Moon Fest traces roots, not booze

Alexandra Mosquera Netzkarsch/ Columnist

People celebrate holidays differently all over the world. Some people in the United States care about the significance of a holiday, but many just care about getting a day off from work and drinking with friends. They see holidays as an opportunity to “have fun” while being under the influence of alcohol, completely forgetting the significance of the day — but not the Chinese.

On Sept. 6, Chinese celebrated the Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival — a weekend-long festivity spent praising the moon with family and friends.

Like all holidays, the Moon Festival has a story behind it.

The Chinese noticed how the moon and its movements had a relationship with the seasons and agriculture. To honor the harvest, they would offer a sacrifice to the moon during days of autumn, which were mainly moon cakes.

Holidays like this are celebrated in a traditional manner in China, by incorporating family members and friends. Here in America, we celebrate holidays with family and friends, too. But aside from roasting a turkey and shopping for Black Friday on Thanksgiving, the significance of holidays seem to be getting lost, with celebrations turning into drinking fests.

Don’t you wish certain holidays would involve more friends and families, and of course, more dishes like the ones celebrated in China? I do, because their values are above abusing alcohol or drugs, which is a much healthier and enjoyable way of celebrating a holiday.

The International Student Club hosted an event on Sept. 9 in Panther Square at the Biscayne Bay Campus to celebrate Moon Festival. Chinese international students at BBC shared their customs during the event and prior, at the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. There, they made moon cakes and later shared them at the event.

The event became about spending time and sharing stories with each other.

Xiaofang Pu, a hospitality major, was one of the students making moon pies. Pu said being away from home is not easy, but celebrating Moon Festival with fellow students and baking moon pies made her feel like she was back home.

The Full Moon Drum Circle in Miami Beach also honors the moon. It is a community-oriented celebration where families and friends join other groups of people under a bright, full moon and shining stars, while hearing the banging of drums. But, as most holidays and celebrations in the U.S., it tends to deal more with people consuming alcohol and other substances.

Coming from Spain and after celebrating American holidays for the past four years, I realized the main objective on these days is for people to get drunk rather than acknowledge the day’s significance. They have become superficial, evolving around how drunk someone can get, how much they will remember the next morning, who hooked up with who, and so forth. However, cakes, camaraderie and the sharing of stories is what made the Moon Festival special for students — not beer pong.

I don’t want future generations to grow up in a world where holidays are filled with alcohol and no meaning. Learn from the Chinese and get back to the roots of each holiday, starting by enjoying time with family and friends, and putting down the booze.

-opinion@fiusm.com