The most anticipated Wan Qing Mid-Autumn Festival is finally here. Don’t miss the opportunity to participate in the numerous activities spearheaded by the National Heritage Board!
If you’re done feasting over mooncakes, maybe it’s about time to immerse yourself in a series of activities initiated by the National Heritage Board in celebration of one of the oldest cultural festivals in the world, the Wan Qing Mid-Autumn Festival. After two years of online activities, the festival returns with a more engaging set of activities held in its physical space at the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall.
While the festival’s main weekend falls on September 3 and 4, starting August 16 to September 25, numerous activities will be held to celebrate Chinese arts and culture – and to educate visitors about the importance of the celebration, including the stories and traditions behind it. One of the most anticipated highlights of the festival is the Celestial Bodies, a lawn lantern installation displayed right outside the memorial hall.
Interesting Facts about the Celestial Bodies Lantern Display at the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall
Creatively produced by Kai 3D Art Studio in Taiwan in collaboration with the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, the Celestial Bodies display pays tribute to the moon – which is at its brightest and fullest on the 15th day of the eight-lunar month. The installations strategically displayed outside feature five lanterns resembling the five characters: the Moon, the Sun, and the three planets, Earth, Mercury, and Saturn.
The superbly cute giant lanterns are easy to recognize as Saturn is known for its rings and the Earth, which is beaming with its glowing smile. All celestial bodies presented come with hands and feet, making them even more adorable to gaze upon. These Celestial Bodies symbolize the festive union of family and friends (as represented by the characters) and the Singaporean’s wish to be reunited with their beloved family members and friends who are staying overseas or somewhere around the locals but they can’t be together because of the restrictions brought about by the pandemic. These wonderful displays are available for viewing for the entire festival duration from ten at 10 am until 9 pm.
What Are the Other Things That You Can Do During the Wan Qing Mid-Autumn Festival?
Aside from visiting the cute lantern installations at the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, there are other cultural activities that you and your friends can attend, like cultural workshops and storytelling sessions that are done every weekend. Cultural workshops offered during the festival include a Woodblock Printing Workshop. By joining this activity, you will get to learn more about the local history of letterpress printing, thoroughly understand the painstaking process behind it, and experience creating block prints firsthand with the use of traditional letterpress equipment. This will happen this coming September 3, from 10:30 am to 5 pm. To join, simply purchase tickets for the workshop, costing $15 per person. (See details here.)
If you’re not into crafting, maybe you’ll enjoy more the storytelling sessions done by local authors and veteran storytellers. Admission is free to those who will be coming on September 3 (from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm) and September 4 (from 2 pm to 3 pm). Stories will center on renowned Chinese legends and will be told in both Chinese and English.
Making it even more interactive, there’s also Lantern Riddles Guessing, Clay Mooncake Making, and Mini Rabbit Origami Making. There will also be live performances by the independent community choir and a magic show on the hall’s lawn.
Exciting, right? Well, that’s not all. See Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall’s official website here to see the full list of wonderful activities and festival programs that you can attend! Enjoy.
Cover image credit: Wan Qing Yuan Instagram
