This post is about Fri@DU Connect: Mid-Autumn Festival.
On Friday 18 September, Fri@DU Connect turned into a Mid-Autumn Festival celebration. International students from different campuses and countries made mooncakes, filled DU House with lanterns, learned the story of Chang’e and walked their lanterns out onto the field nearby.
A festival about being together
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also called the Mooncake Festival, falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, when the moon is at its fullest. In Chinese tradition the round, full moon stands for reunion. Families make a point of being together that night: they share a meal, give thanks for the harvest and look up at the moon. In Malaysia you can feel it coming for weeks, with mooncakes in the shops and lanterns hanging in the streets.
For students who are far from their families, that can make it a bittersweet night. So we kept the heart of it, which is people sitting down together, and shared it with new friends instead.
The story of Chang’e
Some of the students had grown up with this story and some were hearing it for the first time, so we learned it together. In the version most people know, the archer Hou Yi shot down nine of the ten suns that were scorching the earth, and was given an elixir of immortality as a reward. His wife, Chang’e, drank it and floated up to the moon, where she still lives with a jade rabbit for company. Hou Yi missed her so much that he laid out her favourite food under the full moon, and people have looked up at the moon on this night ever since.
Like most old stories, it comes in many versions. In some, Chang’e drinks the elixir to stop a thief from taking it. What they share is the longing for someone far away, which is something every international student understands.
Making mooncakes
Mooncakes are round for the same reason the full moon matters. The circle stands for completeness and togetherness, and a mooncake is meant to be cut up and shared rather than eaten alone. Students sat shoulder to shoulder at the long table, followed the steps on the instruction sheet, made their own mooncakes and packed them into little boxes. Following the same instructions as the person next to you turns out to be a very easy way to start a conversation.
Lanterns and riddles
Lanterns are the other half of the festival. A big stack of paper ones in red, yellow, pink and green, printed with birds and blossoms, were opened up and strung right across DU House.
A slip of paper hung from each lantern with a riddle on it. Guessing lantern riddles is an old festival custom, and it had small groups standing underneath, pens out, arguing their way to the answer.
Lanterns on the field
The lanterns also went outside, to the field near DU House. Small orange lights moved across the grass under a big tree while people talked in twos and threes. Carrying lanterns on festival night is something many people grow up with across East and Southeast Asia. This time it happened in Petaling Jaya, with friends from other universities and other countries.
Come along to the next Fri@DU Connect
Fri@DU Connect is a relaxed Friday evening get-together at DU House in Damansara Utama, held fortnightly. Please sign up on the event page so we know you are coming, and bring a friend if you like. The next date is on our events page.
