my favorite time of the year

Beautiful lantern display

I love holidays and celebrations. Here in Hong Kong, we celebrate a little of everything, with public holidays for celebrations like Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Buddha's Birthday; for honoring ancestors like Ching Ming and Chung Yeung; for the establishment of the People's Republic of China and the city as a special administrative region; for two new years (January 1, and the first three days in the lunar calendar); for traditional Chinese holidays like Dragon Boat Festival and so on.

Some of our mooncakes from this year. See Bobo's fish on the right? :)

You may be surprised to learn that my favorite celebration of the year is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar. The public holiday is always the day after the actual Mid-Autumn Festival, because the celebrations always take place at night. Lots of places let their employees leave a few hours early so they can enjoy the holiday, even though it's not required of them by law. I like this so much - it reminds me that our fast-paced, efficiency-driven city can be generous and kind, too.

Bobo and Wawa enjoying the lanterns 

The moon is always full on Mid-Autumn Festival, and for Chinese people, the circular shape of a full moon is symbolic of family and togetherness. Families gather for a hearty celebratory meal and for mooncakes. There are lots of different kinds, including: the traditional ones filled with lotus paste and egg yolks, the 'snowy' mooncakes with various mochi and ice-cream-like fillings (including durian!), and my recent favorite - the fantastically indulgent custard mooncakes with their tasty 'lava' fillings.

Bobo came home from kindergarten on Mid-Autumn with two fish-shaped snowy mooncakes that he had made at school. We were so proud of him and enjoyed the lumpy little fish very much! It was also festive and fun to buy fruit (usually big moon-like crystal pears, and starfruit, for the stars in the sky!) for our relatives prior to the holiday.

My  rabbit lantern! Thanks, mom!

Children look forward to the holiday not because of the mooncakes, but because of the lanterns! Bobo and Wawa were both asked to bring a lantern to school on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival so they could enjoy the holiday with their classmates at school. In the past, kids mostly played with inflatable lanterns that lit up and played horrible tinny music (we have many such lanterns in our home). I noticed that this year, more children were carrying paper lanterns, perhaps out of their parents'/schools' concern for the environment.  This year, my mom bought me my own lantern, a traditional rabbit lantern with wooden wheels. I love it and will be saving it for next year's mid-autumn, too.

There's always a lovely little Mid-Autumn carnival at the park downstairs, with games and free food (popcorn, red bean pudding, and more mooncakes). A stage is set up in the middle of the park, with people singing Chinese opera and playing traditional Chinese tunes. It's lots of fun. People love to take pictures of the moon, but it's very difficult to get a good shot with a camera phone (I've tried many times!).

It's also one of my favorite times of the year because nine Mid-Autumns ago, my then boyfriend proposed to me, marking the beginning of our engagement and our life together. So, for me, Mid-Autumn is a very special time of year - a time for celebrating the joy of family, togetherness, and love.