MID-AUTUMN DAY FESTIVAL
Published on
Story by
ugur bakici
CONVERSATION:
HUA YING-FUDAN UNIVERSITY, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; MASTER CANDIDATE, SCHOOL OF IR AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS. FAMILIES COME TOGETHER “MISSING IN MID-AUTUMN"
When will the moon be bright?
I ask the sky with a cup of wine in my hand.
I do not know what's the date today is in the sky.
I want return home with the wind
afraid of the moon palace can not bear the cold of the height
the dancing shadow under moon light is clear
just like on the earth
the moon turns to the red attic
shinning in to the windows
just to the worrying unsleeping person
the moon turns round when people are apart
there are sadness & happiness, deviation &aggregation on the earth
and moon becomes dim&bright,wax&wane
nothing is perfect
I wish we could apprieciate the moon's b eauty together
no matter how far apart we are !__
*Poem written during the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival of 1076 by Su Tung Po (Translated by Shun-Yi Lee in 1998)
Based on the Luna calendar, China has many important festivals. One of them was celebrated between 22-24th of September this year. On the morning of first day of this festival, I received lots of SMS from my Chinese friends. They were celebrating my MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL with three words; HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL!.I could not wait such a kind of SMS because I am a foreigner. Furthermore I had no any idea concerning this festival. I was just know that we will have holiday till Sunday .To learn more on this festival, I had to talk with one of my Chinese friends. Therefore I decided to interview with my classmate. I called my friend and she accepted to give more information to me. I am glad to her because she accepted my invitation and gave me Moon Cakes:)
Hello Huan;
*Could you tell me the history of Mid-Autumn Festival?-
China is composed of 56 different nations. The Mid-Autumn festival came from Han Nation. It is the second largest festival in China. Before the invention of electricity, people were coming together under the full moon. They were dancing, singing a song, composing a poem under the Moon. They would express themselves under the Moon.
*What about today? Where do they celebrate it? Is it still be celebrated under the Moon?
The celebration is changed. Today, the celebration is held in the houses, in the restaurants with all the family members. Because the family value is important in Chinese tradition, families come together and have diner with their family members. For example I was with my family members. I joined two dinners within two days. One was with my mother’s family members and another was with my father’s relatives. We had diner all together. It was good opportunity for us to communicate with each other.
*What was the special for the dinner? What did you do in the evening of the festival? What did you eat?
According to our custom, we ate duck and Chinese potato, after dinner we ate Moon Cake. Because family members are all very busy on weekdays, so that the festival offers a cherished chance for us to communicate with each other. Some of us watched TV show. Our government 我 organize a big gala in Beijing in the evening of festival which can be watched on TV nationwide. The show includes dances, songs, and drama shows etc. which will last for 4 hours.
*Could you tell me more about Moon Cake?
Moon cake is a kind of traditional food for celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival which perhaps can be traced back to Ming Dynasty. Judging from appearance, the moon cake is round as the moon figure, in addition, round is a symbolic figure in Chinese traditional culture which implies the reunion and bless for a family. Meanwhile, the moon cake is composed of various ingredient, some taste salty while others taste sweet. Due to advance of modern technology in food producing industry, nowadays , Chinese people could enjoy more diversified flavors of moon cake and purchase moon cakes much more conveniently than previous generations.
*If we compare the current celebration style with the previous one , do you think what kind of celebration customs have been changed by time?
Thanks to the policy-making of central government, the Mid-autumn Festival has been celebrated as a national day now. Under the instruction of this kind of governmental policy, lots of positive effects can be produced. Not only Chinese culture heritage can be preserved and enhanced, but also it provides a great opportunity to promote economic development as holiday economy to purse the development of own country. Due to expansion of Festival duration, more events can be added to the celebration. Local people could arrange their colorful holiday lives at their own. For instance, besides reunion dinner with family members and light-seeing in some public areas , people especially younger generation would have friend-meetings, while some family prefer to go to journey for several days etc.