Celebrating the 'Fiesta de la Luna' at Chinois!

This post is also available in: Spanish

On Thursday the 23rd of September, Casa de Campo residents and visitors celebrated the full moon at Chinois restaurant in the Marina Casa de Campo at their ‘Fiesta de la Luna.’ The full moon was a great excuse to enjoy a nice dinner and have a drink with friends and was a great way to start the long weekend. Over 100 people attended the dinner/party at Chinois, enjoying their special ‘Menu de la Luna’ which included a whole steamed fish and vegetables, Cho-Fan, chicken kebabs and other dishes, all served to share – a good way to try lots of different things, but not eat too much!! The children were given ‘lamparas’ (chinese lamps), which contained a small candle and were balanced at the end of a wooden stick, and the kids loved them – they had a great time running around with the lamps wobbling around, oh to be young and so easily amused!

What is the ‘Fiesta de La Luna?’ The ‘Fiesta de la Luna’ is celebrated on the 8th full moon of the year – when the moon is at it’s most brilliant, the ‘Fiesta de la Luna’ is an opportunity to get together with friends and family and enjoy the light of the moon as well as eating moon cakes! The ‘Fiesta de la Luna’ is the Chines equivalent of Thanksgiving and dates back to ancient times when people gathered on the 15th. day of the eigth lunar month (around September or October on our calendar) to celebrate good harvests of rice. En la Octava Luna Llena del año se celebra la Fiesta de la Luna. En esta noche, la luna está en su punto más brillante. Familiares y amigos se reúnen para disfrutar de la luz de la luna y por supuesto, comer tortas de luna! Este festival es el equivalente del Día de Acción de Gracias y sus orígenes se remontan a tiempos antiguos, cuando la gente se reunía en el 15o. día del Octavo Mes Lunar (alrededor de septiembre u octubre en nuestro calendario) para celebrar las buenas cosechas de arroz. En esta época es cuando los cultivos y frutos están en su mejor punto y el clima es bastante agradable.

Great family fun! To help me photograph and cover this event, Dolly Muxo a photographer from Miami came with me to Chinois, here are her photos: