Harvest Moon Festival

Many Chinese celebrations do not have fixed dates, like Christmas or New Year, they are instead governed by the appearance of full moons. The Harvest Moon Festival celebrates the change in season, and the main day is when the moon is at it’s brightest, fullest and highest in the sky. For those in the Northern Hemisphere it is a Mid-Autumn festival, but for us “Southerners” it is the beginning of Spring.

I belong to a martial arts school where lion dancing is one of its disciplines. As part of these lunar celebrations we walk around Chinatown visiting stores and restaurants to wish them good luck. They in return wish us good fortune by tying a red packet with money in it to a head of lettuce or choy. However it is not easily handed over, the lions have to reach them as they hang from door ways or awnings, even if it means climbing a 10 foot pole.