As it has for the past two years, Troy University will play host to an event celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese peoples.
This event is called the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is a harvest festival centered around the full harvest moon.
The harvest moon occurs between early September and October and when the moon is perfectly round; the circle it makes represents unity and completeness.
This celebration brings in a vast amount of nationalities together because of the multi-cultural aspect.
The event not only helps those learning Chinese and Vietnamese to understand more about the Mid-Autumn Festival and these cultures, but it also makes Chinese and Vietnamese exchange students and scholars feel more at home by bringing an integral part of their culture to them.
“To celebrate, we eat a pastry called a ‘mooncake’ made of a sweet bean filling. The sharing of mooncakes symbolizes the coming together of families,” said Ashley King, an international student adviser at the university.
“In China, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a festival where family members get (a) reunion and we celebrate the Chinese lunar calendar,” said Ronghan Gao, a graduate student from Yantai, China.
“(During) the Mid-Autumn Festival, the moon is round, so it represents family happiness.”
Primarily Chinese and Vietnamese students celebrate the festival, but, since Pace Hall is home to many different nationalities, many other students get to participate.
“I’m not sure about Chinese traditions, but in my country the Mid-Autumn Festival is basically about children,” said Tram Nguyen, a senior accounting major from Da Nang, Vietnam.
“It’s the children’s festival. The legend is that a fairy from the moon comes when the full moon appears, children come out with lanterns and we have the cake.”
Nguyen spoke of how fond she was of the festival because it reminded her of the celebrations back in Vietnam.
She has attended the festival every year in her home country and she has attended the two previous years it was celebrated at Troy.
During her first festival at Troy, the festival was held on the tennis courts. The attendees were able to see the full moon and take pictures of it.
A traditional Chinese dinner will be provided and dancing will also be performed at the festival. The International Programs Department invites every Troy student to attend.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Global Confucius Institute and the seventh anniversary of the Troy University Confucius Institute.
The festival will be held on Friday, Sept. 26, at 5 p.m. in the Trojan Center Ballrooms. Tickets can be purchased in Pace Hall Room 114. For students, tickets are $8; for nonstudents, $10.
The Confucius Institute and Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) will sponsor this event.
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