Moon Festival

 

 Moon festival, one of the most important festivals in Chinese culture is over 3000 years old and goes by many names such as Mid-Autumn Festival, Moon Cake festival, Autumn Lantern festival, Lunar Harvest festival and particularly Taiwan it is also called Reunion festival and Bunny Girl ( NO, not the playboy one) Moon festival. Chinese origin people around the world are found celebrating this festival by stuffing their mouths with variety of moon cakes under the eighth full-moon of the year. Needless to say, I did not miss the opportunity to stuff my mouth with delicious cakes as well. 

  



Our box of KeeWah pastry

 We have been very lucky to receive boxes of moon cakes and pomelo (see my blog on Exotic Fruits) from friends and colleagues for last few years in Taiwan. First year was difficult as most of the cakes I received had egg, pork and other non-vegetarian items and I could only ogle at pretty boxes but then it was corrected very quickly when a friend ordered special vegetarian moon cakes with stuffing such as mung bean, red bean, taro, dry fruits for us. They are just perfectly sweet in taste (think 30% less sugar than a typical milk sweet from India) and goes very well with oolong tea or red wine. Week before moon festival, office desks are piled with beautifully decorated moon cake boxes showing off the brands of the vendor. Imported ones from Hong Kong are gaining popularity and in this slightly pretentious culture you do see these high-end boxes on top of the piles.



Vegetarian Moon Cakes before I over ate 



Now, on the day of the festival, typical Taiwanese family will gather for a barbeque feast under the moon. Motto of the day is to “eat, eat, eat, drink, eat, eat, drink, eat, eat … “according to one of my colleague. By the way, barbequing on this day is very unique to Taiwan which has emerged as a custom only in last twenty years and hence largely attributed to economic development and western influence by the outsiders. During my first year in Taiwan, I saw people on the streets, walkways and parks barbequing in the open, sneakily shouting “Gan-bei” followed by gulping their disposable cups of “pijio”, enjoying moon cakes and sometimes remembering to check out the moon through a thick smoke cloud that forms above their mobile barbeque pit. Friendly as ever, Taiwanese people will never forget to share their food with the passers-by. There are also many moon-roof parties organized these days which tends to demean western styles than traditional Chinese culture. Whatever the setting, its time of the year to celebrate with your loved ones and remember the ones you love under the moon light. 

This year we were in Beijing for the Moon Festival. We heard that this year Green movement had taken a strong stand in Taiwan for the sake of the environment, road side barbequing was prohibited but dedicated parks were created for open barbeque so people can still enjoy in the 20 yr old custom. I guess I missed the Taiwanese clean, green Moon Festival this year.

Beijing was on a completely different scale. We tried to stay away from the main areas of Moon Festival celebration to avoid the crowds but our attempt was vain. We literally floated through tempestuous ocean of people throughout the day wherever we went. But as the evening set in many government buildings were beautifully lit, red lanterns decorated popular streets and dragons were seen ready to roar and dance that night. Unfortunately (or not), it was a cloudy night in Beijing with no moon in sight so it was a night best spent in the hotel room with a dim night lamp mimicking the moon ;) After a sumptuous dinner we headed back to the room and hoped to catch festivities on the TV. The most popular coverage seemed to be the continuous live coverage of the world’s biggest tidal bore on the Qingtang River (check out videos and images by google search, its really something) that comes every year during this festival. According to the TV coverage, it was considered one of the natural wonders of the World at one point but I am not sure how true that is in a world outside of China. Thousands of people had camped out and gathered by the river shore to watch this wonder wave under the full-moon light today while I virtually thanked the live Moon coverage for a loving husband and embraced him in the faint moon-light that fell on our bed from the TV.

Green Ghost Month



Shop right across my house sets up table of goodies every day during Ghost Month

So lets first start with what is Ghost month? Every 7th Lunar month of the year, Taiwanese folks observe Ghost month. They believe that ghosts move freely around the island during this month and visit from home to home looking for food and money. Locals will cook special meals and treats and place it outside their shops and homes for the hungry ghosts who are roaming around and make them feel warm and respected. One of my local friend explained to me that, every day of the month they serve very good and elaborate food to the ghosts there is a chance that their ancestor's ghost might visit them as well and this is their only chance to pay tributes, respect and take care of them. They will offer favourite dishes, wines, teas and sometimes cigarrettes of their decesed ancestors just to make them happy and get their blessings in return. They also burn paper money as part of paying annual allowance to them and sometimes write letters with messages and put them in the fire.

This unique tradition is believed to be originated about 3500 years in China. Today this festival is observed in most part of the east asia with minor variations but equal enthusisam. Real Estate markets are relatively slow during this month as people avoid moving to new house or buying a new propery. Critical busienss deals are also delayed after this month is over. But local and international TV channels have taken this festival very seriosuly and commercializing every bit of it. Ignoring my constant  agony they continue showing horror movies on every channel every hour of the day to keep the spirits alive!

Paper Money being burned during ghost month

Now here's something worth a big applaud. Environmental Protection Administration of Taiwan is heavily encouraging people to Go Green this year and avoid burning paper money and letters. Many communities have come together with innovative ideas to support this initiative. One community has launched a website where you can offer virtual feasts and virtual money on the internet and its claiming to save 420,000 tonnes of CO2 emmission. While a community in Kaohsiung City is encouraging people to donate the funds that they had put aside to buy paper money and get a certificate of their deeds. This money collected will be used for the charity. Now that's a real win-win situation!

Sky Lantern Festival - Welcome Chinese new year!

What a fantastic way to welcome the new year by sending thousands of pretty lanterns to the Almighty and sneaking in some demands while you alure HIM. Chinese and Taiwanese people are pleasantly sneaky in  getting their demands fulfilled.

We were groups of 6 curious visitors who boarded a train to Pinxi from the Taipei Main Station along with thousands of other folks from all parts of the Taiwan on the 15th day after Chinese New Year. We were amazed and taken aback by a surprise because the excitement and enthusiasm of people around us had not dampened even a little bit despite of constant pushing and pressing of human bodies that were being marinated by body odor and breath of fellow passengers.

We made it to our destination in about 1.5 hours, we were already running out of patience and really hoping that this better be really good. We poured ourselves on to the train platform and contributed to the flood of people. People waited for the train to pass and jumped onto the tracks from all sides just like the river would flood into every open space. In less than a minute platform and track was full of people and I could not differentiate tracks from the platform anymore and colourful lights from lanterns beautifully dotted the sides.

We walked or let me say we got pushed by people in the direction of the spot with best views of sky lanterns and fire cracker show that was organized by the governement every 30 minutes. We held each other tight so that we don't loose each other, we all had phones but how do you explain where you were to your friend when you are lost? Maybe I can say that "hey, I am right outside the lantern shop by the platform? Where are you?" But there were 100s of lantern shops on each side of the platform, where will my poor friend find me. We finally could feel our legs and managed our pace when we got to a spot where the platform ended and the open space began. People spread themselves a bit and we were jsut in time for the fireworks show.  We stood at a good spot and enjoyed the sparkles in the sky. But only when the fumes from the fireworks cleared we noticed something so spectacular. Up in the sky we saw thousands of sky lanterns dangling and floating in the sky.  I was spellbound. Some of the lanterns grouped up and formed beautiful abstract patterns, while others were scattered alone and covering entire length of the sky. It was as if stars had decided to come closer to Earth today so we can enjoy its warmth and beauty! It  This site was mesmerizing and totally worth the long painful travel from Taipei.

I could not wait to paint my own lantern, write all my wishes and send it up in the sky. All of us bought our own lantern and we borrowed Chinese paint brush and an ink pot to write our wishes. We had to buy lantern of specific color for specific wishes. Honestly, I am greedy, I want it all - Money, family, power, peace etc. So I bought a multicolored lantern, scribbled all my wishes with my dear hubby, we lit the candle at the bottom of the lantern and held it for few seconds while the heat from the candle filled its belly before we let it go in the sky. We stared at it in some trance or momentary sincerity to see our wishes fulfilled. We saw it go up and high until we could not distinguish it from thousands of other lanterns. We smiled and hugged, it was a beautiful feeling.

We walked up and down the tracks, tried local delicacies like grilled corn, glazed strawberries and special sweet New Year pastries. When we were tired we looked back at the platform and a train at distance that was leaving the platform and wondered how in the hell are we going to make it in those trains and make it back home!