Time to talk to teachers?

Autumn Moon Festival is about a month away. It is always 8/15 on the lunar calendar; this year China's 2nd largest festival of the year is September 25th.

Some families have gone into their child's elementary school or pre-school on or near this day to share some Chinese culture with them. For ideas,
http://mid-autumn-fest.blogspot.com/2004/09/resources.html
http://mid-autumn-fest.blogspot.com/2004/09/handout.html
http://mid-autumn-fest.blogspot.com/2004/09/notes-for-parents.html

If you are considering going into your child's school, I'd suggest talking to the teacher soon. I suspect you could slip in treats as if it were a birthday but to do much else, you should give them time to consider the schedule. It may be for easier for teachers to support this year since the holiday is not so close to the beginning of school. I'd love hearing from people doing this, or who have done this, and how it went so that we can share. I hate the thought of anyone having to reinvent the wheel.

Many families have drunk tea and eaten cookies or moon cakes and looked at the full moon together. Some have taken a special something into their child's class and talked to the teacher about what can be done in the future and made suggestions for a Chinese New Year celebration. (The next one is February 7, 2008 and there are lots of ideas at cny.blogspot.com )

For your own family, you can wait until the last minute to decide whether to stay up a little and look at the moon. However, if you want to eat mooncakes, you should go to the store or order by mid-month. At least where I live there may be none to be found in the Chinese grocery stores on the day of, or the day before even.

If you want a one page 2007 lunar calendar, just email mus-mandarin@wubison.com (You can copy it & distribute it too.)

Send an e-card this year

In 2007, at least the following places have e-cards for Autumn Mon Festival:

Discover Hong Kong
http://china.tyfo.com/int/art/festival/middle-autumn/mid-music_card.htm
http://cards.thestar.com.my/midautumn/
123 Greetings.com
Blue mountain Cards

I have no association with any of these places, do not profit from this in any way, and am not responsible for their content - but I would not mind getting a card!

Lanterns

When studying any culture, it is important to be sure that everyone understands what is ancient custom, what is a tradition that is still carried on, and what is new.

Lanterns have changed over time. There have long main at least two main styles of Chinese lanterns, although one seems to by dying out, and those painted with Pokemon figures are increasingly popular. The easiest lantern crafts are for cylindrical lanterns, while cylindrical and round ones are both easy to find (and buy) here in the America.

Rarely do we need a lantern to light our way at night, and certainly few of us are used to handling flammable paper lanterns with candles in them!

I just love this quote from Hong Kong Fast Facts on Mid Autum Festival Lanterns: Afgter talking about the obligatory gifts for family, especially mooncakes, and pocket money for the seniors, and that one must buy paper lanterns for the children, they say

Candles are used to light up the lanterns traditionally but modern safety concern has brought battery powered plastic cartoon characters like Hello Kitty and Ultraman. If you really want to annoy your friends, get one with cheap electronic music for their children.

Refreshing to hear!

This commercial site has pictures of traditional Vietnamese lanterns - covered in silk and quite different shapes.

Last updated: 9/2007

Moon Facts

Recently, NASA has selected some proposals that include research to be done from the moon. It’s detailed in NASA Selects Astrophysics Projects for New Science on the Moon. Last year they shared interesting information about moonlight in Strange Moonlight. Did you know most of us can not read in moonlight?

And in time for your nest discussion of the moon, "new" lunar photos, or at least not seen by the public for 30 years - detailed photos of the moon.

Updated: August 29, 2007