Mid-Autumn Festival

I remembered celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival was one of the best moments during my childhood, especially when I was staying in a shophouse where I used to hang out with my neighbours. During this season, parents will buy mooncakes for the family and lanterns for the kids.

 

On the day of the festival, we will have early dinner and when the night came, the family will gather at the living or dining room to cut the mooncake and enjoyed the moonlight with a warm cup of Chinese tea. As the adults were enjoying their mooncakes and tea, the kids lit up their lanterns with candles and started to walk around the neighbourhood.

 

Some kids will show off a few of their handheld lanterns and others were limited to one lantern per child. Kids will gather around when a lantern candle burns out and start helping each other to light it up again. It was such an amazing activity to participate in during that time. That would be one of the few nights that the kids were allowed to sleep later than their usual bedtime. 😊

 

In the modern world now, we do not really see kids walking with their lanterns around the neighborhood. Most of the kids are either at home or skipped the practice. This year, being the COVID year, the streets became a dead town when it comes to night. You could not find a soul outside your house even during this festival.

 

I did not buy mooncakes this year but decided to make my own. I made the Ondeh-Ondeh and the dark chocolate snow skin. It was delicious and it was quickly snapped out by the kids. Since there was no one out on the streets, I lit up my kid’s lantern and let them have a fair share of lantern walk just outside our gate. Though they were the only kids with lanterns, they enjoyed walking just outside our gate and the strolling down the single lane passing my neighour’s house. 

This is indeed a quiet Mid-Autumn Festival and I do hope that we can celebrate this festival with more crowds next year.