Mooncake Festival

What a glorious sight it was at Kuching Friendship Park last night ! It was the Mooncake Festival and the whole park was beautifully decorated with lanterns of various colours and shapes. Hundreds of people thronged the park, many walking around with lighted lanterns. It was such a lovely sight! I hope Chinese people around the world will continue to celebrate the Mooncake Festival annually. It is a wonderfully occasion for the whole community to get together and have fun eating mooncakes and playing with lanterns. We can connect with each other as we chat and play games together.

Last Saturday. Chin Daw Methodist Church hosted an early celebration of the Mooncake festival at the Friendship Park. Their efforts should be commended. Hundreds of people showed up that night. The renditions of mandarin songs were very well done and the drama was so good and hilarious. They even had a lucky draw and guess what, I won a lovely thermos jar! A memorable night indeed! The only flaw is that the organizers did not prepare for the downpour that night. It was raining everyday for past several days and they should have put up tents in that open space where the gathering was. But most people stayed on with umbrellas or hid in the few sheltered areas nearby. I must say that the enthusiasm was still high in the air despite the rain. Bravo!

Last night, on the actual Mooncake Festival, I prepared a special dinner for my family - steamed boat and grilled lamb and beef, with chocolate cake and mooncake as desserts. We had a good time , all 3 generations together - 2 grandmas, my 2 teenage children plus my husband and myself. I even played with lanterns at my age of 40 something! A chance at second childhood!
The only sorrow was that we could not share those moments with my 2 sons who are studying in USA.

Something special happened 2 nights ago. My mother, here in Kuching and my brother, in Vancouver, spoke to each other for the first time in 17 years! I had an urge to call my brother and then I passed the phone to my mum. It was such a great joy to hear them chat and fill each other with details of their present lives! For the past 17 years my brother has not called or wrote to my mum. It was as though my mum had lost a son when he migrated to Canada. When I previously suggested my mum talk on the phone with my brother, she refused, saying that if he did not want to talk to her, then she has nothing to say to him. How sad!!! But I thank God for answering my prayers to be their peacemaker. One must always be reconciled to one's family members no matter what it takes and before it is too late. If not there will only be regrets to live with .