The celebration lasts for three days starting around the 15th day of the 8th lunar month on the Chinese calendar. The first day is to welcome the moon, the second day is to celebrate the full moon, and the third day is to chase after the moon. Here's a little background info courtesy of Wikipedia (it's legit... I checked it out):
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year), and is a legal holiday in several countries. For thousands of years, the Chinese people have related the vicissitudes of life to changes of the moon as it waxes and wanes; joy and sorrow, parting and reunion. Because the full moon is round and symbolizes reunion, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the festival of reunion. All family members try to get together on this special day.
Today, festivities centered about the Mid-Autumn Festival are more varied. After a family reunion dinner, many people like to go out to attend special performances in parks or on public squares. Chinese family members and friends [*and Rotary scholars* - my addition to Wikipedia] will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes together. There are many variations of moon cakes. They are typically made with sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste or Chinese dates, wrapped in a pastry. They are very rich and sometimes contain cooked egg yolks in the middle). Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:
Today, festivities centered about the Mid-Autumn Festival are more varied. After a family reunion dinner, many people like to go out to attend special performances in parks or on public squares. Chinese family members and friends [*and Rotary scholars* - my addition to Wikipedia] will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes together. There are many variations of moon cakes. They are typically made with sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste or Chinese dates, wrapped in a pastry. They are very rich and sometimes contain cooked egg yolks in the middle). Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:
- Carrying brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, floating sky lanterns
- Burning incense in reverence to deities
- Planting Mid-Autumn trees
- Collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them evenly among family members
- Fire Dragon Dances
So, that brings me to my participation in all of this. After a lovely dim sum lunch with the Rotary Club of New Territories yesterday afternoon, we set out for Yan Chai Hospital (also in the New Territories - not that close to HK Island. If you're curious, here's a map). Our service activity was to throw a little Mid-Autumn party for the senior citizens living there. A hospital staffer said they care for 51 seniors, but only 20 were able to go home to their families. Some of the patients didn't have any family left at all. It was really sad to learn that. The best way to equate it is not having anyone to spend Thanksgiving with back in the States (or some other really big family-centered holiday). Our job at the nursing home was to act as surrogate family members for a few hours. I found this to be especially awkward because I couldn't actually communicate verbally with any of them. I smiled a lot and even gave a few "thumbs up," but other than that I was at a loss. It was still a great experience though. Lily served as my interpreter for most of the afternoon. Mrs. Leung was one of my favorites. She's 96 years-old, but just as spunky and independent as if she were 60. (Side note- There were actually quite a few seniors either approaching 100 or older, but they all looked AMAZING for their age. I'd never guess they were that old). Anyway, Mrs. Leung went on and on about how nice it is that she doesn't have to depend on anyone to feed her or take care of her. She was such a tiny woman that when she spoke passionately, her legs would sway back and forth because she couldn't touch the floor. So cute! Below is a photo of us together.
The activities included singing traditional Chinese songs, a birthday celebration, playing a "Hot Potato" Mid-Autumn Festival trivia game (along with prizes for winners), and moon cake for all. Right as things were winding down, a Rotarian called my name and said I was being requested. One of the gentlemen I had interacted with earlier spoke a small amount of English and wanted to tell me something. (He also spoke a little bit of French and Japanese, so we had fun just yelling out phrases to each other). When I approached him he reached for my hand and said, "Thank you very much," in perfect English. He then started to cry and said he was very touched by us being there. I was so overwhelmed I started to cry too... in the middle of everything. We must have looked like quite a pair. I had to excuse myself because I couldn't stop crying. It just really struck me that he was so appreciative of me being there that he made the extra effort to speak my language just to tell me so. I was so moved. It was one of those experiences when you realize that we're all the same, regardless of where we're from, what language we speak, our religious beliefs, and so on. We all have the same basic needs, to be loved and to spend time with the ones we love. I'll never get the image of him crying out of my head and I get teary just thinking about it. I don't know his name, but here is a photo of us (pre-meltdown).
Below is a complete slideshow from the hospital visit.
Mid-Autumn Festival service project
The rest of the day was tear-free. Lily, Sandy and I had dinner together (our own little Rotary scholar family) in Causeway Bay and then headed to Victoria Park for the lantern festival. It was so cute to see all the little children with their tiny lanterns and I was most impressed by the giant lantern displays depicting various scenes from the moon goddess legends. We also saw some Asian dances, which were pretty cool. Those Indian boys can definitely bust a move. Check out the video clip. :)
Tonight was the final evening of festivities. After dinner with Suk Yee and CK (fitting since they are my Chinese aunt and uncle and this is a family holiday), I headed to Tai Hang to catch the Fire Dragon Dance with Sandy and Brendon (more Rotary scholars). It actually sounds cooler than it really is. The dragon is constructed with lots of tiny, smokey sparkler things, and the smoke burned my eyes a little. It was also EXTREMELY crowded. Below is a slideshow of pictures from the lantern festival and the fire dragon dance. Please feel free to leave comments. My experience in Hong Kong so far has been one of a lifetime!
Victoria Park Lantern Festival and Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance
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