Here is a nice little summary of the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival plagiarized borrowed almost word for word from Wikipedia.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which falls in September or early October. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox when the moon is at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the moon cake, of which there are many different varieties.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes under the moon together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as carrying brightly lit lanterns.
Here in our little corner of the world, we also celebrated the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival with our local Families With Children from China (FCC) organization. We have been to lots of FCC celebrations, but the festival this year was hands-down, the most enjoyable one that we have attended.
There was just the right mix of Chinese tradition and American fun. Great friends, fun crafts, dancing, scavenger hunt, lantern parade and moon cakes—lots and lots of yummy moon cakes—made for a fun-filled evening. And, I even won the drawing for a free birthday party for Molly at a local Gymnastics studio. Score!
Molly had such a good time that she is still talking about it a week later. And, coincidentally, I just happened to capture a little of her joy in the form of pictures. I know. You’re shocked, right?
Molly at the craft table, working on her glowing moon badge.
Daddy pinning on Molly’s badge. Note my fashionista child. She is wearing pearls with her Hello Kitty jacket. Good choice, honey. Pearls are classic. They go with everything, dah-ling!
A proud Dad with his daughter.
Molly has become soooo social. She arrived at the festival holding my hand, but quickly pulled away and made the rounds to see all of her friends. I had a hard time keeping up. Here she is with sweet Chloe.
Time for moon cakes. Molly had the American chocolate moon pie, while Tony and I ate the genuine moon cakes. Yum-Oh!
Molly and her gal-pal Mattie Gail shoving moon pies in their pieholes.
Then it was on to the highlight of the evening: Dancing! Molly and Mattie Gail were the quintessential dancing queens. They were cutting a rug the.entire.night. I have never seen two happier girls.
You go, girls!
Mattie’s momma, Tressa, even joined in on the fun. For the sake of everyone involved, I decided to forgo the dancing and remain as the designated photographer.
I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the proverbial tree because Molly’s dancing skills are, ummm, well, interesting. Just like mine. The difference is that Molly has potential. She is obviously uninhibited, she just needs to listen to the music and follow directions. Watch…
It doesn’t get much better on the Chicken Dance.
Yep, clueless. But having one heck of a good time.
Here’s one more to prove my point. Chinese version of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.
Pure joy.
Bunny-hoppin’.
Just so that you can see that our two kids were not the only ones out there dancing, here is a wider view. (Yes, this is a thinly-veiled attempt to add additional pictures of my child.)
Lanterns waiting for little hands.
The dynamic duo with their lanterns at the ready.
Hand-in-hand for the lantern parade.
More lantern parade cuteness.
Moms and daughters enjoying the evening.
And the rare picture of me and my hubby, sans child. Love that man!
Oh, by the way, there was one thing we forgot to do at the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival: LOOK AT THE MOON!
Yes, that’s right. We went to a moon festival and completely forgot to look at the moon. I’m sure the Chinese Moon Lady, Chang’e, is staring down at us in disbelief. Hope we didn’t tick her off too much. We will look at the moon twice next year. Promise.
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