Last night the people of Hong Kong celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Harvest Moon or Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie) is a day of family reunions much like Thanksgiving in the U.S. If you can plan that far ahead, this is a great night to be in Hong Kong.
As with all Chinese festivals, the celebration mostly revolves around food. Traditional foods for a Mid-Autumn feast are red, symbolizing good luck. Lobster and salmon are particular favorites – along with apples, pomegranates, roasted peanuts, pomelo, chestnuts, fatt koh (sponge cakes) and, of course the ubiquitous moon cakes. Traditionally they have a solid egg yolk filling but many other fillings are used including red beans, nuts, coconut, etc. I most likely shouldn’t admit this but I don’t like them very much. I think you have to grow up with them.
The festival usually falls on the first night of the full moon in September, this year the 18th. Children love it as they can stay up past midnight, parading multi-colored lanterns into the wee hours. Entire families gather in the parks designated as Lantern Festival Parks to enjoy the lanterns, see the full moon and light candles. Candles were banned this year because of the number of people who burn themselves. Nevertheless, people figure out a way to light candles anyway. I have a feeling that, over time, the candle ban will not be enforced.
It is also a romantic night for lovers. The mythic rationale for the festival involves the wife of a hero who sacrifices her life to keep the key to heaven from an evil pretender. That night her husband recognized her profile in the bright autumn moon.
Even though there were heavy rains and a monsoon warning last night, 70,000 people showed up at Victoria Park alone to celebrate. Four other official park sites were busy and dozens of unofficial sites were crowded with families celebrating the Harvest Moon.
Ironically, the weather service is predicting clear skies for tonight, Sept. 19. So if I and my fellow 6.5 million Hong Kongers want to see the full moon, we’ll have to stay up late tonight, too.
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