![\"Moon](\"http:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/moon-festival-1-740x395.jpg\")
“Happy Moon Festival!”- from the New Zealand China Friendship Society.\u00a0<\/p>\n“Happy Moon Festival!”- from the New Zealand China Friendship Society.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are lots of Chinese holidays and festivals\u00a0being celebrated in New Zealand by an increasing number of people each year. One such event\u00a0is “Moon Festival”, which occurs on the same date each year – the 15th of September.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Moon Festival is also known by other names, such as the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Moon Cake Festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moon Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese\u00a0Han calendar<\/a>, on the night of the full moon that appears between early September and early October in the Gregorian calendar. \u00a0Ancient Chinese believed that the moon was at its brightest and roundest on this night, signifying a family reunion. \u00a0The middle of August in the Chinese calendar is also a time when crops, including fruit and vegetables, are harvested. To celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, we eat moon cakes and freshly picked fruits such as watermelon, we drink tea and cassia wine, and we enjoy banquets with family members.\u00a0<\/p>\n Please click here<\/a>\u00a0to find out how to join a branch of the NZCFS and\u00a0participate\u00a0in one of the\u00a0many local Moon Festival celebrations being held in 2016 such as those in Auckland<\/a> and Dunedin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n There are three fundamental concepts which are closely tied to one another in celebrating the Moon Festival\uff1a<\/p>\n The following partial translation is from a very famous poem written by the Song dynasty poet Su Shi. The poem is intended to be sung to a melody called Water Melody<\/strong> (Shu\u01d0 Di\u00e0o G\u0113 T\u00f3u<\/em>). \u00a0Su Shi wrote this poem on the night of the Moon Festival about 1000 years ago. \u00a0This poem expresses Su\u2019s longing to see his younger brother, whom the poet hadn\u2019t seen for seven\u00a0years.<\/p>\n When did the bright moon first appear?<\/em><\/p>\n I\u00a0<\/em>am <\/em>rais<\/em>ing<\/em> a <\/em>wine glass<\/em> and ask<\/em>ing<\/em> the sky<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n \u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/em><\/p>\n Moonlight is r<\/em>evolving around the red pavilion,<\/em><\/p>\n L<\/em>owering to a silk-work door,<\/em><\/p>\n I<\/em>t shines upon <\/em>my<\/em> sleepless<\/em> self<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n The moon<\/em> should not have resentment;<\/em><\/p>\n W<\/em>hy is it always full at times of separation?<\/em><\/p>\n People <\/em>experience<\/em> sorrow, joy, parting and reunion,<\/em><\/p>\n The m<\/em>oon <\/em>can be<\/em> dark, bright, <\/em>full<\/em> or <\/em>on the <\/em>wane;<\/em><\/p>\n Things<\/em> ha<\/em>ve\u00a0<\/em>been<\/em> this way since ancient times.<\/em><\/p>\n My wish is for people\u2019s lives to be healthy and peaceful<\/em>;<\/em><\/p>\n No matter how far we may be apart<\/em>, together<\/em> we look at the same\u00a0<\/em>wondrous <\/em>moon.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0– Su Shi<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n If you weren\u2019t able to come back home to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, you would still have a chance to be a poet like Su Shi – write some poetry to express your good wishes and greetings to your family, friends, neighbours and other people!\u00a0<\/p>\n Above the sea<\/em> The bright moon is hanging In our hearts A sense of nostalgia.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 – Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Jiuling<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n ————-oOo————-<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Happy Moon Festival!”- from the New Zealand China Friendship Society.\u00a0 There are lots of Chinese holidays and festivals\u00a0being celebrated in New Zealand by an increasing number of people each year. One such event\u00a0is “Moon Festival”, which occurs on the same date each year – the 15th of September.\u00a0 The Moon Festival is also known by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":27174,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27152"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinasociety.org.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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