This past week marked the Mid-Autumn Festival, which celebrates the harvest and the brightest moon of the year. It was celebrated on Wednesday night (Sept 22) and Thursday was the ‘day following Mid-Autumn Festival’ so we didn’t have classes. I lucked out because Thursday is one of my busy days with 4 classes/tutorials and none of them met. J Unfortunately though I had a late class Wednesday night from 5:30-8:30pm, but we got out a little before 7pm. A bunch of exchange kids went into Central/Causeway Bay (?) to see a celebration but I didn’t get out of class in time to make it. L Oh well. I was able to hang out around campus and celebrate here.
On Monday though, OMIP organized a Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration where a bunch of exchange and local students got together in the canteen to celebrate the Festival. There were a bunch of different stations and activities that gave great insight to local celebrations. We were able to try a lot of different foods, including mooncake and different types of fruit. Mooncakes are small little round pastries, with “A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (2-3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs” (Wikipedia). I had heard a lot about them and have seen hundred of advertisements for them in various MTR stations so I was very interested yet hesitant to try them. I had a feeling I wouldn’t like them- something about the egg yolk… But I tried it and woah. It was so sweet and was not for me. Not too many exchange kids seemed to like them, but I hear there are a lot of different types so I am going to search for some other kinds and give them a shot.
Some food- meat on a stick, hot dogs and some other things that I don't know what they are...
The mooncake is right in the center, with Starfruit to the left and Pomelo to the right
Some other activates included playing local board games and making lanterns. I played the Chinese version of Chutes and Ladders and won! As a prize, I got the board game.
Chinese Chutes and Ladders
Lantern making
The night as a whole reminded me of Casino Night at CBC; lots of tables set up around the room and you could go to the different activities as you pleased. It was a great chance to participate in local celebrations while learning about the Mid-Autumn Festival.
mooooooooncake!!! :) yummmyyyy hahaha Lotus seed paste is the best kind! But I've had a couple others myself, and they are good too. Just avoid the ones with nuts. Gross. It tasted like rotten fish.
ReplyDeleteI love starfruit too, and pomelo!! I love pomelo! It's also called Chinese grapefruit.. and most of it in the world is grown in the States. Weird, given that I never had it until I was in China. :) Just a fun fact.