Asian Student organizations succeed in continuing a valuable, annual tribute to tradition.
Outside the Lorton Performance Center last Thursday evening, a line had gathered long before the doors opened. Groups of friends chatted around me. By the time The University of Tulsa’s Moon Festival celebration began — ten minutes behind schedule — Graves Hall had quickly become packed with attendees. The organizers in charge of catering ensured there was more than enough food for everyone. I did not partake, but it was well-received among the people I talked to. The building was adorned with grand red decorations, paper lanterns and the like. Many people, both organizers and participants, were in formal traditional garb. Upstairs, the organizers had set up various activities. At one table, attendees could make a paper lantern in the traditional style. At another, they could enter the event’s many raffles. The most popular activity I saw was at the ddakji table. Ddakji are square paper Korean toys, often used in a game in which two players compete to flip the other’s ddakji. The Moon Festival celebration was a joint effort between the Asian American Student Association, the Vietnamese Student Association, the Chinese Students & Scholars Association and the Korean Student Association. This festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, is celebrated throughout East and Southeast Asia.
At 7 p.m., the doors to the auditorium opened for the evening’s performances. For those of us who were unfortunately unfamiliar with East Asian cultural traditions, the hosts held a brief skit explaining its background and mythology. According to legend, there were once ten suns in the sky. The heroic archer Hou Yi shot nine of them down with his bow. As a reward, he was given the elixir of immortality — but only enough for one person. Hou Yi and his wife, Chang’e, couldn’t imagine one dying while the other lived forever, so they chose not to drink the elixir at all. However, one of Hou Yi’s apprentices was greedy and broke into their home to take the elixir for himself while Hou Yi was out hunting. To prevent him from stealing it, Chang’e took it for herself. The elixir transformed her into the moon. As tribute, her husband left her favorite foods, including mooncakes, and released paper lanterns into the sky. When others heard of what happened, they too left tributes to Chang’e. This tradition continues today, with participants leaving food and flying lanterns every autumn.
The Moon Festival includes various student performances every year. Photo by Nathan Mister
After that brief segment, there were a variety of performances interwoven with raffle draws and trivia questions about the holiday. Among them were many well-rehearsed traditional dances, solo instrumental performances and a show-stealing vocal performance from recent TU graduate Michael Tran. The hosts were funny and had good chemistry, contributing much to the event’s entertainment value. The theater was packed during the performances just as the hall was packed before. Attendees were diverse and almost universally appreciated the event. It brought together not only multiple student associations but also dozens of students from across campus and members of the wider Tulsa community. In an era when student organizations often have to do more with less, the event’s skilled organization was even more impressive. As the night ended, the celebration had succeeded in what it set out to do: bring light, color, and community to campus in celebration of East and Southeast Asian culture.
