| Well, I've made it through the first month of the fall semester -- an especially busy month due to the abrupt departure of the only other Western English teacher -- and it's time for a week's holiday. The Chinese use our "school starts the first week in September" calendar but have retained their centuries-old Mid-Autumn Festival which falls at this time of year, as well as commemorating the founding of the Communist regime on October 1st with several days off. The Mid-Autumn Festival is based on the lunar calendar, so it coincides with the full harvest moon. We had a high of 85 degrees F in Zibo today, so it sure doesn't feel like mid-Autumn, but that's what they call it. The traditional activity for this festival is for the family to gather together (the full moon symbolizes unity and family togetherness)... |
I of course am here solo right now, since my husband Ross is back in Canada doing some fishing and golfing and handling some projects for his usual construction clients. No family togetherness for me this year, but I did decide to pay more attention to observing the traditions of the mid-Autumn festival than I did last year.... I briefly mentioned moon cakes in my blog last year.
Moon cakes are to the Chinese what fruitcakes are to us -- enjoyed by some, disliked by others, and more often given as a gift than purchased for oneself. And gifted, and re-gifted. And I mean no disrespect to fruitcake. If you don't like fruitcake, maybe you're not eating good fruitcake. Here is a gourmet fruitcake that might change your mind.
Mooncakes come with many different fillings, from duck egg to fruit, flower and nut. Some taste kind of like a fig newton, that should give you the idea. My thoughtful friends and colleagues haven't forgotten me during this festival of family togetherness and I've been gifted with many moon cakes which in addition to being pretty themselves, are often beautifully and elaborately packaged. I had so many I was able to share them with the international students that live in my dormitory. Most are from Kazakhstan.
Most of the local students have left the campus and gone home for a few days. At times like this, the campus resounds with the sounds of luggage wheels clicking across the pavement, and licensed and unlicensed taxis swarm around the gates. But peace descended tonight.
Mooncakes come with many different fillings, from duck egg to fruit, flower and nut. Some taste kind of like a fig newton, that should give you the idea. My thoughtful friends and colleagues haven't forgotten me during this festival of family togetherness and I've been gifted with many moon cakes which in addition to being pretty themselves, are often beautifully and elaborately packaged. I had so many I was able to share them with the international students that live in my dormitory. Most are from Kazakhstan.
Most of the local students have left the campus and gone home for a few days. At times like this, the campus resounds with the sounds of luggage wheels clicking across the pavement, and licensed and unlicensed taxis swarm around the gates. But peace descended tonight.
| | I hopped on my bike around 8:00 pm to go contemplate the moon from the overpass between the two campuses. Really, the skies are often so hazy around here that we can't see the moon well, so a visible full moon is an Event. It was a lovely evening with a slight breeze. The local farmers were hard at work in the moonlight, gathering up the corn kernels they had been drying on the pavement. |
My Android tablet is useless for getting a good night shot, so I gave up on grabbing pictures of the moon over the campus. However, just as I was heading back, a local man drove up on his cart, set up his music stand under the overpass at the foot of the stairs and unpacked his erhu. The two ladies with him took turns singing along. I stayed for the concert and once they realized I was filming them, they were delighted, performed with gusto, and asked to see the entire playback. Mid-way through this folk song, you can see one of the two ladies gently shoving the other to get her into the frame. At least I presume it's a folk song. It's more melodic than some of the other Shandong opera pieces they performed. Turning now from music to poetry.....
| Looking At The Moon And Thinking Of One Far Away The moon, grown full now over the sea, Brightening the whole of heaven, Brings to separated hearts The long thoughtfulness of night…. It is no darker though I blow out my candle. It is no warmer though I put on my coat So I leave my message with the moon And turn to my bed, hoping for dreams -- Zhang Jiuling, (675-740 AD) translated here | One of the traditions of Mid-Autumn Festival, I've read, is to declaim some classical Chinese poetry, such as the poem at right. Poor Zhang Jiuling lived long before the age of Skype, when separated hearts could have regular conversations. Like this: Hello? Hello? I can hardly hear you. Come again? What? You're frozen. Try turning your video off. What? |
So thanks to Skype and thanks to the warm-hearted people of Zibo, in all honesty I can't say that I feel like Zhang Jiuling, though thousands of miles away from all my family members.
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