Yes, it is the Mid-Autumn Festival again, when the moon dazzles with superlative brilliance and is at its largest and most spherical tonight.
Our celebrations started last Friday evening with the annual Mid-Autumn bash held at my estate. The party usually comprised of games and prizes for the kids, an alfresco dinner and a walk around the entire estate in nocturnal darkness! The walk had always been a highlight every year - it was quite an astounding yet wondrous sight with more than 150 children and parents dangling cheery lanterns, walking in a never-ending, meandering single-filed formation!
This year, we invited hubby's good friends SB and SJ, together with their wives and children to the estate party, and we had a wonderful time chatting (for the adults) and playing (for the kids). There were 5 kids in all ages - 8, 6, 4, 3.8, 2 and another one in C's tummy!
1. The Bees with Alexis ready to set forth on the half-hour lantern parade! 2. Big Bee, Alexis and Cherilyn challenging their balancing skills with an ice-cream toy at home. 3. Little Bee at the start of the festivities 4. Big Bee halfway through the lantern walk 5. The Bees with many other kids playing games with the party host.
It was really heartwarming to see the kids balancing their paper lanterns in deep concentration as part of the lantern-walk formation, and playing phosphorous strands of bangles whilst outdoors, and then interacting harmoniously with toys at home. With the kids entertaining each other, the mummies and daddies could all have a great chit-chat session, not to mention gorging on mooncakes! The kids enjoyed each other's company so much that the home party was only over at 10.15pm!
And this evening, which was the actual night of Mid-Autumn Festival, we brought the Bees out for a cooling and refreshing drive, adjacent to the huge meadow behind our home, admiring the big luminous moon, listening to nothing but the crickets and toads creating an orchestra of beautiful sounds, and smelling the sweet crisp post-rain evening air by the forest with the wind caressing our faces.
The Bees wondered what the fuss of this festival was all about, until we explained to them that the moon was supposed to be at its largest and brightest on this very day. It was priceless seeing those awe-struck expressions on their faces as they gazed at the moon in wonderment.
Thereafter, we played with fizzling sparklers in the darkened courtyard with 2 of Big Bee's schoolmates living in the same estate. The girls had fun giggling at the sparkling mini fireworks, with Little Bee too timid to hold on to a sparkler by herself!
Hubby also lit a candle for the girls to dip their sparklers in, so the night was bathed in mystical, candlelit glow, with sparklers contributing intermittent flashes of glimmers. The 4 girls enjoyed themselves so much that they played way past their bedtime, only retiring back home by 9.30pm!
What marvelous celebrations to usher in the final (and most entrancing) quarter of the year!
3 comments:
Hey I didn't realise it is such a major celebration in your estate. Very fun!!
Sparklers! Fun fun fun! :) Looked like the girls really had a whale of a time!
viv: Yes, they have major celebrations a few times a year, with overwhelming turnout - CNY, Christmas, Halloween, Mid-Autumn Festival, Deepavali!
MamaJ: Sparklers are real fun, isn't it? Soon, you can introduce these to your boy, although my little girl is still a wee bit afraid of them. Yes, the girls had a great time with all their friends!
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