No one does Festivals better than the Chinese and they sure do have a lot of them!!
Yesterday we celebrated the Mid Autumn Festival or as it is often referred to - Moon cake Day. In China, the moon symbolizes beauty and elegance – and a trusted friend. Ancient folklore brings us the story of the moon maiden which many students have shared with me and I'll give you a shortened version for those interested.

Chang-O, a beautiful lady was the wife of the Divine Archer Hou Yi – the most skilled archer of the emperor. One morning ten suns magically appeared in the sky. This made the land very hot, and the folk were concerned it would cause a massive drought and all would die. So the emperor instructed Hou Yi to shoot down nine of the ten suns. He did so and his superb marksmanship was rewarded with the elixir of Life. Concerned that Hou Yi would become a tyrannical ruler, Chang-O stole the elixir. After drinking it, she floated up to the moon, where she still lives to this day. So during Moon Cake Festival people hope to see her dancing on the moon.

It is a time for families to get together and students who lived close to school were able to go home for dinner with their families. They all had to return to school by 2000 hours to celebrate with their fellow students. There was much singing, dancing, moon poems and eating moon cakes. Unfortunately the weather was not kind and the moon could not be seen in the night sky much to the disappointment of the students.

The school presented every teacher with a box of moon cakes and many students have also given me mooncakes....I will be eating them forever!! Moon cakes consist of a thin tender skin enveloping a sweet, dense filling have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony" as well as the filling in the moon cake. Needless to say I have had to learn the Chinese characters for "egg' and “egg yolk’ due to my allergy….no trips to the local hospital please!!! I am fortunate that some students are aware of my allergy and got their mothers to make me some especially without egg. Some have been delicious while others...well different would be the nice way of putting it.

I was invited to dinner by one of the teachers to join him and his family which was a great honour. Had a lovely meal and my first taste of Chinese wine - not a bad drop! So all in all I've had a very nice first moon cake festival.......wonder what will be next????