Mainan Lantern

Sabtu kemarin, 30 Sep 2006, ngumpul-2 dengan temen-temen untuk makan-makan (lagi!!??? jangan diprotes dong......... kita hidup perlu makan toh? kalo gak makan sendirian ya makan bareng-bareng lah.......) sambil ngajak anak-2 untuk mainan lantern.

Menurut tanggalan Chinese, bulan ini merupakan bulan delapan, dan tgl 15 bulan delapan adalah hari dimana bulan menunjukkan dirinya paling besar dalam setahun..... (apa pernah diukur ya??). Makanya hari ini diperingati dengan makan MoonCake (Kue Bulan) dan sambil bawa lantern keliling-keliling -- kemarin itu ada beberapa PRT yang baru beberapa bulan kerja di sini dan pertama kalinya ikut merayakan acara kayak gini.. terus mereka bilang kalo di Indonesia kali seperti acaranya orang desa yang keliling desa sambil bawa lantern (kalo di Jawa waktu aku kecil disebutnya teng-tengan ciluk...)??? Cerita tentang mooncake & lantern festival bisa dibaca di bawah tuh........

Lantern jaman dulu pasti terbuat dari kertas dan pake llilin kecil di dalamnya. Bentuknyapun sederhana aja.

Tapi jaman modern, lantern terbuat dari berbagai macam bahan dan bentuknya semakin beraneka... Gak pake lilin lagi, tapi pake batterei dengan lampu kecil.. bahkan ada yang bermusik segala..

Santy dan Suandy serta Cherish anak mereka merupakan temen yang baru juga ketemu pertama kalinya kemarin setelah sering ketemu dan ngobrol di dunia maya...
Mereka tinggal di Bukit Gombak, jadi dekatan deh ama tempat kami tinggal

Makanan yang tersedia tadi malam............ wuah....... banyak juga ya??

Terakhir sebelum acara bubar, anak2 sempat main kembang api........ nostalgia masa kecil...Met menikmati bulan purnama tgl 15 bulan delapan yang kalo menurut kalender umum jatuh pada hari Friday, 6 October 2006...

Some history for your reading and knowledge:

Lantern Festival
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Lantern Festival in Taiwan

Lantern Festival
The 'Lantern Festival' (Simplified Chinese: 元宵节, Traditional Chinese: 元宵節/元宵; pinyin: yuánxiāojié), also known as the Shang Yuan Festival, is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year in the Chinese calendar. It is not to be confused with the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also sometimes known as the "Lantern Festival" in locations such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. The Chinese Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese festival/holiday, which is celebrated by the Chinese in many countries. It is the first major festival after the Chinese New Year. The Lantern Festival is also known as the Little New Year since it marks the end of the series of celebrations starting from the Chinese New Year. Koreans celebrate this festival as the Daeboreum.
During the Lantern Festival, children go out at night carrying bright lanterns. In ancient times, the lanterns were fairly simple, for only the emperor and noblemen had large ornate ones; in modern times, lanterns have been embellished with many complex designs. For example, lanterns are now often made in shapes of animals.
Traditionally, the date once served as a day for love and matchmaking. It was one of the few nights without a strict curfew. Young people were chaperoned in the streets in hopes of finding love. Matchmakers acted busily in hopes of pairing couples. Often, those with brightest lanterns were a symbol of good luck and hope.
Those who do not carry lanterns often enjoy watching informal lantern parades. Other popular activities at this festival include eating tangyuan (Simplified Chinese: 汤圆, Traditional Chinese: 湯圓; pinyin: tāngyuán), a sweet rice dumpling soup, and guessing lantern riddles, often messages of love.
The popularity of lantern festivals is spreading across the globe, with paper lanterns becoming a popular symbol for the festival.

Hubungannya dengan Moon Cake Festival??

The Moon Festival
The Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. It's also known as the Mid-autumn Festival. Chinese culture is deeply imbedded in traditional festivals. Just like Christmas and Thanksgiving in the West, the Moon Festival is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese.
The Moon Festival is full of legendary stories. Legend says that Chang Er flew to the moon, where she has lived ever since. You might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival.
The Moon Festival is also an occasion for family reunions. When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes, and sing moon poems. With the full moon, the legend, the family and the poems, you can't help thinking that this is really a perfect world. That is why the Chinese are so fond of the Moon Festival.
The Moon Festival is also a romantic one. A perfect night for the festival is if it is a quiet night without a silk of cloud and with a little mild breeze from the sea. Lovers spend such a romatic night together tasting the delicious moon cake with some wine while watching the full moon. Even for a couple who can't be together, they can still enjoy the night by watching the moon at the same time so it seems that they are together at that hour. A great number of poetry has been devoted to this romantic festival. Hope the Moon Festival will bring you happiness.
The moon cake is the food for the Moon Festival. The Chinese eat the moon cake at night with the full moon in the sky.


The Stories of the Chinese Mid Autumn Festival
I. The Lady - Chang Er
The time of this story is around 2170 B.C. The earth once had ten suns circling over it, each took its turn to illuminate to the earth. But one day all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved by a strong and tyrannical archer Hou Yi. He succeeded in shooting down nine of the suns. One day, Hou Yi stole the elixir of life from a goddess. However his beautiful wife Chang Er drank the elixir of life in order to save the people from her husband's tyrannical rule. After drinking it, she found herself floating and flew to the moon. Hou Yi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much, he didn't shoot down the moon.

II. The Man - Wu Kang
Wu Kang was a shiftless fellow who changed apprenticeships all the time. One day he decided that he wanted to be an immortal. Wu Kang then went to live in the mountains where he importuned an immortal to teach him. First the immortal taught him about the herbs used to cure sickness, but after three days his characteristic restlessness returned and he asked the immortal to teach him something else. So the immortal to teach him chess, but after a short while Wu Kang's enthusiasm again waned. Then Wu Kang was given the books of immortality to study. Of course, Wu Kang became bored within a few days, and asked if they could travel to some new and exciting place. Angered with Wu Kang's impatience, the master banished Wu Kang to the Moon Palace telling him that he must cut down a huge cassia tree before he could return to earth. Though Wu Kang chopped day and night, the magical tree restored itself with each blow, and thus he is up there chopping still.

III. The Hare - Jade Rabbit
In this legend, three fairy sages transformed themselves into pitiful old men and begged for something to eat from a fox, a monkey and a rabbit. The fox and the monkey both had food to give to the old men, but the rabbit, empty-handed, offered his own flesh instead, jumping into a blazing fire to cook himself. The sages were so touched by the rabbit's sacrifice that they let him live in the Moon Palace where he became the "Jade Rabbit."

IV. The Cake - Moon Cake
During the Yuan dynasty (A.D.1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D.960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without it being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Backed into each moon cake was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government. What followed was the establishment of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644). Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend.
By Chinese Fortune-Telling Calendar