Zhang jiu jie kuaile!

Last weekend was Mid-Autumn festival here in China. Tradition has many different versions as to the origin of the festival, all of them having something to do with the moon and two people in love. So, every mid-autumn festival the population of China goes outside to look at the moon and eat mooncakes together. We don't have mooncakes in the states because they are made of lotus paste. Think of a fig newton times 10 with a cooked egg yolk inside. :)
For mid-autumn festival I went to Martyr's park with Tara for moon/people gazing and, of course, mooncakes. Here's is my description of the night from my journal:

In the sky there are beautiful lights so high they couldn't possibly be attached to the ground. The world has not invented string that long, we agree. But what could it be? We wonder. And wonder. Finally I see the same lights closer to the ground. It must be fairies! I say. Tara laughs. She's a historian. She follows the lights down to the ground where a Chinese man with the largest kite apparatus I have ever seen has a big smile on his face. He knows he's bringing wonder to thousands of people and he is proud. What a kite! We talk to him in limited Chinese and wish him a Happy Moon Festival. He gives Tara a lighter that lights up just like his kite. We move on to the lake. The pathways are lit by lampposts and the trees glow green with neon lighting. People are dancing. They love dancing here. Men and women, women and women, women all by themselves. They waltz to Chinese music. Children run and skip. I soak it in. As we get to the lake, a wish lantern is lit and floats into the sky. A little fireball drifting higher and higher. I wish I knew what their wish was, and I make a wish myself. We sit near the water and crack open the cakes. So many boats wander around aimlessly. The moon is full and peeks its face through the thin clouds. Hundreds of us watch. A girl sits quietly next to me and rips a page out of her notebook. She thoughtfully ponders her wish, and then finalizes it by folding it into an origami boat. She walks to the water and splashes her wish boat out to "sea." A little girl walks by with broccoli lights on her head. The toddler next to me blows bubbles. I breathe it all in. This country is a poem.