This past weekend was a Chinese holiday known as the Mid-Autumn Festival.

It occurs on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Lunar Calendar, and is pretty much the equivalent of Canada’s Thanksgiving Day, where we celebrate our harvest.

It also celebrates about some Chinese myth about some lady that lived on the moon, but I forget. (No, not Sailor Moon)

Back to the topic, for those who aren’t familiar with the Lunar calendar, the 15th day of each month is the day where the moon is its fullest. Particularly the 8th month, the moon is especially large, as it is closer to the earth.

Instead of the traditional turkey, Chinese people have moon cakes to recognise this holiday. If you enjoy really oily and really sweet things, moon cakes are your best bet. (By the way, my parents actually packed one for me coming back to Waterloo— so Waterlooians, you can have some!). Aside from moon cakes, lighting lanterns is also a tradition during this time.

I remember when I was a little boy in Hong Kong, it was such a big deal— presumably it still is today. Anyways, my parents would buy— my sister, my cousins and me— paper lanterns and we’d flock on the streets just doing what kids consider fun (e.g. running around chasing each other for no apparent reason). Anyways, one particular year is still vivid in my momory and I was probably four years of age. It was a really chilly night— probably temperatures in the single digits— which, by the way, is very cold considering Hong Kong’s high humidity values.

I remember there was a little night market arrangement set up at the outdoor square next to our flat. While each of us was holding on to our paper lanterns, I admired some of those crazy lanterns that was lit by blubs— ours were the “real” lanterns, lit by candles.

Of course, my parents would not spend money on such waste, and snubbed me off. I think the reason why I still remember this so vividly is because of what happened next.

As we were heading home, being the clumsy boy that I was (and still am), I carelessly jolted my lantern while I was playing, and it lit on fire. After my discovery, I alerted my dad— with the expectation that he could save my lantern. But instead, he threw it to the ground and smothered for fire by stomping on it.

This is when I start crying and demanding that he get me another one.

Of course, he didn’t. What’s worse, my sister, nor my cousins, gave me theirs. Mind you, I’m the youngest of my sister and my cousins.

What happened to young kid always getting their own way? Obviously, this is a myth.

Anyways, the moral of this story is that Mid-Autumn Festival was definitely really fun, and I hope to go back to Hong Kong to experience that again— well maybe not the lantern burning part.

Despite the large Chinese population in Toronto, we simply haven’t carried our traditions with us in Canada. The only thing that we have carried on in Canada is the annoyance of dim sum restaurants nagging you to buy mooncakes. Oh gawd, it’s so irritating after a while.

Mid-Autumn Festival - [wikiedpia.org]