Just this past Tuesday Chinese people (and those culturally aligned) worldwide celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival. Also known as the Moon Festival, it is the day when it is traditionally believed that the moon is at its brightest as well as historically aligning with the harvest. Before I begin this week’s post, I just wanted to say that I’m so grateful for the support I’ve received so far. The Substack is three subscribers away from fifty, and I hope to celebrate this milestone with everyone next week!
Like many Chinese cultural events, an important part of the Mid-Autumn Festival is gathering with family and friends; I was lucky enough to be able to do both. First, I was graciously invited to spend the Saturday before the festival with my host family barbecuing in Pingxi. In Taiwan, holding a family BBQ is a very common way to celebrate! The day of the festival was relatively calm for me, and I spent time in the evening by the river near NCCU’s campus drinking while eating pineapple cakes with friends.
Another way to celebrate is the lighting of lanterns, and I was lucky enough to be taken by my host family to Shifen in the Pingxi District. Once there, we worked together to write all of our wishes on the lantern before sending it into the sky over the train tracks (Shifen is beautiful and absolutely worth a visit if you ever travel to Taiwan). While I didn’t know many characters at the time, at least I was still able to write my Chinese name from memory!
After our pitstop in Shifen, we continued into the mountains to the cluster of homes where my host family’s extended family gathering would be occurring (it’s very common for families to live communally in Taiwan). The language barrier was tough here as while most of them knew Mandarin, they mostly spoke Taiwanese with each other, something which left me extra in the dark. Regardless, I enjoyed my time, whether it was laughing at one of the aunties pointing and saying “Haha, Chopsticks 101” to me struggling to pick up a rice cake, or watching family members play each other in Mahjong for real money (they were betting NT$1000, or about US$30)! Most of the family units that came brought their own grill and were cooking an assortment of meats and veggies: beef, chicken, shrimp, pig’s blood cakes, mushrooms, corn, the best noodles I’ve had in Taiwan so far, and much much more. They offered to let me try cooking myself, so I took the most inoffensive food, a stick of bell peppers, and roasted them.
The day of the actual festival was much less busy. My only gathering was with a group of friends from my graduate program in the evening. I was originally going to share pineapple cakes with them at a local bar, but my empty-headed self didn’t realize that everything would be closed for the holiday. Instead, we grabbed some beers from a local convenience store and ate some delicious pineapple cakes from the famous Chia Te bakery by a nearby river. I also ate a lot of mooncakes that day (another pasty famously eaten on the Mid-Autumn Festival). I would share a photo of what they look like too, but I ate all of them way too quickly and forgot to take a picture.
Ultimately I had a really great time celebrating my first festival in Taiwan. I enjoyed immersing myself in the local culture, and I am especially thankful to my host family for their invitation to the family BBQ! Next week I’ll cover what it was like applying for my resident visa for Taiwan while I was in the US as well as how I received my Alien Residency Card (ARC). While I think the whole process is interesting, next week’s post will be something you particularly want to pay attention to if you are planning on moving to Taiwan to work or study.
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