In China, Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the four important holidays. As it is a full moon day, which is also a symbolic for a grand reunion with family and friends. So, it is also known as Reunion Festival. The folkloristics believe that the Mid-Autumn Festival is a month to celebrate the harvest in autumn. It is also a festival to thank God and the mother nature for the harvest. Meanwhile, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also blossom season for Osmanthus, a kind of flower which give off rich fragrance when blossom. It is a common custom to enjoy seeing the Osmanthus and eating various food which produced from Osmanthus.
As a Chinese student studying in Thailand, although there is no sweet-scented Osmanthus cake to eat, but I could see the moon from another angle in the same Earth. Suddenly in depth of my heart, I remember about one famous ancient poem “A lonely stranger in a strange land I am cast, I miss my family all the more on every festive day”. This poem is about the moon and how the writer expressed his homesickness as a foreigner in a new land.
As an oversea student, I have the opportunity to interact with students from different countries for over a month. I would like to express my gratitude towards Dr Fa Qing and his family for their hospitality shown during the gathering. We cooked our hometown delicious food at Dr Fa Qing’s place and had our happy time with IBC teachers and staff in a special day of reunion. Thank you very much to the teachers and everybody for the preparations & hard works. Thank you so much for the gift of nature. Amitabha!
Reported by Liu Yong, Translated from Chinese by Kho Siew Chin
