon

Build Your Own Dragon Boat Race Game #ad

Would you like to learn how to build your own dragon boat race game? This is a very fun racing game that everyone will love. Thanks to Bostik for giving us this opportunity to make this video.

Build Your Own Dragon Boat Race Game

The Surprising Differences Between Chinese & Typical Western Weddings

I’m willing to bet a lot of you have been to plenty of western weddings in your time. I’m talking about your traditional American or British-style wedding; the ones usually shown on TV shows and in movies, etc.

As a result, I bet you’ve noticed that these weddings all tend to be quite similar. They follow the same customs, have pretty similar themes, and so on. Today, I want to take a little trip into Chinese culture to explain some of the key differences between a typical Chinese wedding and one from Western culture. It’s just a bit of fun, and a chance to show how two things can vary so much, even though they’re essentially the same thing!

The Surprising Differences Between Chinese & Typical Western Weddings

Make your own Chrysanthemum Tea

Drinking chrysanthemum tea has been a part of my life since young, especially whenever we are ill or eating at dim sum restaurants in Singapore. Drinking chrysanthemum tea in the UK is not common practice at all and not even in Chinatown Chinese restaurants. It is one of my favourite teas that I missed when I moved to the UK.

Make your own Chrysanthemum Tea

Celebrating Chinese Festivals

Celebrating Chinese Festivals Book takes us into the most important and celebrated festivals of China, and explains the traditions, the delicious foods, the exciting activities and special customs that go with them!

Celebrating Chinese Festivals Book Review

Chinese Zodiac Animals

As some of you might know, I am bilingual and I am always on the lookout for educational books that teaches Chinese culture and language. It is very important for me to teach both of my children about their heritage.

This Chinese Zodiac Animals is written in simple plain English which is easy to understand and suitable for younger children to follow. It doesn’t contain too many big or difficult words. There are also plenty of colour and adorable illustrations that will appeal to all ages.

Chinese Zodiac Animals Book Review

Dumpling Craft for Dragon Boat Festival

Making Dumpling Craft for Dragon Boat Festival.  It was the Dragon Boat Festival again, which is also known as the Duanwu Festival. This year it fell on the 18th June 2018 which is the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional lunar calendar.

As some of you may remember, I help run Lichfield Mandarin Club which started six years ago and we often do arts and crafts with the children, especially with themes based on Chinese festivals. So this school term, one of the mummies Ailin organized some party games for the children.

Dumpling Craft for Dragon Boat Festival

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Hello!

Welcome to ET Speaks From Home!

Hi, I’m Eileen — a mum of two teenagers, aged 18 and 17, and a passionate lifestyle blogger sharing snippets of family life, creativity, and culture since May 2012. My daughter lives with visual impairment, and our journey together has shaped much of the heart behind this blog.

What started as a small space to document family memories has grown into a vibrant corner of the internet where I share my love for cooking, crafting, DIY projects, Chinese culture, parenting, and honest product and YouTube reviews. Whether I’m creating festive crafts, exploring Chinese traditions, or trying out new recipes, I hope to inspire others through everyday moments from home.

Over the years, ET Speaks From Home has been recognised by several parenting and blogging communities, including:

* Top 20 UK Parent Blogs (2020)
* Tots100 Top 20 Blog on Twitter (2014)
* Tots100 Top Mummy Vloggers (2015)
* Tots100 Top 20 Vloggers (2016)
* Shortlisted for the BritMums Brilliance in Blogging Awards (BiBs), Video Category (2014)

Thank you for stopping by and being part of our journey. I hope you’ll find inspiration, useful tips, cultural insights, and a little joy here at ET Speaks From Home. Read More…

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