We Calgarians don’t experience much of what the autumn season has to offer (mostly because autumn lasted for three days), but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make the best of it. As a Chinese Immigrant, The one event that I look forward to when the leaves begin to fall is the Mid-Autumn Festival. A time of moon cakes and Chinatown festivities, who wouldn’t love it?
The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated by the Chinese, Vietnamese, and other Asian cultures alike, to give thanks to a bountiful harvest and to our friends and families, so technically it is the Asian Thanksgiving. The exact date of the festival shifts every year, as it is based on the Chinese Calender. The festival occurs on the 15th day of the eighth month, which is Sept. 8 this year in our calender.
The festival is a very exciting time for the Chinese, as there are many ways to celebrate. Lanterns coming in various sizes, colors, and designs are lit by children and adults alike to signify the coming winter and the wish for the warmth of the sun. The Calgary Zoo is will going a step further next year. In order to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival and the eventual arrival of their Asian animals, such as the Komodo dragons and the one-horned rhinos, they will be launching a Lantern Festival in Autumn, 2015. Featuring many of the Zoo’s iconic animals in display as lanterns and LED lights, reminiscent of the Zoo Lights Event.
Of course, we can’t forget about the delicacies known as mooncakes. Baked sweets with lotus/bean/yolk fillings, with almost 600 calories per piece, it might be more fattening than a turkey. Shaped like a moon with intricate designs, it represents the moon worship part of the festival, and the act of sharing a mooncake with family members meant the reunion and closeness of a family. They usually come in a box of four cakes (although the box is very pretty, your parents will most likely use it to store sewing supplies), and can be found from the shops in Chinatown to even your local grocery (If they have an international food isle). Better get them now or else you’ll have to wait until next year!
So if you’re tired of drinking pumpkin spice lattes everyday, maybe you just need some mooncakes to shock your taste-buds back to life. You can experience some new culture and find a new way to give thanks this year by celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival.
