Mooncake Festival 2022

Reported by: Hong Mei Yue

The mid-autumn festival was held on 10 September 2022 in International Buddhist College. The festival started around 7p.m. at the IBC main lobby. The festival was participated by all the Sangha members, Professors, and students in the campus. This year the festival was a little bit special because it was celebrated with some events which let us know what exactly the mooncake festival is about. As usual, the festival begins with the chanting session in three traditions, Pali, Tibetan and Chinese. Then followed by the speech given by Professor Kapila and Dharma sharing by Khenpo Gandrol. Next comes the mooncake festival introduction presented by the coordinator of the program - Hong Mei Yue. The details shown as below:

Based on Chinese tradition, there are four traditional festivals.
The Spring festival is also known as Chinese New Year. It is a traditional festival of the Chinese nationals and the most important festival for Chinese worldwide. During the Chinese New Year, people visit relatives and friends, reunite with family members, praying for good health, happiness and a peaceful auspicious year ahead.
The Qing Ming festival is also known as Tomb-sweeping days, and it originated from ancestral beliefs and rituals in ancient times. During these days, it is to honor the ancestors e.g. sweep the gravesites, pray with food offerings etc.
The dragon boat festival is a traditional Chinese holiday. Based on the Chinese calendar, it occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month. It is a folklore festival that integrates worshiping gods and ancestors.

The mid-autumn festival is also known as the Mooncake festival. Families and friends gather on this day, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. Regarding this festival, there is the legend of Chang’e, the goddess of the moon. Below is the story.

Once upon a time, there was a town name Shao lin town. The people there were peaceful and happy. One day, ten suns appear in the sky. The town was dried up, animals died, the crops died, and there was no water. The people prayed for help from the god. Then, the archer, Hou Yi decided to shoot at the suns. He shot nine suns down. The Queen of heaven was pleased and in gratitude she rewarded Hou Yi, a bottle of elixir that could make him immortal. Although Hou Yi wanted to be immortal, he loved chang'e more than gaining immortality.

One of his students, Pang Meng tried to steal the elixir. To prevent Pang Meng's theft, Chang' e drank the elixir since she could not defeat him. When Hou Yi heard the news that Chang' e drank the elixir and became the goddess of the moon, he was sad. He wished his wife could return to him, but she could not. Since then, to remember Chang'e, Chinese nationals worldwide made moon-shaped desserts called mooncakes. This is the legend of the origin of the mid-autumn celebration. In conclusion, Mooncakes symbolize family reunion.

After the sharing of mid-autumn story, we had a lantern procession, light refreshment and quiz sessions. Lastly, we would like to thank the committee members for organizing this auspicious event. Hopefully, everyone had enjoyed this mooncake event.