By Zhifan Yang || Contributing Writer
On Sunday September 18th, F&M’s Asian Culture Club held their Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration at the Steinman College Center. Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as Moon-cake Festival, was on September 15th in the Chinese lunar calendar. Akin to Thanksgiving in America, Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional holiday in China involving family reunions. People celebrate by eating moon cakes and watching the moon together with their family. Mid-Autumn Festivals are held throughout North and South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian counties.
The Asian Cultural Club at F&M holds the Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration every year, usually in the Steinman College Center. During the event, they prepare moon cakes and other snacks and put on Asian cultural performances. This year, they prepared a variety of different flavors of moon cakes, such as lotus seed with egg yolks and vegetable.They also provided typical Asian drinks, such as aloe juice and soybean milk.
Many traditional Chinese instruments were played throughout the evening. For many students at F&M, it was their first time seeing these traditional instruments. First year student Lingxi Huang preformed music on a traditional Chinese instrument called a Guzheng, and Jingxin Tian, also a freshman, played music on a Pipa.
The first floor of the College Center was decorated with lanterns, and a Power Point presenting basic informations and history of the Moon Festival behind the stage.
The Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration releaved a significant amount of homesickness in Asian international students. “It is amazing. I have been missing moon cakes for a long time, and today I get some to eat. It’s great!” said one Chinese student.
Mid-Autumn Festival in China is for family reunion, but the Chinese students cannot go back to their home and visit their family. Thanks to the celebration held by Asian Culture Club, these students were given the opportunity to enjoy food from their hometown and offered a chance for Asian students to get together.
“It’s an open event so we invite everyone to join in. It’s not only for Asian students. It’s facing to whole F&M community.” According to Weimiao Weng, the president of the Asian Culture Club. The celebration is an excellent way for F&M students to learn about other cultures. During the celebration, lots of students showed a strong curiosity about traditional Chinese instruments, and some students even learned some of the syllables taught by Chinese students. I hope more people can participate in these kinds of cultural school events.
“May we all be blessed with longevity. Though far apart, we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together.” This traditional Chinese poem written by Su Shi in Song Dynasty is often used to bless others who cannot enjoy the moon with them together at Mid-Autumn Festival.
First-year Zhifan Yang is a contributing writer. Her email is zyang1@fandm.edu.