A Home Where Culture Begin
On October 6th, I invited a few of my colleagues to join me in my annual mooncake festival celebration where I opened my house and catered a hotpot session where we can bond and reminiscence this Chinese culture tradition where it is known also as the 'Mid Autumn Festival' or the 'Harvest Festival' where to moon is supposedly to shine the brightest.
In the Chinese culture, it is one of the biggest festivals celebrated by the Chinese with Chinese New Year being the top. This festival easily runs second where family gatherings take place, and those who still practice the spiritual aspect worship the moon goddess, Chang'e. The core of Mid Autumn Festival is the message of unity and happiness where in the past, the families who have waited a year long harvest finally reaps its sow.
For those like myself, who don't practice the religious aspect, it is part of Chinese history and culture that I believed should be passed down to the next generation to remember our roots. We would gather with loved ones and friends, share a slice of mooncake, kids would carry lanterns and light the streets with many colourful lanterns in celebration. Some even have those... LED RGB lanterns that play to a Chinese tune. That's what I call incorporating technology into traditional culture.
On the night of celebration, My friends brought together two induction stoves and pots to put our ingredients in. For those who aren't familiar with the hotpot element in the Chinese culture, yes... we basically cook the food together right there and then. Usually the pot would be a mix of veges, and meat such as pork belly, beef and chicken thinly sliced so the cooking process is only a few seconds. The unique part about a Chinese hotpot is that we would gather among loved ones and bond whilst cooking and eating. Food is only a secondary in this cuisine, the main aspect of this is the bonding done while we wait for the food together, dipping the ingredients together, all on top of the dining table.
I got two special broth from one of the famous hotpot franchise nearby, a pack of herbal broth and pork bone broth. Accompanied by the main attraction, some Australian sirloin and ribeye beef thinly sliced in shabu-shabu style. With other sides like fishballs, pork balls, corn and hotpot dipping sauce.
After a hearty meal, we all went out to my front porch and we started decorating the garden with colourful lanterns. We use real candles for these. We hung the lanterns on the clothing rack and we even bought lantern sticks so we could carry them around.
The night passed really quickly and soon enough, it was already 2am. Some of my friends stayed longer but me being wayyy older than before can't put up with the youngsters anymore. We cleaned the place up and called it a night.
I do hope my future children would get to experience this culture and of course many other traditions the Chinese culture has to offer. Giving them a glimpse into my ancestors and roots without forgetting them.
