the chinese celebrate the mid-autumn festival today. it is celebrated every year and the date falls on the 15th day of the eight month in the chinese lunar calendar.
i am not one who is well-versed in all these chinese traditions, but i know being with your family, having mooncake and pomelo and lighting lanterns are part of the tradition associated with this festival.
for some stories of the origin of this festival, click here. it is quite a compilation and helps in enlightening some queries.
although i am not at home, that does not stop me from sighting familiar sights on the streets. a neighbourhood committee had their mini celebration yesterday night and i 'stumbled' upon a lantern parade in the housing area as well. there was lantern making competition and chinese language quizzes (this is one of the must have activities i think). so let's have a look at some of the pictures i got.
a car leading a parade. everyone had a lantern in hand and most were just paper lanterns. but they made quite a sight as the parade was quite long.
girls dressed as the mystical 'chang-er' (goddess of the moon) leading the parade. pretty??
the two goddesses leading the parade.
putting camera on 'slow' flash created this effect. the lights from the 2 lanterns in front trailed all the way till this shot was captured.
another version of the mooncake, shanghai mooncake with lotus paste and egg yolk.
a boy with his first prize winning lantern. it was made from recycled materials: biscuit tin, aluminium cans, mooncake box and edible 'ling kok' (something you can only find during mid-autumn, they have black horn-like shell with white edible filling. in this lantern, they were painted flourescent yellow and pink hanging on the four edges).
common paper lanterns.
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