Mid-Autumn Festival brings sense of family

A+Chinese+Students+%26+Scholars+Association+booth+in+the+CUB+during+a+ticket-sales+event%2C+Monday+Sept.+23%2C+2013.

A Chinese Students & Scholars Association booth in the CUB during a ticket-sales event, Monday Sept. 23, 2013.

Catherine Kruse Evergreen reporter

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, brings together families and friends for a time to celebrate.

The traditional Chinese holiday is based on the lunar calendar, and is the second most popular holiday in Chinese culture, following the Spring Festival.

“In my home, we stay with our family members and celebrate,” said Chinese Students & Scholars Association (CSSA) public relations officer Vera Li. “We have dinner and play games. Here, we stay with friends to celebrate.”

The moon cake is a traditional Chinese pastry served at the celebration, and is usually stuffed with ingredients like bean paste.

“What we are eating is a traditional Cantonese moon cake,” said CSSA president Yishan Ma. “In Shanghai they might have a different style.

For this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, the CSSA of WSU members are putting on their own celebration. They will offer two kinds of tickets: one costing $5 will buy a couple of moon cakes and the evening show, and a $15 ticket buys the show plus a dinner and a moon cake gift box. Inside the gift box is a set of decorative Chinese-made chopsticks, three flavors of moon cake and a program guide.

This year’s show is a three-chapter performance of dancing, singing and language exploring three different time periods: child, teenager and adult.

About 50 elementary-aged children will also perform. Each chapter of the event is preceded by a video prologue. The purpose of the video is to show what the Moon Festival means to people throughout their lives, said Ma.

“The video is made here, giving people the feeling of how the WSU community contributes,” said CSSA member Siqi Wu.

The Emerald House will provide dinner with noodles, rice, kung pow chicken, and other traditional Chinese dishes.

CSSA’s event will follow the traditions of a local Chinese festival but with some variations to make it unique. CSSA has been preparing for this event for six months, utilizing the skills of members and friends.

“We have to make good plan before we leave the U.S.,” said Ma. “During the summer we are in China and we cannot talk about ideas.”

The event will be held on Oct. 4 and takes place in the Gladish Community & Cultural Center in two parts. The first consists of the dinner and moon cakes from 6-7 p.m. The second part is the evening show in the auditorium from 7:30-9 p.m.