On Tuesday, September 19, the Stevens Chinese Student Association (CSA) hosted the club’s annual Mid-Autumn Festival (MAF) in the UCC’s Techflex. Doors opened at 9:15 p.m., but more than 220 students filled the floor an hour earlier in anticipation of the night’s food and activities. CSA kicked off the first event of the semester by celebrating the Chinese holiday of the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, earlier than the official date which falls on September 29 this year. Students enjoyed a buffet line of Chinese food and drinks followed by crafting activities based on traditional Chinese customs.
The Mid-Autumn Festival celebration holds more than 2,000 years of history as traditional Chinese agriculture originating in the Zhou Dynasty relied on the lunar phases to guide farming schedules. The celebration of the autumn full moon surrounds worshiping the moon for “harvest-giving light” to usher in a bountiful harvest for the coming year, in which mooncakes were sacrificed as an offering and then eaten in celebration. The values and purpose of the MAF are compared to the U.S. Thanksgiving, as the Chinese holiday represents a time for family reunion and community gathering. Every year, Chinese communities come together surrounding a table of traditional dishes followed by the lighting of paper lanterns into the night.
CSA’s Mid-Autumn Festival was a celebration of Chinese-American identity and captured the community sentiment for any students interested in exploring Chinese culture. At the doors, volunteers stood behind makeshift food stalls as an endless line of students snaked up the UCC staircase. Conversations from students in line could be heard commenting on recognizing their favorite Asian tea brand, only found at Asian markets north of Hoboken or across the Hudson, being served at the beverage table. This year’s MAF continued an established CSA tradition, but President of CSA, Winnie Yu, a 3/4 Computer Science major, had her own interpretation to leave a welcoming impression. “The purpose of today’s event is introducing people to Chinese culture — letting them try some of the Chinese food, especially mooncake, and to bring a little bit of the holiday onto campus,” Yu explained.
The warmth of a family style dinner brought students together over fried dumplings and Calpico where they could unwind and socialize over a traditional meal that may even remind students of a taste of home. Sitting at a table surrounded by new faces, students bonded over shared household dishes, realizing that they hadn’t had Chinese food since moving in — “it’s been so long.” At the end of the buffet line, CSA provided tables for keychain making with clay mooncake molds and lantern decorating that fueled a competitive buzz to win tickets towards the night’s raffle prizes.
Plates were served and students stayed late into the night, but the e-board’s preparation for this relatively smaller CSA event began before the semester. MAF festivities had a price tag as Sabrina Vuong, 4/4 Quantitative Finance major and Co-Performance Chair on the e-board, stated that the Student Government Association (SGA) budget set aside for this event totaled to $2,000 in which $500 would not cover the cost of food alone. Vuong expressed the hectic but exciting urgency to buy supplies and complete tasks as the event date approached.
At the end of the night, students left with plates of leftovers and extra mooncake tins, Yu finished the last clean up tasks and took a step back to assess. As president, Yu’s preparation for MAF began over the summer in which she delegated tasks to the other e-board members. After the planning and responsibilities, Yu says, “I was really happy how it turned out because it’s the first event of the semester and it’s a lot of pressure to live up to the previous events. We had more people than last year so I was really excited to see that.” After MAF’s success, Yu and the E-Board set into preparation for Little China Town in mid October, CSA’s most anticipated event of the year.
