Technically, I don’t really have the time to be writing this post, but I’m feeling so homesick right now I think I might otherwise burst. Into tears. Or flames. Either/or.
Tonight is Mid-Autumn Festival, and although it’s over and done with in fifteen hours ahead of us Hong Kong/Beijing/Shanghai time, it still hasn’t arrived in Vancouver. This is the night when the moon is traditionally held to be at its biggest and brightest, when families gather together to eat mooncake and appreciate the beauty of the moon. It’s also the night when children often grab their paper lanterns and wander the streets with their parents in tow. (I only ever did it myself once, when my mother had the time to take me, and I remember being terrified all the while I was carrying this lantern that it would catch on fire and I would burn. I think it actually did catch on fire and we had to stamp it out, but that last bit of memory is hazy.)
As far as Chinese families in Hong Kong go, my own isn’t very traditional: we never go to sweep our ancestors’ graves (I don’t even know where those are, truth be told), I open my laisee packets way before I’m supposed to, and we don’t eat with our relatives on the winter solstice. But Mid-Autumn was one of the few times we actually did what everyone else did and ate mooncake with each other, even if we didn’t do anything else.
Which is probably why I miss my parents very badly at this time of year and always try to get some mooncake to assuage that feeling. Except I haven’t had time to run to T&T this year, so now I’m just desperate. I don’t know where around UBC I could go to get some, either, or when, but I swear I’ll do it one way or another…!
I also need to procure a few individuals who are willing to eat mooncake and look at the moon with me. Last year, all we could see was a glowing cloud, but tonight promises to be perfectly clear for such nostalgic activities. Therefore, if you would like free mooncake, are willing to take pity on my desperation for half an hour, and have my number, let me know. (Sometimes I think I should go back onto Facebook, so this latter matter of collecting people would be a whole lot easier…)
Wish me luck in my mooncake mission!
