My thoughts......
Is the moon in North American brighter and rounder? I can't make any moment on this because I don't have any ways to measure the moon. However, this year's mid autumn festival celebration is definitely the most crowded gathering in my tiny apartment. I invited 3 friends to have a casual supper that evening. Patty, Gaberialla and Edward eventually had a chance to taste the food I cooked. How was the food? Hmmm.... You'd better to ask them yourselves! Anyway, I did not cook much: coke chicken, spinach and tofu, bbq pork and a soup. After supper, we chatted a bit and watched a movie "Master Q 2001." Then, I followed the mid autumn custom, shared slices of mooncakes and "shatin yau" with friends. We chatted for another hour until 1200am when everyone was back home.
I don't know why I became more involved in Chinese festival celebration after moving to Montreal. Perhaps, I am too bored in the oridinary life and want something more special occasionally. Was my life in HK too exciting so that I did not need special fest? Guess not.. In my mind, I only enjoyed those celebrations when everyone was still there.
Mid Autumn is one of the most important festivals in the Chinese society. In Hong Kong, people would leave earlier from work and get together for a special dinner. We usually call the dinner as "jo chit", which means celebrate the festival. When I was in elementary school, my grandma was the one set up the dinner and cooked the food. In most situations, she cooked 8-9 dishes plus a soup in such dinner. All those things were very fansy: shark fin soup, steamed fish...etc. At night, my family, my cousins' family, grandma and grandpa sat in a living less than 100 sq feet. The table was not big, our shoulders touched each other's. I did quite enjoy those days. Everyone seemed to leave their worries aside and completely involved in the dinner. The topics of conversations could be something like cookery, gossips in office or even current issues from the news. After meals, everyone just sat and relaxed. The kids might go to grandma's room to played toys. Later, the adults would bring the kids down to street for walk. Sometimes, we brought our own lantern (either the one with candle or the one with an electric bulb.) But we did not really see it was a customs. We only thought it was nice to compare each other's lantern! For some years, we did not have bring lanterns. Instead, we threw illuminous sticks to the air. Running, laughing, trying to catch the falling sticks. It was a lot fun. At the same time, our parents would play mahjong in grandma's place. After those entertainments, we would be back to grandma'a place for mooncakes and fruits. As my cousins lived far away, we usually went home around 11pm.
Guess what, last time of celebrating the mid autumn in this way was 12 years ago. My cousins left HK in summer 1990. September 1991, grandpa was in hospital and passed away the end of the year. We became less enthusiastic in doing the celebration things. All we did was to have dinner in restaurant. Seriously, I did not have any feelings of mid autumn. The meaning of family gathering in festivals became less and less significant to me.
Years by years, I attended to those dinners only with survival purpose (or I would starve at home.) But my mind took a 180 degree turn after coming to Montreal. I became more "Chinese" than before. Why? Well, I think I know more about myself. I know more of my identity. Every mid autumn fest, I had dinner with my cousin. We did not make too fansy food but it was good enough to recall some innocent childhood memories we had in HK.
I know one can't always recall what things happened in the past and expect the same in future. I truly think I was so blessed in the past when time was so care-free. Or, I should learn how to share these pieces of joy with other people.
Ed, Gab and Pat, thanks for coming!
September 30, 2001