Our First Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

This past week was the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, a holiday celebrated in many Asian countries, including China.  It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, which was Sept. 22 this year.  It is considered by some to be similar to our American Thanksgiving.  Families gather for picnics under the full moon, eat moon cakes (round pastries with dense, rich fillings and intricate designs on top), and send wishes up to the moon.

Sarah and I celebrated last Sunday with our local Chinese Association.  Don was visiting his parents in the Twin Cities, so he couldn't make it.  Unfortunately, Sarah awoke at 5:15 Sunday morning, so she really needed a nap before we went.  Much of the food was gone by the time we arrived at about 2:45, but we did get to eat mooncake.  Ours had a Chinese date filling and was really yummy.  Traditionally, mooncakes have a salted egg yolk in them.  I was happy to miss out on that!

Normally, I would have been quite uncomfortable walking in late to a gathering of people I don't know.  I've found Chinese people to be so friendly, though, that I wasn't uneasy at all.  Our friend Wendy, whom we met at the local Chinese restaurant on Christmas Eve, was watching for us and came right up to welcome us and introduce us to others, including her mom.  Everyone wanted to meet Sarah (of course), and they all remarked on how beautiful she is (and such big eyes!).  We were guided to the buffet table, then shown a seat and served mooncake.  Many of the local Chinese teach at the University of Wisconsin in La Cr*sse, and one nice man talked with us while we ate.

Sarah was pretty shy to begin with, but she warmed up as she ate.  We both enjoyed watching people sing Karaoke to Chinese songs (played very loudly, I might add).  There was some dancing, but things were winding down by the time we got there.  Wendy was such a gracious hostess, though, giving Sarah colored pencils and paper to draw while everyone was cleaning up.

We officially joined the group last weekend, and I was surprised to learn that we're the only China-adoptive family that are members.  There are quite a few such families in the area, but I get the sense most aren't that interested in participating in Chinese activities. 

I'm really excited to do more with the group.  Their warmth and enthusiasm is remarkable, and I hope to learn a lot from them, while Sarah gets to know people from her native country.  Next month, there is a celebration of the Double 9th Festival, which honors the elderly, combined with Wendy's mom's 70th birthday party.  Fortunately, the Vikings play late that afternoon, so Don doesn't have a scheduling conflict.  :)