Looking back on traditions spanning thousands of years, the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (also known as the Festival of Reunion) takes place on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month in the lunar calendar. This is a time when families get together to enjoy the moonlight and express their hopes and wishes for a better life.
-“The ‘big, big world’ has moved to Debrecen, with a bustling cultural cavalcade of events filling our city, offering an opportunity to the locals to get to know different cultures. Tonight, it is China showcasing its gastronomy, dances, traditional attire and music, all in the heart of our historic city center. While we may think that we already know a great deal about this country, rest assured that Chinese culture still holds surprises and fascinating elements waiting to be discovered. Right now, we can get a sample of these through the performances on the stage of the Mid-Autumn Festival,” said István Puskás, Deputy Mayor for Cultural Affairs of the city of Debrecen, at the opening ceremony of the event.
At present, there are about 8,000 international students from nearly 140 countries enrolled at the University of Debrecen (UD), including five hundred students from China alone.
As regards Hungarian students at UD, they can learn Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Polish, German, English, French and Spanish, and now, thanks to the Confucius Institute, Chinese as well. This means that they can also get to know a specific culture through the language of their choice. At the same time, the opportunity is also open for international students to introduce the customs or even the national dishes of their respective countries to both their fellow students and the residents of Debrecen, thus proving that languages and culture constitute an inseparable bond,” said Andrea Horváth, the Rector's representative of UD, in her address.
The Hungarian and Chinese students and teachers of our university took a lion’s share in the organization of the day's programs, while quite a few of them also participated in the stage productions.
The dance production of Dancing Fairies, which was formed three years ago from Hungarian and international students of the Confucius Institute, again proved to be a great success. Their exotic show drew crowds of spectators to the stage even from among those just strolling along the exhibition stands of the fair in Batthyány utca, which was decorated with red Chinese paper lanterns for the occasion.
One of the distinctive features of the festive program was the “fashion show,” featuring traditional Chinese period dresses and costumes.
As a matter of course, moon cakes, the holiday specialty, were also on offer, courtesy of the organizers: the Confucius Institute of the Faculty of Humanities, Debrecen’s Creative Community and Debrecen OTT-HOME International Meeting Point.
On behalf of Debrecen’s CI, Director Cui Xianjun and Deputy Director László Erik Kovács jointly addressed the performers and the audience, happily noting that there were not any clouds in the sky obscuring the full moon, which the imagined was in honor of the Mid-Autumn Festival and the mooncakes.
The final act of the day’s program was a lively Chinese disco on the Batthyány utca stage, featuring DJ Maci (whose stage name is the Hungarian kids’ term for a bear, or teddy bear), dubbed just for this evening as “Panda Maci.”
Press Center – BZs
Photo credits: Rudolf Jakkel