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Wo Hing Museum to host Chinese Moon Festival

By Staff | Oct 1, 2009

Lahaina Restoration Foundation and the Wo Hing Society are hosting the Chinese Moon Festival celebration at the Wo Hing Museum, 858 Front St., on Oct. 2 from 1 to 8 p.m.

LAHAINA — Lahaina Restoration Foundation invites you to savor moon cakes at the Chinese Moon Festival, a one-day celebration on Friday, Oct. 2.

The event will be held from 1 to 8 p.m. at the Wo Hing Museum on Front Street.

This festival will feature a calligraphy artist, hands-on Chinese knotting lesson, ping pong demonstration and Chinese Moon Festival display.

Traditionally, the Moon Festival is considered a harvest festival, as fruits, vegetables and grains are in abundance.

Peanuts are offered for abundance of life and prosperity, while pomelos, melons, oranges, apples, pomegranates and grapes promote sweetness, purity and roundness of life. 

These symbolic fruits are used to give thanks for the bountiful harvest and to promote fertile fields and bigger crops. 

Of these foods, the moon cake is the most distinctive. It is a sweet, round cake prepared in the shape of the moon and filled with sesame, melon and lotus seeds or bean paste. 

According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the Chinese Moon Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month, or between late September and early October in the Western calendar, landing on Oct. 3 this year. It occurs close to the autumn equinox, when yin and yang are in perfect balance.

Moon cakes and souvenir items will be available for purchase. The Chinese Moon Festival is open to the public, and attendees are welcome to bring fruits and flowers to honor the Moon goddess and the abundance of life. For more information, call 661-5553.