A Garden Party - Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival At GDUFS

In Chinese culture, traditional festivals have long and splendid histories and play an important role. These years, festival culture has a profound impact on people’s daily lives. The Mid-Autumn festival is one of the most traditional festivals, which falls on the 15^th day of the eighth lunar month.

In Guangzhou, the forms of celebrating the festival have been enriched as time goes by. There are a variety of activities celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, such as lantern riddles game, or a night tour on the Pearl River. Shawan, an ancient town of Guangzhou, attracts a great many tourists to visit by arranging a lot of interesting and meaningful activities. For example, visitors who dressing in Hanfu, a traditional costume, are free to wander in the town and to learn making fish-shaped lanterns.

People were making fish-shaped lanterns

At GDUFS, a garden party was held on the eve of Mid-Autumn Festival on North Campus. On that beautiful night, lots of colorful lanterns were hung all over the main walkway of the campus, creating a lively and festive atmosphere. On both sides of the roads were two rows of tents. Under the tents, a number of volunteers dressed in Hanfu and provided service for the garden party by arranging games. Huge crowds of people were exploring fantastic games.

There were tons of interesting games, such as lantern riddles puzzle, clip marbles and other interesting activities. In the lantern riddles game, some lantern riddles were easy to guess, but some puzzled many people which powerfully illustrate the connotations of Chinese culture. In the game of clipping marbles, participants were expected to clip the marbles from the bowl with chopsticks within 15 seconds. Those who successfully made it could win the hard-won game prize. Other games like throwing circles, getting gifts also brought pleasure to everyone. Besides, you could also win the prize in a game by keeping the table tennis ball on the bat when you walking around the table for two circles. Plenty of students were so lucky and outstanding that they completed the game tasks and took home a big gift.

In addition, what touched us most was that many exchanged students received a quantity of mooncakes from our university or their Chinese classmates and celebrated the festival happily. Under a round and bright moon, laughter revealed joy and good luck. In a series of activities, not only Chinese students but also the exchanged students had a good time and had a wonderful Mid-Autumn night. We shared the happiness together. International students definitely had an excellent experience of Chinese traditional festival and got a better understanding of Chinese culture. What’s more, mooncakes with university’s motto on their surface were on sell in Yunshan Nutrition Bakery, which were surprisingly delicious and earned students’ affection. It was such an unforgettable night for students who could not reunite with their family to celebrate the festival.

The garden party on North campus

Mooncakes with university’s motto made by GDUFS

The form and customs of the Mid-Autumn Festival vary in different areas, but they all embody people’s infinite love for life and yearning for a better life. Respecting elders and ancestors, reuniting with the family and celebrating the harvest are the three main spiritual connotations of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which can’t be washed away by time. Ancient wise men passed down the festival and its custom generation by generation, and it is now our duty to inherit the cultural wealth and enrich the culture for our descendants.