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The countdown to the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Tuesday next week, has begun. As we are looking forward to the upcoming Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival, some special memories of past ones are recalled at the same time.
Textbooks as offerings to the moon
Speaking of sacrificial offerings to the moon, mooncakes may probably come to your mind in the first place. Chen Siyi, a freshman from Chaozhou in Guangdong province, has another story to tell. She says her family usually organize some sacrificial activities during the festival, placing her textbooks on the table with other offerings. It seems like a tradition of wishing families with children at school to make progress in their study, according to Chen.
Among other things, textbooks are included in the sacrificial offerings. (Photo credit to He Ye)
She remembers she even tried to make an offering of an English test paper. “Last year when I was a Grade-3 senior high school student, I was doing my English paper that day. However, the test was so difficult that I hardly recognized any of the words,” she says. "I asked for help but failed to have my problems solved.” Feeling upset and at a loss, Chen finally decided to add the paper to the offerings, hoping the moon would come to help. As was to be expected, it didn' t work, but the moon must heard her wishes, she says jokingly. As such, this has been one of her unforgettable experiences about the Moon Festival.
Crop harvesting with families
De Ji Zhuo Ma, a student from Tibet, also has her exclusive memory about the festival. She recalls that when she was in Tibet, she would have a holiday of several days leading up to the Mid-Autumn Festival. As her family spent this festival harvesting crops, she would return to her hometown to help them with the farm work, according to Zhuo Ma.
People in Tibet are busy with harvesting around the Mid-Autumn Festival. (Photo credit to Zhuo Ma)
"I remember that, once I was reaping crops in the field, a scary insect appeared right in front of me," she says. "I was so afraid that I almost cried out. However, my parents who had just witnessed the whole scene, just stood there, giggling at me for my overreaction." This has been one of her bitter sweet memories about the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Have fun with DIY mooncakes
For Nguyen, a student from Vietnam who now studies at SCNU, she thinks highly of this special festival. Due to the pandemic, she is not going to return to her motherland. Instead, she celebrated this year's event with some other foreigners in Guangzhou by joining an activity to make mooncakes.
Nguyen is placing the mooncakes for baking. (Photo credit to Nguyen)
Led by the chefs, she saw how to prepare the materials, learnt to roll the fillings, shaped the stuffed dough, and finally helped to get them baked. "This will be the most impressive Mid-Autumn Festival I' ve ever experienced," she says. "I like this kind of DIY activities a lot. It is a good way to get familiar with Chinese culture. I feel that mooncakes are not only a Chinese dessert, but also a form of art.”
Nguyen take some photos of this meaningful activity. (Photo credit to Nguyen)
Above are the special pieces of students' impressions about the Mid-Autumn Festival, which are like a box of mooncakes, containing different kinds of favors. Maybe they are quite different, but every bite of them is a rush of flavor that deserves to savored by you. So, what are your indelible experiences of the Mid-Autumn Festival?
Written by Chen Menghan, Li Jiani
Proofread by Edwin Baak
Edited by Li Jianru
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