GEORGE TOWN: For 12-year-old Jerrard Khor, the Mid-Autumn Festival brings the excitement of choosing colourful lanterns, enjoying mooncakes and getting ready for the celebrations.
The youngster was spotted browsing traditional cellophane lanterns at a shop here, stopping to admire designs featuring rooster and fish.
He eventually picked his favourite rooster.
Joining in were his eight-year-old brother Jayven, aunt Gerine Gan, 40, and cousins Jenson Lim, 12, and Johann Lim, eight.
“I look forward to this festival every year,” he said, adding that he enjoyed mooncakes and celebrating with his family and relatives.
For Gan, the festival is also a way to keep an important tradition alive.
“I treasure the opportunity to celebrate it with my children. I also explain the origins and meaning of the festival to them, in the hope that they will carry it on,” she said.
This year, Gan opted for battery-powered lights instead of candles for the boys’ lanterns, saying they were safer and unlikely to be blown out by the wind.
She also bought paper lanterns to hang around the apartment and add a festive touch to her home.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, falls today.
Gan said she would let her children join their neighbours on a lantern walk at night.
For a businesswoman, who wished to be known as SS Tan, a visit to Armenian Park with her four-year-old son TL Leong to admire and photograph the festive decorations has become an annual tradition.
“We have been coming here yearly since he was born, and this year, I find that the decorations are the prettiest,” said the 44-year-old.
The pair posed for photographs among pink and light blue lion dance-shaped lanterns, while hundreds of lanterns, floral displays and a towering golden phoenix transformed the park into a festive attraction.
This year’s decorations also feature Baba Nyonya elements, drawing visitors keen to take photographs.
Traditionally a harvest celebration in China, the festival has long been associated with giving thanks for the harvest and admiring the full moon.
Over time, the full moon has also come to symbolise family reunion and togetherness – values celebrated today through family gatherings, lanterns and mooncakes.
