Minerva Students Celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival at 10:01
At 9:01 p.m. on Sept. 27th, Minerva students gathered in the dining hall to celebrate the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival by eating mooncakes and drinking traditional Chinese tea.
10:01 is a Minerva activity that takes place every Sunday at 9:01 p.m., where students taste cultural foods from different countries. The event was started by Founding Class students and designed around the 10p.m. assignment deadline on Sunday nights, after which students would come together to cook and enjoy each other’s company free from the stress of pending deadlines. . Even though the weekly deadline for Inaugural Class students is adjusted to 8:55 p.m. for assignment and 6:00 p.m. for quizzes, the name “10:01” has remained.
Mid-Autumn Festival, which has become the “intangible Chinese heritage” since 2006, is a traditional Chinese festival celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese Han calendar, when the moon is believed to be its fullest. Families sit together to eat mooncakes, which are an imitation of the full moon and symbolize the union of the family.
Qiqi Xu was the co-organizer of the event. “It [mid-autumn festival] means a lot to me. It’s the time that families get together, appreciate the moon, have a feast, and really just have that sense of family. Here I was just trying to bring that to this family.” she said.
The dining hall was decorated with big red Chinese lanterns, and on the table were some essays introducing the history of Mid-Autumn Festival. English and Chinese name tags were carefully put besides the food so that students were able to see what they were eating. In the corner of the room, several Chinese students organized “riddle guess”, which is a guessing game popular among young people in China. Non-Chinese students enjoyed the event as they gained deeper understanding of traditional Chinese culture.
For Xiaofan Liang, the co-organizer for the event, Mid-Autumn Festival is a special chance for Chinese students to express themselves. She said that usually Chinese students have too many constraints, such as the obligation to speak English instead of the mother tongue. However, at the Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinese students were able to fully express themselves in Chinese as they were writing Chinese poems on the whiteboard and dancing to the Chinese songs.
“So now [Americans] have to step out of their comfort zone. When the event started, we were playing American party song, and then ended playing Chinese party songs. It probably wouldn’t happen if that event wasn’t here.” said Xiaofan Liang.
Towards the end, the event turned into a party. Some students were dancing to the songs, others were lying on the ground outside hanging out, and some were playing soccer or skateboarding. The moon was hanging in the middle of the sky, watching Minerva students enjoying their first Mid-Autumn Festival. The night belonged to the Minerva community, a loving and supportive family.
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