Student Enjoy Mooncake Festival Traditions

by Jennifer Keil 

The International Student Cultural Organization (ISCO) gave international students the opportunity to learn more about the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional holiday. 

“As a Chinese student studying abroad, I think this activity not only makes me review Chinese culture but also makes me understand how other regions celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival,” said Aoxue Zhang, a sophomore computer science major from Xuzhou, China. 

Students from Chinese or Taiwanese culture presented different aspects of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival, also called the Mooncake Festival, is traditionally celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which is in early September in the United States. 

“It is about the time to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival in China right now,” said Silvia Li, the Director of Chinese Operations at Troy University. “Since we have so many people who celebrate that, I want to have the student to present to other people about our culture.” 

Attendees learned about the festival itself, common food and family traditions. One student gave an impression of traditional music on a stringed instrument called ‘guz heng,’ also known as a plucked zither, to capture the mood of the festival. 

“It's interesting to learn about the different food and how they’re having fun with family,” said Trinity Ward, a sophmore history major from Montgomery, Alabama. 

To experience a traditional activity, the group played a game similar to duck-duck-goose where students sat in a circle while one player placed a little gift behind another person’s back. The gift-giver and the receiver then raced to either catch the gift-giver or get back to their original seat. People who lost would give the crowd a performance like a dance or a song. 

“The best thing is I heard a lot of laughter,” Li said. “I feel like people are happy, and I mean people having fun. What's better than that?” 

“I think cultural exchange is the joy of Troy University,” Zhang said. “I hope there will be more meaningful activities in the future.” 

ISCO holds an event every Thursday at 7 p.m. in Hal Hall, and students can stay up to date with the organization on Instagram, @isco_troyu.