On Friday night, the night of the super moon, we and some 300 people celebrated Mid Autumn Festival in Washington DC Chinatown. We sat on the lawn of Chinatown Park, watched a movie, lit lanterns and ate moon cakes.
Mid-autumn festival is a time of fun and reflection and family gathering. To celebrate the beauty of the full moon we tell tall moon tales, eat round moon cakes and recite funny moon poems. Best of all, for children and the forever young we have lanterns!
In the good old days (i.e. when I was growing up), the lanterns were very elaborate–hand made with bamboo sticks and colorful cellophane paper and sprinkled with tinsel. Sure, we had the traditional Chinese lanterns–like the ones you see hanging in great ancestral halls, the one with fringes at the bottom but we also had lanterns that came in the shapes of stars, dragons (of course), roosters, horses, and monkeys. And some that look a little like pinatas. They were, after all, for children.
I remember my favorite one. It had two globes the size of soccer balls, in see-through red and orange cellophane, that rested on wheels and when I pushed it, the globes revolved. How cool is that? Mum loved these festivities and spoiled us with beautiful lanterns.
Inside these delicate lanterns, we’d put red candles and lit them. It was our only opportunity to play with fire! Who could top that? Every year, our mothers would warn us to be cautious and every year someone’s lantern would burn. It was alarming and funny at the same time, but not for the kid whose lantern was burning.
The event on Friday was a fun, community affair. The DC mayor’s office hosted the event. The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association gave out moon cakes and the 1882 Foundation handed out lanterns and provided the movie Monkey King : Hero is Back. The Chinese Community Church also supported the festivities.
Ted and I passed out the cutest lanterns, provided by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office. Alas, instead of candles (no fun there!) these lanterns now have battery operated or LED lights. I bet the Fire Department was glad. Nonetheless kids and adults had a blast with the lighted lanterns.
Some Moon Festival Trivia:
FYI, the legend for the Festival is about some dude who was skilled with the bow and arrow who found the secret of living forever. He made it into a pill, hid it but wife Chang E found and ate the pill. (Who does that?) She floated up to the moon. Hubby tried to shoot her down back to earth but mission unaccomplished, wifey remains in lunar orbit. Random info: there’s a rabbit who keeps her company there.
Moon cakes are made of a pasty, heavy dough and filled with pastes made of lotus seeds, red bean or almond. The favorite ones are filled with salted egg but it also comes in mixed nuts. Boxes of moon cakes are popular as gifts during the season. I can only eat a sliver for the whole year. But Alison, my daughter, told me Haagen Dazs in Singapore now sell ice cream moon cakes that come in lotus seed, strawberry, vanilla and mango flavors in a chocolate shell.
Also there is the popular piglet, the cutest dough animal that traditionally came in a pink, plastic basket. Funny enough, when we lived in Guangzhou in the 1980s, we actually saw real pigs in similar baskets heading to the market. Kids love the pigs because they are cute but it’s just doughy and tasteless. (Must be from leftover dough from making moon cakes.)
