October 24, 2006 > Moon Festival at Mission San Jose High School

by Ivy Wu

Mission San Jose High School celebrated its very first Chinese Moon Festival during lunchtime on Wednesday, Oct. 4. Two Mandarin Chinese teachers, Julie Hou, and Hsiao-Lei Tseng coordinated this event with the help of many Chinese parents. Sheng Kee Bakery made a generous donation of moon cakes to support this event.

The festivities started with Chinese parents serving a wide variety of moon cakes to the teachers, students, and staff. Students in Mandarin Chinese classes made a PowerPoint presentation introducing the tradition and legend of Moon Festival to a large audience in the auditorium. The program also included recital of a popular Chinese poetry portraying the moon, a contemporary Chinese love song about the moon, and a festive Chinese dance.

Moon Festival is on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month when the moon is full. This is a special day when families get together and have reunion dinner. After dinner, families will sit out in the backyard to watch the full moon, and enjoy moon cakes while sipping tea. This year, Moon Festival fell on Oct. 6. This is the first time that Moon Festival has been celebrated on a Fremont Unified School District high school campus. Everyone who participated enjoyed delicious moon cakes and had fun learning about this popular Chinese festival.