By Wanjiku Mbugua

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or the Mooncake Festival is a traditional festival celebrated in mainland China. This festival traditionally falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which is in September or early October on the Gregorian calendar.

On this day, the Chinese believe that the moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with harvest time in the middle of Autumn. Lanterns of all size and shapes, are carried and displayed; symbolic of beacons that light people's path to prosperity and good fortune. During the festival, mooncakes (rich pastry filled with sweet-bean, egg yolk, meat or lotus-seed paste), are traditionally eaten. The Mid-Autumn Festival is the second most important festival in China after Chinese New Year. In China, it's a reunion time for families, just like Thanksgiving.

To celebrate this festival, three (3) Confucius Classroom at USIU-Africa students participated in this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival Gala (competition) at the Confucius Institute at Kenyatta University held in October 2021. These students competed in three (3) different categories, martial arts, oral speech and traditional dance.

Ivy Gakuru and Simon Biar participated in the oral speech category on ‘Effective ways of studying Chinese Language’. Ivy won in that category whereas Simon bagged the second position. Simon Biar also competed in the martial arts category and came in second place. Chandni Halai performed a traditional dance and was awarded a certificate of participation.