Students in 6th- through 8th-grade Chinese classes celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival by making mooncakes from scratch. Mindy Wang from the Taiwan Culture Center guided girls through the process. First, they made the dough by combining low-gluten flour, maple syrup, and olive oil. Then, they rolled the dough, filled it with sweet paste, shaped the pastry with a mold, and baked their mooncakes in class to perfection.
This year, Mid-Autumn Festival took place with the full moon on Mon., Sept. 24. According to Chinese teacher Dr. Amy Liao, "Legend has it there used to be 10 suns in the sky and they scorched the earth. An archer shot down nine of the suns and left one to provide light. An immortal rewarded the archer with an elixir of immortality for his heroic feat. While the archer was away, his wife drank all of the elixir. She became weightless and flew to the moon. The archer missed his wife and offered her favorite mooncakes in remembrance."
During the celebration, students also recited the popular poem "A Quiet Night Thought" in Chinese. In a mere 20 words, this poem uses vivid moonlight and imagery to convey the feeling of longing for home.
