Picnic under the moon, stars…and lanterns!

15 September 2010 - 4:31pm No Comments

There are many different myths about the origin of the Lantern Festival. One legend has it that in ancient times, it was during this period that people would worship Taiyi, the God of Heaven. Taiyi had sixteen dragons at his beck and call, and he alone decided when to inflict drought, storms, famine or pestilence upon human beings. Therefore, once a year, humans needed to ask Taiyi to grant favourable weather and good health to people.

The kids get busy making their lanterns and fairy wings in Kechara House 2

Whatever the origins, one thing is for sure…the Lantern Festival Kechara-style has more to do with practising spirituality, and less to do with traditional religious worship – the focus was on creating a fun night out for the kids (young and old)! Under the canopy of stars, there were the obligatory lanterns lighting up the warm night sky, and food laid out for a picnic. There was even a pizza vending truck churning out piping hot pizza on request, and music blasting out from a mobile sound system!

Chuah Su Ming, Head of Kechara Care and Liaison to His Eminence Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, kicked off the activities by giving a short presentation on Kechara Care after which the kids tried their hand in making their own lantern bag (or a pair of fairy wings, whichever they preferred!). Meanwhile, their parents watched a video recording of the award-winning Legend of the Conch Shell stage production presented by Kechara last year.

Any Loke, our emcee for the evening

By dusk, the picnic was served and as everyone was tucking in to vegetarian fare, Any Loke, our emcee for the occasion, announced that a dragon show was to begin. No, it was not one of Taiyi’s dragons but one that the innovative Manjushri Kids’ Class (MKC) children had diligently made out of recycled material over the past few weeks (to teach them environmental consciousness).

There were plenty of ooh’s and aah’s, and cheering and applause as the authentic-looking dragon head decked in colours with a 20-foot long torso made its appearance among the supportive crowd. The eyes of the dragon were lit by Dr Cheah Wing Yin, the state assemblyman for Damansara Utama who kindly graced the occasion. Kechara wishes to thank Dr Cheah for his support to the community, and we continue to pray for his speedy and complete recovery.

With eyes lit, the dragon weaved its way through the crowd to be joined by the rest of the MKC kids who put up a superb show of dragons and aliens. Infectious music and the sight of their kids bobbing and waggling in abandonment soon became too much for the parents to remain sidelined, and they joined in the merriment.

Liaisons Ngeow Voon Chin (far left), Yap Yoke Fui (in red) and Henry Ooi (far right) with Dr Cheah Wing Yin (second from left)

Probably inspired by the food-gorging contests you’ve seen on TV, the next game on the agenda had to do with pomelos and mooncake (it’s Mooncake Festival after all!). In the spirit of working together however, it was not about who ate the most but the team that finished fastest. Team A, a group of mostly burly men, obviously had the advantage and managed to tear open a large pomelo with bare hands for team members to gobble up the fruit, and then the mooncake that followed just a few seconds after. It was all in the name of good fun.

The Kechara dragon poses with Dr Cheah Wing Yin and his wife, as well as some MKC children and their teacher Han Ling (far right)

Helping the pomelo and mooncake go down easy were a lovely choir group from the Perfect Pitch music school who gave a superb rendition of a medley of songs accompanied by the piano. The proprietors of Perfect Pitch, David Loh and his wife Siew Ghee, are regularly attendees of the Setrap pujas at Kechara House 2 which is conveniently located next door to their shop.

Soon it was time to give away prizes for the best lantern bags and fairy wings made by the kids, as well as the lucky draw winners. Special prizes went to Lucas Roth, Nicole Lee, Beatrix Ooi and Serene Khoo while Nicole Lee and Favian Tan won the top prizes (Buddha pendants) for the Lantern Bag and Fairy Wings categories respectively. Lucky prize winners included Ashley Wong, Nicole Lee, Michele Tan, Phng Keng Hwa, Celine Khoo and Nancy Loo. These were pewter tsa tsas or Buddha pendants. The prizes were presented by Liaison Henry Ooi.

As the night drew to a close, kids, parents, members and friends went home with their jelly mooncakes or Kechara Oasis traditional mooncakes, having had their fill of fun, food and laughter. So will we see YOU there next year, when the celebrations promise to be bigger, better and more fun (in the spirit of Kechara always growing and improving)?