The Mid-Autumn Festival arrives at Mount Holyoke

Photos by Daniela Chamarro Angeles ‘27. Mount Holyoke students take part in the festival’s craft activities.

By Daniela Chamarro Angeles ’27

Staff Writer

A recent event hosted by the Chinese Cultural Association invited Mount Holyoke College students to a Chinese celebration commemorating the end of the autumn harvest and celebrating the moon. On Sept. 29, the CCA held its annual Mid-Autumn Festival to observe the holiday, which takes place on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. 

The New World Encyclopedia defines the Mid-Autumn Festival as a gathering where people have dinner, pray for family and friends, light paper lanterns and eat mooncakes, which signify the importance of moon worship and family harmony to the festival. These activities are practiced to worship the Chinese goddess of the moon, Chang'e. 

“[Chang'e is] a moon goddess in Chinese mythology and is often depicted as a beautiful woman symbolizing elegance, grace, and charm that lives on the moon,” Stella Chen ’26, chair of the CCA, said in an interview with the Mount Holyoke News. 

During the celebration in the Blanchard Hall Great Room, students gathered to paint paper lanterns and fans with important symbols associated with the Chinese festival. The event was open to all students who wanted to be a part of the celebration. At the event’s entrance, riddles were placed alongside traditional Chinese candy. 

 Attendees had to solve the riddles to win candy, which according to the New World Encyclopedia, is customary with mid-autumn festivals. Chen shared that, while the CCA wanted to provide activities that are traditional to the practice of Mid-Autumn Festivals, they also offered traditional ornamental make-up and Chinese fan-making in order to give attendees more options.

The celebration was also complemented by students proudly singing along with their favorite Chinese songs. 

During the traditional Chinese festival, the riddles are placed in lanterns and are displayed during the celebration. The answer could be a word, a phrase or even a poem.  

Chen shared that the planning for this event started over the summer. “We expected this event would be engaging to both the students who are familiar with … Chinese culture and those who are not,” Chen said. 

During the event, some attendees shared their own ways of celebrating the festival at home. 

Alice Zhang ’27 shared what she felt were the main differences between the celebration at Mount Holyoke and the traditional festival with the Mount Holyoke News. 

“I always spend the Mid-Autumn Festival with my family. This is the first year I am not with them,” Zhang said. “We couldn't have family dinner anymore, but MHC is a new home for me now.”

Although Zhang may be far from home, one Chinese proverb has stuck with her. 

“I know there is a saying in Chinese that when you miss your family, you just look at the moon because we are all looking at the same moon,” Zhang said. 

Chen believed that the CCA achieved its mission not just by making Chinese students feel more welcome in the Mount Holyoke community but also by embracing cultural diversity and sharing traditions with people from different cultural backgrounds. 

Chen also shared her last impressions of the event during the interview.

“We saw a lot of people from different cultural backgrounds have joined this event! I think this is a great chance for them to get to know some Chinese culture and traditions,” Chen concluded.