Mid-Autumn Moon Festival Mooncake Making

          Last Friday, on September 29, the Tea Club, run by Aki Li ’25 and Gwyneth Deng ’25, hosted a mooncake making event to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Abbott Dining Room. The event hosted over 50 members of the Lawrenceville community, bringing students together to celebrate the traditional Chinese Mid-Autumn festival. Led by Deng, Li, and Miu Baholyodhin ’26, students were given step-by-step instructions on rolling, filling, and wrapping the mooncakes. The traditional desserts were made with lotus and red bean filling, and wrapped with homemade pastries that the Tea Club leaders had pre-made. Traditional Chinese tea was also provided as a refreshment for those participating in the event, as well as other students who arrived to celebrate the festival. Comedic but informative animations were shown on screen, depicting the traditional legends associated with the festival, such as the story of Chang'e and Hou Yi and the legend of the Jade Rabbit. 

          For Claire Pei ’26, the event was a means for her to celebrate what was usually a traditional family holiday with others. She felt like she had “a lot of fun making mooncakes,” and that the event provided a way for her to celebrate a familiar cultural holiday “even without being around family.” Pei thought the event was “thoroughly enjoyable” and that she would “definitely come again next year” were the event hosted a second time.  

          Sophie Yang ’26 echoed Pei’s positive sentiments, saying that she initially came to the event because she was “just interested in the tea”, but stayed after seeing “so many different people come together for the same reason: to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.” She also added that she “had lots of fun,” and that she especially found the Mid-Autumn festival information videos to be “very funny and amusing”. 

          When asked about their goals for this event, Deng remarked that it was “a great opportunity to provide a hands-on opportunity to make mooncakes”. Li added that “this event was definitely significant in sharing Chinese culture with the Lawrenceville community,” and that “it allowed students on campus to learn more about these traditional practices.” Additionally, both Deng and Li noted that “the event went better than expected,” and that “even though [they] had little experience in making mooncakes, with the help of Miu, a highly experienced baker, and with support from faculty including [Director of Student Life Ian August] and Yanhong Zhang H’17, [they] were able to make this an overall successful event.” They noted that they are both “really happy at how this event turned out” and “hope to host more events like this in the future”. 

          Through the Tea Cub, the Mid-Autumn mooncake making celebration gave students the opportunity to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival on campus, allowing them to practice traditions that they would usually celebrate with their families at home, as well as to celebrate and share their culture and traditions with others who are unfamiliar with the festival.