Austin Community comes together for Mid Autumn Festival

Landry Scott Harmon
October 7, 2024

On September 21st, people from around the Austin community came together to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival at Fo Guang Shan Xiang Yun Temple. The Saturday evening was full of festivities, food, and performances.

Before the celebration could begin, there was a lot of work to be done to get the temple ready. Volunteers from the English and Chinese-speaking communities showed up early to work together on cleaning up, setting up chairs and tables, preparing food, and hanging up decorations. With volunteers guiding guests with parking, Xiang Yun Temple was open to the public.

As people filed into the temple,  there were several activities for the attendees to partake in. Volunteers helped to serve people tea and mooncakes to try. There was a place for friends and family to do a photo-op. Little kids were making mooncakes out of Play-Doh with differently designed molds.

The MCees, Charlene Luo, speaking in Chinese and, Alban Leong, speaking in English, conducted the evening’s affairs. With their introduction, Venerable Jueji came on stage and expressed the joyous occasion of the community joining together to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. After she led the audience through the Buddha’s Light Verse in both languages, people began to line up for the buffet. The buffet was a potluck dinner where community members contributed homemade dishes. From pizza to samosas to spring rolls, many cuisines and cultures were represented for people to try. As people ate their food and sipped on milk tea, the temple’s own Lucky Dharma Band played songs for everyone to enjoy; from bandleader Brad’s originals to American classics such as “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver.

With the sun starting to set over the temple grounds, the showcase of performances commenced. First up was the Lion Dance team, whose dancers wowed the audience as their band members played. With the banners unveiled, hanging from the lions’ mouths, the Venerables approached and fed the lions their hongbao. Then several other kids showed off their talent with several dance routines from Michael Jackson to classical Chinese dance. After that, the red carpet was rolled out for the kid’s fashion show. The kids wore costumes ranging from traditional Chinese cultural attire to TV show character’s costumes.

With the performances over and the sun having fully set, everyone gathered together in the courtyard with lights in hand. Venerable Jueji read aloud a prayer from Venerable Master Hsing Yun. She spoke about bringing the lights in our hearts to friends, family, and strangers alike. After offering the lights to the Buddha, the lantern parade began to go around the temple ending the night’s celebrations. Still, many people remained to help take down the decorations and prepare the temple for tomorrow’s Dharma service.