This past Tuesday was the Mid-Autumn Festival, characterized by the infamous mooncake. Many of us know very little about the story behind the festival or the reason why we eat mooncake and fresh fruit. The legend behind the mooncake festival is that back in Ancient China, there were ten suns scorching the Earth and one day a warrior climbed to the tallest mountain and shot down nine of the suns. As a reward, the Jade Emperor gave him the pill of immortality, which he hid in his bedroom. One day his wife opened the box with the pill and swallowed it, and slowly she ascended towards the moon. The center of the mooncakes traditionally has a yellow center in honor of the moon and this story. Stony Brook University has one of the largest Asian and Asian American populations of any college in New York, and many students keep the tradition alive every September with several festivals hosted by various clubs and organizations.

The week prior to the Mid-Autumn Festival, China Blue hosted their event in the SAC. The event brought together China Blue with several other student organizations, including the Taiwanese Student Union and the Culinary Club. The event featured the stars of China Blue’s radio broadcasts who spoke in both Cantonese and Mandarin during the three hour event, while different stands held different events and served different snacks and treats, including mooncake. The most popular of these events was a lantern riddle stand, written in both Chinese and English. Participants have to find the answer to the riddle, and as a prize they kept the lanterns. The informal event with stands and speakers was an overwhelming success drawing around five to six hundred students through the course of the night.

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, another event was held in the same ballroom, this time hosted by the Taiwanese Student Association and the Chinese Literature Club. Familiar faces from the Culinary Club and China Blue could be discerned from the crowd. This time, however, instead of an open fair, there were a few dozen round tables surrounding the center stage filled with food, fruit, and of course, mooncake. The more modest crowd of maybe around three hundred to four hundred students enjoyed eating, talking, and watching different people perform on stage. The hilarious skit performed at the end in Mandarin was filled with Chinese humor as wordplay and hyperbole were combined with perfect harmony.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated by gathering together with friends and family, and celebrating the success of the past year. From the open booth festive feel of China Blue’s Mid-Autumn Festival to the dinner mood of the Taiwanese Student Association’s festival, the traditions are kept alive by students coming together, talking with friends, eating, and having fun. For those of you who’ve never tried a mooncake, then you should definitely come to at least one of these events; its something you won’t regret. If you did miss out, then you’ll just have to wait till next year to try some and to experience the excitement of this holiday.