We are one under the full moon

Chinese around the world celebrate the Moon Festival as one of their most important festivals of the year. It is a time of thankfulness, a celebration of the completeness of life. On the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, the moon is full, marking the festival date. As the largest and brightest object regularly seen in the sky besides the sun, the full moon has always been a symbol in legend, religion, and even agriculture, across many cultures.

In Chinese tradition, it is a symbol of peace, prosperity and family reunion. Since ancient times, the festival has also been called the Mid-Autumn Festival. Dating back over 3,000 years, and known for a cycle of nature ending with a new season beginning, on this day the moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with the harvest. It occurs close to the autumnal equinox when yin and yang are in perfect balance. The date in the Western solar-based calendar changes annually. This year, it falls on Friday, Sept. 29.

The Chinese have celebrated the harvest during the autumn full moon since the Shang dynasty (c.1600-1046 BCE). Traditionally, the festival was considered a celebration of crops because fruits, vegetables and grains were about to be harvested. Farmers were joyful for their good harvest after a year of hard work. As a result, the Chinese Moon and/or Mid-Autumn Festival gradually evolved into a widely observed event of thanksgiving.

The historic Wo Hing Museum on Front Street, which long celebrated the Chinese Moon Festival and Chinese culture, burned down during the August 8 wildfires. Nonetheless, Dr. Busaba Yip, cultural director of the Wo Hing Society and docent of the Wo Hing Museum, has offered her thoughts about the occasion and how to celebrate it.

“The Chinese Moon Festival is the time to send hope and blessings to our family, friends and community,” Yip shared. “When I look back at the history of this event at Wo Hing, I see it has had a long journey. Dating back about 100 years, then discontinued for a while, it was brought back in the year 2001 by the Wo Hing Society and the Lahaina Restoration Foundation.”

Because of the fires, there is no community celebration this year at Wo Hing. For Yip, the celebration is now focused on how we survive the tragedy and on giving thanks for our very lives.

“It is a time to honor the evidence of life,” she explained. “Although at present, we cannot celebrate as a community, we can still honor and commemorate this auspicious time of year. We still see the importance of celebrating the Moon Festival. Sharing its story and history is one way to learn from the past. What does it mean for us, our families and future generations? It may inspire us to explore ways to live a more healthy and happy life at this time of many challenges.

“Celebration offerings traditionally consist of yam, lotus root, star fruit, taro, and lung gok, a type of water chestnut resembling black buffalo horns. Some believe that at the time of creation, taro was the first food discovered in the moonlight. Peanuts are offered for abundance of life and prosperity, while pomelos, melons, oranges, apples, pomegranates and grapes were offered to promote sweetness, purity and fullness of life. These symbolic fruits are still used to give thanks for the bountiful harvest and to promote fertile fields and bigger crops. In the evening, colorful lanterns are lit in the yard, and an altar is set up to worship the Moon Goddess.”

In addition, the making and sharing of mooncakes are hallmarks of this festival. In Chinese culture, a round shape symbolizes completeness and reunion. Mooncakes are a sweet, round cake filled with ingredients such as lotus seeds, taro and black bean paste. Some have salted duck egg yolks at the center of each cake representing the moon. Thus, the sharing and eating of round mooncakes among family members during the week of the festival signifies the completeness and unity of families.

Yip reflected, “This year at Wo Hing, we are in the time of loss, grieving, and now a healing process. The people of our Lahaina community are praying to bring back our well-being. It is the time to give thanks for our very lives. We lost so many, and many are still missing, but we must keep our spirit alive and our well-being good so that we can continue our journey into an unknown future. We hope that something will come together to renew our lives, families, and community again.”

With tears in her eyes, Yip recalled, “In the old days, the festival helped to connect our community together. Now, in this transition, we have to understand and handle all the challenges in our lives and still have faith and courage to move forward. We must have this sense of ‘ohana now to survive, this sense of aloha and community spirit. Even though we are not meeting in person at Wo Hing, we must help our community by helping each other. So, for me, even though we cannot have a physical community gathering to honor this tradition, we can still have a small-scale celebration.”

First thing each morning, Yip will remember and give thanks to the ancestors and the guardians of the land. While she gives thanks every day, on Sept. 29, she plans to set up a little altar in her new home, presenting a fruit offering and mooncakes which her friends have already sent to her. Secondly, she will remember those that passed away. Then, she says, she will send prayers and best wishes to bring back hope to the Lahaina community that, step by step together, all will regain the courage to continue their lives.

“In the evening, I plan to be quiet at home instead of celebrating at a large event that I have been invited to,” Yip shared. “I hope in silence to transform into the positive direction. While watching the moon, I will listen for the calling of what to do next. Now, I understand what it means to be one under the full moon, even being away from my family.

“In the old days, the elders said that you are always connecting by the full moon to all those you love. So, no matter where we are, we are one under the full moon. I will open myself for that experience, sending my love and best wishes to all my family across the ocean, to my Lahaina and Maui friends, and to those all over the world, including friends and visitors who came to Wo Hing for festival gatherings. We are all connected.”

Jaclyn Santos, Wo Hing Society secretary, added, “We are already working to build a website with the hope of continuing our mission, to maintain and perpetuate the Chinese culture of Maui and Hawaii. I feel that our surviving this tragedy that happened to our beloved Lahaina Town, the loss of our loved ones, our homes, businesses and livelihoods, means that we must continue our lives here and contribute to rebuilding our community. The most special and amazing ways to help the community come together are already happening. Most importantly, collectively we will survive and we will rebuild. We truly are all one under the full moon. On behalf of Wo Hing Society, we wish you all a notable and peaceful Chinese Moon Festival.”